No start. Just clicks

[Mpopaj]

I disconnected my battery for like a week and when I reconnected the car wouldn’t start. I tried to jump it and it just clicks and the lights come on the dash but it does not start. In the image below the red terminal looks like it got hot at some point. Towards the tip it looks like it melted a little. but I have never had issues starting the car til now so can this be the culprit? How would this happen out of nowhere?

http://imgur.com/a/tuh75gR

View: https://imgur.com/a/tuh75gR

 

[t-tony]

If you turn the headlights on, are they bright? If they are and you try to start the engine do the lights dim right down? If they do, then the battery is low. Have you tried jump leads?

Tony.

 

[Mpopaj]

Yes I have tried jump leads and left the other car running for a while. It didn’t charge it at all. I tried to push the BST in more but it’s not even loose. The battery doesn’t hold the charge without the jump leads. All electronics die after a minute without them

 

[t-tony]

Take the leads (both) off the battery and secure them so that they cannot flip back onto the battery post then measure the voltage with a volt meter across the batt terminals. I suspect your battery has totally died.

Tony.

 

[Mpopaj]

I took the battery to be charged and I get about 12.6V at the battery and 12.6V at the front terminal. What else could it be?

 

[Mint]

I'm with Tony, you will still see 12v on a dead battery when it is not much under load. Hence Tony's headlight trick. Try measuring the voltage with the all the headlights on (main and dip beam). Good luck.

 

[t-tony]

A good, well charged battery should show 13.5 to 13.8 even 14 volts. Your battery is toast.

Tony.

 

[Mpopaj]

A good, well charged battery should show 13.5 to 13.8 even 14 volts. Your battery is toast.

Tony.

Maybe while running but my brothers z is reading 12.4 (lower reading than mine) and his starts up every time. I believe it is an issue other than the battery

 

[Mpopaj]

There’s no doubt that my battery is toast because the electronics don’t stay on. Even after having it charged it doesn’t hold it. But I’ve been cranking it with jumper cables. Shouldn’t it still be able to turn over with a shot battery

 

[t-tony]

If you remove the terminals from the battery then connect jump leads directly to the lead terminals you may see a different result. Also to remove another possibility try connecting a jump lead from a good earth point on the chassis to a point on the engine block.
This eliminates the chance of a poor earth from engine to body.
When I was still at work, with type of problem, the first thing we would have done is replace the battery.

Tony.