I tried using search so as not to make new topic, but didn't find a real answer to my question. Long story short as I can, Chicago cold got my battery, or so I thought. I had to spend a couple days jump starting the car to get to class. Then replaced with brand new batterey and presto!!! ....for a whole day and half. It was like 15 below zero wind chills one day....car started perfect.....went to store ( I love crown royal)....came out and noticed a pretty sluggish start. got home, shut it off, immediately tried restarting and it cranked but ssssssoooooo ssssllllllloooow... i mean barely. Now couple days later it won't crank at all but voltage meter says everything fineand lights are bright as day. won't take a jump start. WTF??? I cleaned every bit of corrosion even under rubber pieces. I'm sure it could be the starter but the way things went it just seems weird. I saw another post with same symptoms but it was the AC compressor??? My AC hasn't worked since I bought the car. It has 137k miles so I'm guessing it could be a million things. Any ideas please???

does it click when you try to start it?

not a sound

hmmm, VATS maybe?

Do the SE models have VATS? Does your key have the black plastic "chip" in it?

If it does, try cleaning the metal contacts on the resistor chip with a pencil eraser.

what does your security light do during all of this? from the time to open the door to when you crank.

what does your security light do during all of this? from the time to open the door to when you crank.


tricky question sorta cause things like my door charm for example have been wrong since the day I bought the car. For example, it chimes like the lights are on any time the door is open. Also, my airbag and abs lights are on at all times. I'm sure this makes everything harder to figure out.

hmmm, VATS maybe?
Do the SE models have VATS? Does your key have the black plastic "chip" in it?
If it does, try cleaning the metal contacts on the resistor chip with a pencil eraser.

this didn't work either but man it woulda been nice

you didn't answer my question. door chimes and airbag and ABS lights are irrelevant right now.

you didn't answer my question. door chimes and airbag and ABS lights are irrelevant right now.

I get it now, lol....I just tried it and when I turn the key on, the yellow security light comes on for about 3 seconds, then goes off and doesn't come back even after I try to start it.

Exactly. The Security light will help us to determine if VATS is the problem or not, so we need to know what it does, reguardless of what everything else does

right, well i went out and turned the key to on and the yellow security light came on for about three seconds and went off, for fun i tuned the key to start it and see if it came back on but it didn't.