By
corolladan, December 22, 2009
Started my 2004 Corolla up last night - it fired up and then almost instantly died. Since then I have no power to any system - no lights, engine won't crank.... nothing.Had the battery tested, it's fine, checked fuses, they all look intact. Cleaned the battery terminals and made sure the connections were good... I can't figure out what else would kill all my power, any ideas? Thanks in advance for any help.
Dan
Hello and Welcome to the forums.
Are you getting any power to any accessories? Lights? Radio? When you crank the engine over - do you get any noise from the relay (clicking noise)?
There are only a couple of spots that control all the power running to the systems. If you burned up the fuseable link or cooked the alternator - that could cause a break in the power. If the battery cables themselves have gotten damaged - check ground connections - make sure that the chassis grounds are good. The fusible link block is under the hood on the driver's side fender. If you have a multimeter handy, you can check those for continuity. Same goes for relays and other fuses - they make look good visually, but you have to test them with a multimeter to rule out any bad ones.
Thanks for the quick reply. I have no power to any accessories, no radio, clock, lights... no clicking noise when i try to start it. It's dead.
I'll check the relay and fuses further when i get home - would a bad alternator cause failure to all systems like this? I was under the impression I would still have power to my accessories. Thanks again.
Dan
A bad alternator, one its own, would not cause this, but a burned out fusible link to the alternator would. There are two main fusible links on the Corolla - one is the main fusible link that runs to everything electrical on the car, the second one runs to the alternator (100A).
I would double check the power cables, could be simple as one of the chassi grounds is not connected or loose.
It was the fusible link between the positive terminal and the fuse box. Replaced the link, now it's working fine. Thanks for the help!
Dan
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