[jimbear56]

Hi all
I am having problem with a 2008 smart for 2. I put car Away for winter last fall before heading south
for winter vacation of 4 months, when I returned in April the battery was dead, put it on charger took a while
but got it going, moved out of garage left running for period of time then shut off. My wife decided to sell it.
a couple weeks later it would not start again, I jump started it and moved it closer to house to make it easier
to re-charge the battery, now with full battery it will not make any attempt to start, dash light's come on as
well as radio and headlight's, no action on starter part, no click from the system at all, checked fuse's all good
I am new to this car and it's working. Any idea's as to what may be the cause of this problem would be
appreciated. Thanks in advance for "hint's"

 

[MB DNA]

Welcomed to SCoA. MY08, how old is the battery?

 

[smark]

Buy a new battery. Simple as that.

 

[jimbear56]

battery is a NAPA less than 2 yrs old

 

[jimbear56]

Buy a new battery. Simple as that.

I do not think the battery is problem, I tried jumpstarting again with my truck and no action

 

[jimvw57]

I have seen smarts with a bad battery not start even with a jump. the ignition key gives the computer an input that then starts the car. Not like the old school cars where the key actually runs the starter solenoid. A bad battery can keep the computers from working. Also a bad brake switch can cause the same issue. Check and see if the brake lights work. also make sure it is in park or neutral (got me a few times on that one)

 

[smark]

New Batteries, can sit on the selves of a store, for year or two. Last summer. Our late model Honda Fit battery died, in less then 2 1/2 years. Honda gave us a new one. My Fiat 500, battery didn’t even make a 1 1/2 years. Bad cells. The tow truck driver couldn’t even jump start the car. Had to be towed. Fiat gave me a new one, under warranty.

Did you check the condition of your battery? Doesn’t matter new or old. Modern cars today. Need a strong battery to run them. Certain voltage for the computers to function. Check you battery terminals connections. Make sure their tight and clean.

Pull the battery, out of your car. Run it up to the parts store you bought. Have it tested. If it’s okay. Then there’s something else wrong. Time to tow it to a smart dealership.

 

[Saya Tse]

If the lights work, everything else turns on and the car still wont start (even after replacing the starter) what else could be the cause? im having the same issue but mine stopped while i was driving. This car is all ive got, without it, im homeless. i cant afford to get it towed or put it in the shop, ive checked the fuses, tried jump starting it. anything else i can look into?

 

[jimvw57]

could be a bad ground. the whole car is a pile of computers and as such, it is sensitive to poor grounds and low battery voltage. Also if the brake light switch is not right, or the ignition switch is not good, or thinks it is in gear, (3 bars of death) it won't start. If the battery is more than 3 years old, it could need to be replaced.

If it is the 3 bars of death, try re-teaching the transmission. turn the key on (but not to start position), step on brake and move gear selector into each gear and wait until the back stops clunking, then move to the next gear. When you get through them all, move to park and try starting again (turn key off and then to start position)

Keep in mind that the key only tells the computer to start the car, holding the key in the start position doesn't do anything. Once the computer sees it was turned to the start position, it ignores it

 

[Saya Tse]

I do have the 3 lines of death so i will try your suggestion. However the lines did not show up until after we changed the starter. i dont know if that is relevant or not. thank you for the tips. ill post how it went.

 

[Saya Tse]

So ive tried the idea. On.brake..shift, shift,shift, on idea and been here for several hours doing it..I am half deaf so maybe I'm not hearing any clicks but I'm still getting the 3 lines of death. Also unplugged the battery and plugged it back up and tried it. Still nothing. What could this indicate the problem is. Car just wouldn't have gas while I was driving it one morning. Replaced the starter first. Checked the fuses, tried to jumpstart it. All failed. Help?

 

[jimbear56]

It is alive again

The car is back to life. After trying some of the suggestions from the group it decided to come back.
Working the shift thru the gears it started like normal. This is something similar to a problem I had
with 1967 Chevy Belair, back in 69, the park/neutral switch would get out whack and not allow to start, changed
it out, simple job as it was near bottom of steering column, after second change out when it happened
again I just left it un-plugged, not best idea, as it would start in gear, but I was only driver.
Thanks for the help.