Help, Veeky Forums

Help, Veeky Forums.

I'm retarded and I don't know what to do. A couple days ago, my friend and I wanted to go get burritos. We got in my car, and it wouldn't start. I would keep turning the key, but the dash would just go dim and nothing would happen. I figured it was my battery, so I went to walmart, bought a cheap one to help me get home, threw it in and it started up perfectly. I drove home and that was that. The next morning, I got in to go to work, and the car was doing the same thing. Dash would dim and nothing would happen when I turned the key. I don't have a voltmeter or anything, so I was pissed and assumed my battery was dead again. I left nothing on, nothing plugged in, and it's only been a day. The battery was definitely dead though, so I took it back, exchanged it for a new one and it did the exact same thing, so I figured it was my alternator not charging the battery. I took it to AutoZone before buying a new alternator and had them diagnose it for free, and it turned out the battery and alternator were completely fine. Drove home, went to bed, woke up this morning, wouldn't turn on again. I just returned the battery and bought a voltmeter. Can anyone help me out with what it might be? I'm not SUPER mechanically smart, but I can figure out how to do stuff. My next guess is it's the cables, but everything seems fine to me. I don't have the time to look through every single cable, but I need to get it figured out fast so I can fucking get to work. Anyone know what I should do?

Pic related is my car. 1990 Nissan 240sx SE with a KA24DE swap. I only have about, $140, so I can't take it to a mechanic or anything, either.

I'm wondering if it might be my starter, as well, but it clicks when I try turning the car over before the battery completely drains and it stops letting me turn it over.

Sell it to me, I need another white meme machine

NO. I need this piece of shit to get to work to waste money I make to keep my piece of shit going until I can afford another, slightly better piece of shit.

There is no greater piece of shit than a 240sx with problems

I've come to realize this. But, I'm stuck with the piece of shit, so I'm asking for help.

have you checked ur alternator urself with ur voltimeter? also do this OP

>connect voltimeter to battery, set up at 20v DC
>start the engine
>check if the voltage is correct
>stop the engine
>see if the system discharges quickly, if it does you have a faulty gremlin wire somewhere around ur car

if you do have one have fun finidng it

otherwise get a GTR, its also a nissan, won't have faulty wires and will be faster than a corvette

Probably a grounding error.

Maybe a dead starter.

Potentially (but less likely) a dying alternator.

tldr
Test the battery with a load tester at autozone, if it's good do a voltage drop test starting at the terminals and ending at the starter, keep checking with the multimeter until you find the bad spot in the wiring.
Google voltage drop test I'm not gonna write it all out on my phone.

How does one check his starter when the car wont even start because dead battery?

And no, but I probably should. I need to get a new battery again, though, if I want to be able to start the engine. I'm just afraid to kill a new one again.

you can afford meme wheels but not a trip to a mechanic

just push start the car you fucking twinkboi

Look for rusted / corroded / split ground wires first.

Then charge the fucking battery and try shit out.

This really is a minor issue that most older cars come across. It does not imply your car "has problems" btw.

buy another battery you fucking dumbass

>throw parts at it you dumbass

Parasitic drain. Test current draw with everything off.

I've bought 2 already and returned them both because they discharge within a day.

you really are retarded. just sell it and buy a geo or civic until you can afford something nice that doesn't break. in my area a 240 in good condition with those wheels would get easily 4k even with just telling the buyer the battery is dead.

maybe the 2 you got were bad batteries? try buying 2 more while you're there since the first time you got a new battery the problem is still there

Nigger are you serious?

I'm not really sure, though. I don't want to put money into this because of an electrical problem, then sell it, get another piece of shit that might have different or worse problems, and then throw money at that. I'm better off just handling the problem it has right now. I want to keep this car, anyways.

Fuck you.

Trying this now. Hopefully I can figure it out.

>ur
>ur
>ur
Congratulations, you saved three words at the cost of sounding like a pillock.

No, Fuck You

Does it intermittently show signs of a dead battery? As in, can you try to start it a few times and randomly it will be completely fine or act like it's dead? Or do you have to jump start every time?

This and this really.

You either have a current draw, or corroded/split/bad wiring.

If it's a current draw and you can't be fucked to fix it, just disconnect the negative batter cable everytime you park it overnight. Or narrow it down to which fuse you need to pull to stop the draw.