A couple days ago I was distracted and accidently turned the key to start on my 2001 Dakota. Immediately the truck quit running and all electrical items shut down. I then tried to start the truck and absolutely nothing happened when I turned the key to start; however a few minutes later electrical items started to sort of work and when I turned the key to start the starter made the clicking sound. I eventually jumped the battery and the truck would run if I keep the rpms high but die if I tried to let it idle. After I noticed the electric windows worked very slow I felt confident that whatever happened destroyed the battery. Is it possible for the starter to engage and then work in reverse as a generator and overload the battery? I installed a new battery and everything seems to be back to normal.

I did a search and found the following article dealing with a starter-generator. This happened while I was taking my son to WyoTech so my son mentioned it to an istructor who told him about the starter-generator used on some rider mowers. I think what happened is odd; but I am convinced that somehow the battery was instantly destroyed.


http://www.simpletractors.com/service/electrics/starter-generator.htm

If it was running and your accessories were slow to respond I'd suspect the alternator's not charging that battery; also by chance is that the orig battery? If so it has definitely outlived its usefullness.

I can't believe hitting the key with the engine running would have anything to do with battery failure.The starter wouldn't ingage so it wouldn't be spun by the motor. The grinding you hear is the starter teeth not meshing with the flywheel.Beside that it's been done to often by others without battery failure.It was just a fluke that the battery failed when it did.

I can't believe hitting the key with the engine running would have anything to do with battery failure.The starter wouldn't ingage so it wouldn't be spun by the motor. The grinding you hear is the starter teeth not meshing with the flywheel.Beside that it's been done to often by others without battery failure.It was just a fluke that the battery failed when it did.

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Hitting the key while the engine was running did not kill the battery. Even if the starter did engage which is almost impossible , it would not kill the battery as quick as you say. Just a hunch but did you have the battery out and install it reverse polarity, Now some weird things could happen. Hope you find your trouble because installing a new battery havn't got it fixed (IMO)

Its a one in a million chance that could happen, if in fact that is what caused it. Is it charging while its running? If the power accesories were slow when running it aint the battery. Think the new battery made it run again, but something mighta got hot and lost connection for a bit maybe.

I know it should have simply grinded gears which did not happen. When I turned the key it simply instantly killed everything. I was in a parking lot in Laramie, WY getting taking care of things to get my son settled into WyoTech. This happened at about 2 PM so I was a little stressed as at WyoTech they cannot have there cell phones so his phone was in the truck. I was scheduled to pick him up at 4:15 PM. When this happened I was talking to my wife and I instantly knew I had a major problem so I immediately told her I had a problem and hung up. After everything instantly quit the next time I turned the key it was as if the battery was removed from the truck. I thought I must have blown some type of main fuse; however then a few minutes later the LED light for the radio was back on (clock was not set) and when I turned the key at least the gauge lights started to light up. I then called AAA and while waiting for AAA a guy gave me a jump. The truck started but when I took my foot off the accelerator pedal the truck died so I restarted and we waited about five minutes at which time it once again died. At that point I had the guy giving me the jump remove the cables while I two footed it and started to drive to the nearest auto parts store; however with the electronic transmission acting funny and seeing the AAA tow truck pull into the parking lot I waved him down. The AAA guy had completed all types of courses at WyoTech and after analyzing the situation agreed something very odd must have happened. Prior to the instant I turned the key to start with the motor running the existing battery which was almost new had never given any problems. After we noticed how slow the electric windows were working we both agreed the battery needed to be replaced. After replacing the battery it took a few on/off cycles for the Check Brakes and ABS warning lights to finally go off.

All I can say is I cannot explain why it happened and I believe if I accidently turned the key while running again it would grind gears instead of this very odd occurrence happening. All I can say is it happened.

probably half tripped a circuit breaker or a fuseable link somewhere and you are not getting correctr system voltage to the computer so its not running right until you up the rpms to allow the alternator to output sufficient voltage to run the system...

If the battery charge was marginal, turning the key and energizing the starter may have drawn enough current to overload the the already nearly dead battery and there for killing any electrical power needed to run the engine. The reason for running at higher RPM's and dying at idle is that with a dead or nearly battery and jump starting the engine was running on the alternator charge which wasn't enough at idle to keep voltage to the ignition up to firing voltage.

I've had new batteries fail before. If a cell shorted out internally it could do what you described. An alternator needs power to make power so if the battery was on the verge of 0 volts as soon as you hit the starter the voltage would drop the alternator would quit charging and the engine would quit. I'll bet if you put a volt meter on the battery it will likely only show a few volts and when loaded drop right out. One other possibility is a bad connection at the battery which could also give the same symptoms but you likely already eliminated that one.

Kevin

My best guess... Is the battery was marginal at best. Being winter time, you tax your electrical system even more then normal like in the summer time. Heater, headlights, defroster, wipers,(sometimes heated mirrors, seats, Gps display, Ipods, Amps ect...) they all take a little more then normal load. Short trips and cold weather will over-tax your charging system, especially with a bad battery.

I was taught a charging system was designed to maintain a charge, not to constantly keep charging, although it will for awhile. I would imagine (without looking at it ) you might even had slightly corroded connections too. (This might have been taken care of when you changed out the battery.) Then figure in some short trips, or long periods of idleling, with all the accesories on, with no time to charge battery back to full charge. Then if you had a shorted cell, all these would cause your battery to have a lower output. All of these might have been enough to put the battery over the acceptable discharge range.

3 questions now,
1) Did you have them charge and check your old (possibly good) battery? If they just tried to check it while it was discharged/low, that won't give you an accurate reading.

2) Have you had anyone check the output on your alternator after you changed out the battery? It may not be putting out as much as it used too either.

3) How old was the battery? 4-5 years is average, but really depends on how it was used, maintained, and how much it was discharged and re-charged-lots of accessories?

He stated that the battery was an almost new replacement battery.