hey guys and gals....anyway so i got this e-mail from the wife saying how my car would start. she told me that all it did was make a constant clicking noise, which i know is the starter but no turnover. so car stayed dead till our neighbor went over to take a look and claimed it was the battery.then he and a buddy of mine had to push start the car????? low and behold it started. she then told me she has to get the oil changed cause its "LOW" wtf im currently deployed.right before i left i did an oil change, bought a newly recharged battery from wal-mart<- had to cause not enough time to get a good brand cause i was deploying... anyway i can't seem to figure out what went wrong i hate being deployed and crap like this happens

 

miles? have her take it into the dealership.

good luck, and come home safe.

 

its a 2005 scion tc with 59,000 miles on it but i'll tell her to take it to the dealership when she can hopefully it still runs but thanks for the reply

 

Something drained the battery, which is why they had to push start it. Sounds like it is charging since it started and kept running after the battery was dead. If it holds a charge, then the battery is probably fine (other than being a wal-mart battery!). If not, then someone needs to get it started and put a voltmeter on the battery leads. If it is running 13.5 - 14.5 V or so then it is most likely charging.. if not it needs to be looked at further.

As for the oil, all cars (I dont care who tells you otherwise) use some amount of oil. If they didnt, they wouldnt be oiling well. My tC will use under 1/2 qt in about 5000 miles, but manufacturers will tell you that more than that is normal. How low was it? If it has been driven 3-4k since it was checked, then it may be 1/2 qt down or so. May have been even after you changed it if you didnt re-check it after you started it and let it run for a few minutes since the filter would have been filled by then.

 

ya, i got a new engine at 56K, just saying it's worth a try, since i know the frustration of not being able to troubleshoot it yourself.