out of ****ing nowhere my car will not start. I drove it and it ran fine, got home turned it off, it sat for maybe 20 minutes, and when I went to go somewhere the car did odd things. When I turned the key no dash lights lit up, or if they did they were really dim. My gas guage was swaying back and forth. When I tried to crank it nothing happened except some clicks and my speedometer then went nuts. I checked fuses, cleaned battery terminals even though they looked perfecty fine. I'm completely lost. I figured it HAD to be the battery or fuses.

I've had batteries die without warning. How old is it?

the battery is fine. The radio works and the lights all work so I think the battery can pretty much be ruled out. The interior lights are all normal, not low lit or anything. I also tried starting it with a battery charger on it. I was messing around a little with the ignition and it seems like when I have the key turned just right the radio and ECC light up fine, but if I go too far either way everything is REALLY dimmed, almost to the point where you cannot tell they are on since I am outside on a sunny day.

Let'* make sure it'* not hydrolocked. Put a wrench on the alternator or harmonic balancer bolt & see if the crank turns. It should move fairly easily so don't force it.

The alternator bolt turned pretty easily, it didn't feel the smoothest though.

My dad has another battery I can try so I'm gonna go try that real quick.

Did the crank turn with the alternator?
I should also have had you check the coolant level.

The starter motor needs a lot more current (amps) than any of the lights or radio so trying another battery is a good idea as long as the crank turned with the alt.

ME =

sure enough, it was the battery

I checked the fluid in the old battery and a few cells were low. Which is odd because I checked that not too long ago. Ohh well, I got a battery and the bonne is moving again

Thanks for the help. I should never have convinced myself it wasn't something as simple as the battery fluid/age/life