new to me 03 vibe left me stranded with strange symptoms

[22lyons]

The check engine light came on going to work. It would not start after working the night shift. would not stay started when jumped. while jumping the second time the car started when the terminals were hit (no key in ignition). had it towed to dealer and all they found was a bad battery (hope this is true). good for me but wierd. any thoughts. thanks.

[lovemyraffe]

Weird. I would also have them look at the alternator.

[22lyons]

they said the alt was good. i did not know that the check engine light would come on. the charge light did not come on. I did talk to a buddy of mine and he said that when charge is low wierd things do happen. just did not know you could start the car by putting some cables on it!

[lovemyraffe]

Quote, originally posted by 22lyons »I did talk to a buddy of mine and he said that when charge is low wierd things do happen. just did not know you could start the car by putting some cables on it! Weird things can happen with a low charge, but you shouldn't be able to start the car just by putting cables on it. Especially with no key in the ignition.

[22lyons]

that's what i am thinking....

[MotoAce51]

Was talking to my dad a little while back about this same thing. Sometimes the little wafers in the batery can break off and cause a short. This makes it so the alt cant keep up but is still working. As for starting with just the terminals touched... Thats odd...

[22lyons]

Ok picked up the car today and things make some sense. Service guy at the dealer said, "there must be a remote starter on this." Well, since i bought it used from a dealer several weeks ago they did not tell me it had a remote starter. now to figure out how to get remote to use it!

[Salsa Guy]

Good luck on finding the remote starter. When batteries get old or damaged strange things happen. Hope it all works out for you!

[MotoAce51]

Quote, originally posted by 22lyons »Ok picked up the car today and things make some sense. Service guy at the dealer said, "there must be a remote starter on this." Well, since i bought it used from a dealer several weeks ago they did not tell me it had a remote starter. now to figure out how to get remote to use it! Find out the manufacture of the starter. You should be able to have them program a new remote. Or take it to an installer of the manufacturer. I am planning to try this in the next couple of weeks because I only got 1 remote when I bought the car and i want a spare.