As I was driving home today the radio suddenly turned off and I couldnt get it back on. Also when I got home and parked the car, I turned the car off and the motor for the antenna didnt turn on. Usually it makes an extremely loud grinding noise since the antenna is stuck down. After I turned the car off I went to turn it back on and was getting the click no start issue. I did have my starter rebuild a few months ago and its been fine though every now and then if I turn my car off and quickly turn it back on it will do the click no start. Does the radio and antenna motor have anything to do with the starter? Ill attempt to start the car tomorrow and see what happens since its 28 degrees out and am freezing to death. Also forgot to add the car is a 1996 base model and has some pretty old pionner after market radio.
Did the battery die? If something happened and your alternator died it caused low voltage which would explain why your radio shut off, then nothing was working after you shut it off.
I do not believe my battery died. There was however I forgot to mention a sort of “charging up” sound when I turned onto my street heading home. It sounded like something was charging up going from first to second gear. As I give it some gas it sounded like this sound was charging up quicker or something. The only time I have heard a sound similar to that was when I installed the rebuilt starter and turned the car on, it would make like a charging sound but that sound went away after the rebuilt starter was used a bit.
Just ran outside and it started fine, radio, antenna motor working. Now im just scared if I drive somewhere long distance that I may run into problems.
Ok so just a update to this. Since its snowing out I had my rear defroster on. I noticed when I switch on the rear defroster, the radio turns off and the fans that turn on when the engine is up to temp start to slow down. If I turn the defroster off, the fans speed back up and the radio turns back on.
You have some sort of charging system issue. What is the volt gauge reading when the car is running? Either your alternator is failing, your battery is failing, possibly both, or you blew the alternator fusible link found in the underhood fuse box.
Its around 14-15, If I turn on the defroster then it drops to about 12. If i do something like rolling down the window then it makes a huge drop until I let go of the window switch. If the fans are running and the defroster is on then it sits right at or just above 12.
Put a multimeter across the battery terminals with the car running and repeat the test. your alternator may be getting weak or a loose connection, maybe on your battery?
This may sound like a dumb question but is it possible that the cold could be affecting either the battery or alternator? Its been between 13-20 degrees here.
Colder weather will definitely increase the rate of decline of a car battery, and in my experience its almost always in Winter time when a battery reaches end of life.
Enda