This is kind of a complicated story... My children broke my car. They shoved an extra CD in the (stock) CD player, which jammed it. I didn't realize that they did this, and I hit the eject button, at which point the CD player started grinding. I pressed it again, to see if it would stop. All of a sudden, when I pushed the eject button, the car turned off. All the gauges went down to 'off' positions, etc... The car restarted right away, and I drove to my grandmother's house, where I took the stock CD player out. I tried to fix it, but it was hopelessly broken and I threw it out. So the wires were just sitting there (not exposed, but connected to the plastic piece that connects them to stereo). The car worked the next day (yesterday) just fine. Today, I was leaving for work, but my car wouldn't start. Nothing. No power at all. No dome light, the remote won't unlock the doors, absolutely no power. I tried to jump it with a starter, but it didn't do anything.

WHAT IS GOING ON? I have installed / uninstalled car stereos before, and this has never happened.

Why is my car broken? Please help me. I am poor, and I cannot afford to bring this in to a mechanic, not to mention towing costs.

 

Thats a good one, I wouldent rule out that this might be 2 separate unrelated problems. Then again shorting out a radio could I guess mess with a computer with the voltage surging. Did it blow any fuses? Is the battery ok or have you had it tested?

 

I checked all of the fuses yesterday, and none of the 'small' ones are blown. I can't see inside the larger metal ones, so I'm not sure about those. I am going to take the battery out today (hopefully) and bring it in to check and see if it has any power. The problem is that since my car doesn't start... I can't get to the battery store to have it tested. (and can't bring my kids to school, can't go to work, can't do laundry...)

Someone suggested trying to 'reset' the electrical system - do you know if that's something that can be done with Cavaliers?

 

I am sure someone will chime in and have some info on that. My guess would be to disconnect the battery for a few min.

 

try getting a boost from a neighbour....sounds like the battery is dead