Car battery died and the ignition key wouldn't come out....

[Ford850]

Even if the battery is buried in the wheel well, you have a portal in the engine compartment to jump start the engine. Looks to me like some of you guys have never opened the hood of car newer than 10 years old. Can you guess what that red plastic cover thingy is in the motor compartment ? Are you still putting washer fluid in the radiator overflow bottle and wondering why the wiper spritzers don't work ? And do you know what all that clicking noise is with the motor running, cause it ain't the spark plugs..... ? Yep, I thought so.

My vehicles are 2 and 5 years old. Both with batteries right where they've been for decades. I'm sure as space becomes a premium on smaller cars, they tuck the batteries where they can. Plus most people probably let their dealer figure out battery issues, so they don't care where the battery resides.

 

[davesl708]

Even if the battery is buried in the wheel well, you have a portal in the engine compartment to jump start the engine. Looks to me like some of you guys have never opened the hood of car newer than 10 years old. Can you guess what that red plastic cover thingy is in the motor compartment ? Are you still putting washer fluid in the radiator overflow bottle and wondering why the wiper spritzers don't work ? And do you know what all that clicking noise is with the motor running, cause it ain't the spark plugs..... ? Yep, I thought so.

Gee. someone got up in a cranky mood. My 09 does not have a red plastic cover thingy but my 04 does.

 

[Soundguy]

. I have to remove the muffler on my tractor to get the battery out. Its 14 years old and I'm on my third battery. The battery location on this Impala is easy to get to for jump starting at least.

reminds me.. I have to change the battery on my hay moving tractor ( tonight maybee if it quits raining ). it's 7ys old,a nd decided it ain't doing another season.

 

[Bird]

This thread makes me glad I don't do things, like changing batteries, anymore. If it won't start, that's what I pay AAA for.:laughing:

 

[PILOON]

Same thing happened to me on a 02 Jimmy.
Even the door locks would not work and I had to climb in via the tailgate in order to even pop the hood for a boost. (had been towing (a new to me trailer) and had left the fridge on 12 volts and soon discovered that 1 1/2 hours simply was too much on the battery)

On the other hand that Jimmy would simply die when it felt like it with access ramps and exits being the scariest.
For a while every 2nd stop sign also caused a stoppage.
Changing the ignition switch cured that problem.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I had two GM cars and accidently put my truck key into the SUV and it stuck and would not come out. After much frustration, I finally got a pair of channel lock pliers and forced it loose but is sure had a grip on it. I have been a lot more careful with getting the right key since then.

 

[WM75Guy]

You think batteries are bad. My wife's 08 GMC 2500HD with the Duramax had the left headlight go out. On my 03 you open the hood, pull 2 pins and the whole headlight housing comes out. The shop manual for the 08 says to remove the grill to get at the bolts to remove the left fender so you can get to the bolts holding the headlight housing. The dealer parts guy was able to reach in with his special set of long pliers and twist the bulb out but it still took 30 minutes to change it. The right side is easier, you only have to remove the air filter and housing to get to the back of the headlight housing. I think the only reason the manufacturers do things like that is to ensure the dealer service departments stay busy.

 

[Coyote machine]

My Interstate battery distributor and I were discussing battery life recently, and he said all the electronics and transient drains from a lot of them are rendering batteries dead long before what used to be their useful life.
I agree with him. Then there's GM ignition switches. Whole 'nother story. Plus I've noted headlights and side lights out, all the time, while on the road from a bunch of GM trucks, across the board, GMC, Chevy, etc. It amazes me how many headlights are out and the driver's seem clueless about them. Why not have bulb integrity sensors like Volvo has used since the 1970's? That makes no sense to me. It's so easy to let the driver know a headlight is out; why not incorporate it?

 

[MossRoad]

I am pretty sure that is the case. The 1998 Volvo S70 which Dad owned had a cable to do that. One time the cable broke and the keys were stuck in the ignition for a few days until we got a new cable.

Aaron Z

I know there is a known problem with chevy's and that little button you have to push in on the shifter to get it out of park. If the button doesn't go back out far enough, it doesn't release the switch, with won't tell the car its in park, and you can't get the key out. That's a mechanical issue.

However, when the battery dies, the car doesn't get the signal from that switch because of an electrical issue.

Two causes for the same problem.

 

[MossRoad]

Even if the battery is buried in the wheel well, you have a portal in the engine compartment to jump start the engine. Looks to me like some of you guys have never opened the hood of car newer than 10 years old. Can you guess what that red plastic cover thingy is in the motor compartment ? Are you still putting washer fluid in the radiator overflow bottle and wondering why the wiper spritzers don't work ? And do you know what all that clicking noise is with the motor running, cause it ain't the spark plugs..... ? Yep, I thought so.

Hardy har har, Norton.... :laughing:

A guy I work with had a dead Lumina a few weeks ago. The battery is under the windshield washer reservoir. It has points you can get to for jump starting, but 9 times out of 10, battery problems are corroded or loose cables at the battery terminal. Regardless of if you can jump it or not, you can't get to the battery terminals to remove the cables and clean the connections without removing some other hardware from the vehicle.