Please help. Car just died tonight. NO Power. No lights. Nothing.
 

Hi all,

I was about to drive somewhere, got in the car and was about to put the key in the ignition, and everything just died. No power anywhere. Interior lights went out. It doesn't start. Nothing. As if it didn't have a battery in it. I think I recall hearing a "click" but I can't be sure. I have had the car 1 week. If it was my S90, I would know what to do, but this car is foreign to me. Can some one please, please help. Thank you.

My first guess would be a poor/loose battery connection, followed by the ignition switch.

I have been told a couple of different times that if my battery is good and the connection and wires are good, then it was probably the ignition switch. I'm leaning toward this being the problem. Would that cause no power to be anywhere in the car? Make the car totally dead? If so, then I think this is the problem. The car place that sold me the car also said this is probably the problem. Is it difficult to fix myself, and if I can't, does anyone know how much this should probably cost to fix, so I won't be overcharged? Just a rough estimate on what I'm looking at? I found the art new on eBay for about $45.00 - so how much should I expect for installation? Thanks.

Well, it's going to the mechanic in the morning. I found a good guy in Santa Monica. I still think it's the ignition switch, at least I hope that's all it is.

Given you have only owned the car 0ne week, do you not have any recourse with the car sales yard from which you purchased? i.e. 1,2 or 3 month warranty.
to have the problem rectified.
Or, did you purchase on an 'as is' basis?
Here in NZ most reputable licensed dealers offer limited warrantees for used cars unless of lower quality and we also have a 'Consumer Guarantees Act' as a fall back if applicable.

Not everything runs through the ignition switch, but most of it does. I've seen loose connections at the main junction/fuse box in the engine bay that was missed when someone replaced an ABS module in a car and it caused this same problem.

Have you checked the battery and all of its connections?