So I was leaving the gas station and wasn't far enough over so I bottomed out on the passenger side, and then, banged again really hard when the rear wheel rolled on over.

The car died immediately and now it will not start

The gauges to not register, except the battery, it shows like 10V on the dial, everything else, temp, fuel and oil pressure show no movement.

All fuses and relays appear to be fine.

After holding the ignition on, with the starter reeling for 30 sec or so, i went to try to smell gas from the tail pipe but I'm getting no strong gas or fumes smell, just a regular tailpipe smell

Did I kill my fuel pump or ignition? Would either dying cause my gauges to not work?

 

some searching and my roommate said I could have shorted out a plate or two INSIDE the battery and now I'm only making ~8 volts, do you think that could be the cause?

 

If you are able to crank the engine over, the battery is OK. If you continue to crank the engine over and check electrical items, it will soon discharge and you'll create another problem for yourself.

 

well no kidding, but my starter can operate on low voltage so I'm not sure that tells me anything

 

Say what? Again, if the starter is capable of turning the engine over for 30 seconds, you DO NOT have a battery issue. And no starter runs on low voltage. They need minimum 11.0-12.0v and several hundred amps to operate when installed.

 

Might have broken the crank sensor wire. It is over by the starter. It will crank all day and never start.

You should be able to hear your fuel pump when you key the car on but don't start it. It primes for a second or two.

-Geoff

 

YES, cars will turn over and fire with minimum cranking voltage of 10.4V. I'm only hitting 9.7V, most all starters only need 9.5V to run without ignition, and the starter draws the most load so it gets the electricity first. you can test it, as long as u have the correct amps and at least 9.5V a starter will crank an engine just fine.

So, update: I went and pulled out the battery and brought it home to charge. Before, we tried to jump start it, but no luck, same symptoms.I'm thinking this is an internal batter failure because if two plates shorted out, that would lower my max voltage no matter how I tried jumping it. We also tried to run the jumper cables from the running car to the leads of the camaro, but we couldnt get a good enough contact and the posts were different! So then, despite my starter engaging very easily while it was in the car 30 minutes ago, I hooked up the load tester and it was only hitting 10V max. I put the battery on the charger, and its showing ZERO-10% charge or (red area). Its been on for nearly 20 minutes now and I'm still showing in the red.

6 year old optima red top battery by the way, do you think that makes a difference?

 

What voltage are you trying to charge the red top at? saying 12v is not going to cut it either lol. If I remember it should be between 13.1 to 13.7 or so for a charge. Another thing, the optima batteries do not really have plates so to speak. And you will be unlikely to short two cells together. You can mount the thing in any position and run it over any number of things and it will be fine. Chances are it is not a battery issue at all, but rather a sensor issue, or a fuel pump issue. If you smell no gas after all of that cranking, then the first thing I would check is to see if you have spark. if you have spark, then check to make sure the pump is actually working. if it is priming, but no fuel in cylinders than check the injectors to see if they fire. Something is stopping your engine from fireing. either no spark, or no fuel.

 

I tested the fuel rail on the little nipple/valve-stem thing, and I have pressure, gas sprayed out. I figure if the fuel pump wasn't pumping then the injectors would quickly release all the fuel like pressure into the intake from me cranking the hell out of it.

I tested to see if I had spark, by trying to make the wire spark to ground on the strut, and did not.

But I still have not eliminated the battery as the problem yet, because if it is the battery, I wouldnt be getting spark with just 9.7V so that doesnt really prove an ignition problem, or fuel problem

 

charging the red top with a regular overnight charger, which has worked in the past.

 

So my battery is 100% good. I get plenty of fuel pressure so its not a fuel issue. I took out a few spark plugs from each bank and cranked it to check for ignition, and I have spark.

There is no damage to the crank sensor, or any wires that I can tell, so I'm totally confused, Im about to have it towed to a shop.

 

How do you know you have fuel pressure?? You hit the nipple and gas came out??

They call it a Fuel Pressure Gauge try it.
Also like was said do you hear the fuel pump kick on?? If you have spark but no start or even try to start you have a fuel issue or timing issue.

 

sorry, I can hear the fuel pump kick on. When fuel rail looses pressure from me letting gas out, once I turn the key on the pump re-pressurizes the line.

I do not have a fuel pressure gauge.

Its going to a guy ed wright told me to send it to so we will find out soon enough I guess.

 

Don't nuke it out, you ripped a wire under the car so get under there and inspect.

 

Did you test to see if the njectors were firing? If you crank a car over for that long and you smell no gas, then it is not putting fuel into the cylinders when you are trying to crank it.