My wife's car won't start. Just one click. It's not the battery. Help. I'm a retard when it comes to cars.
What kind of car? What kind of click? If it's a Chevy tap the starter one good time with a hammer... don't hit any wires or anything. Try again.
Like fitz said do you have headlights?? clean your battery terminals then check your lights. if you dont have lights sounds like a dead battery,charge the battery dont jump it... newer cars you can damage the computer and or the alternator. alternators are battery tenders these days not charger's so it's easy to overload them after you remove the jumper cables on a dead batt. My wife leaves on a interior light on 1-2 month and drains the battery down.
If her care won't start, you might have to find a new wife. If her car won't start, then you have to fix it. Have you checked the water levels in the battery? Maybe some condensation in the gas line from the heat?
When was the last time you changed the battery? Was an interior light left on? Was a phone charger left in the cigarette outlet? Wen through the same thing last year, got a jump and a new battery problem solved.
Take a multimeter (they are only a few bucks if you don't have one) and put it on the battery. See what you are getting for a reading. You should get around 12V. If it's much below, battery could be bad. Side note - if you successfully start/jump it, with the car running, you should get a reading over 12V's as the alternator should be emitting a positive charge. Sometimes when the alts go bad, they will actually drain the cars batt (for example, battery may read right at 12V when sitting, but turn on car and you get 10.5V - most likely pointing to a bad alternator). As someone else suggested, try cleaning the battery posts (with like a 50/50 viniger/water mix)... Sounds like either a battery or starter\solenoid issue to me. Sometimes if it's a starter issue, you can lightly tap (or bang the hell out of it depending on your mood) on the side of the starter with a hammer or wrench. Sometimes that will 'free' your starter/solenoid and allow you turn your car over (start it). Of course that wouldn't permanently fix your issue but at least you would know what's causing the problem.
06' Civic. I've tried jumping the car, still nothing. All electronic works (lights, radio, etc). I'm thinking it's the starter. If only I knew what the starter looked like...
I made no comment on what it takes to be a real woman. Only that to be a 'real man', the male in question should know what a starter looks like. I mean, I'm just going to skip right over telling Hooker to try and jump the solenoid. :D
I just had the same issue with my truck. New starter was the solution. I don't know how to explain what it looks like and where it is without actually getting under the vehicle and showing you but it is an easy fix. Not sure exactly what it will be like on a civic but it's probably going to be 3 bolts and a hot wire. The new starter is pretty cheap too. I think I paid $60. If you do it yourself just make sure you disconnect the battery first.
Make sure the key is on, find the solenoid, there are two nuts on the side. Clamp a set of vise grips on one nut, then touch the head of a screw driver to the other nut while simultaneously touching the screwdriver to the visegrips. This will bypass the solenoid and the car will start. (If the starter itself isn't the problem) Just be careful of the flying sparks when you do this.
