I just bought an '04 Intrepid SE with the notorious 2.7L V6. The guy I bought it from is an engine rebuilder. He went thru the motor and replaced the water pump, oil pump and replaced the crankshaft along with the main and rod bearings.

I picked up the car yesterday and drove it on the interstate, including a 10-minute traffic jam for about 16 miles, then stopped to fill the tank (non-ethanol). When I tried to start it, it responded sluggishly and then the battery ran completely down. The seller was good enough to come rescue me, jump the car, and then installed a new battery since he wasn't sure how old the battery in the car actually was.

Today I picked up the car and drove 15 miles home, no problem. Later I drove it to work and back, 9 miles each way, no problem. I parked it. When I went back to the car about 40 minutes later and tried to start it, I got nothing. And I do mean NOTHING. No dash lights when the ignition switch is on. No headlights, no horn, no door ajar dinger, NOTHING. The only thing in the car (and this is the weird part) that seems to have juice is the oil pressure warning light, which comes on even though absolutely nothing else does. Not being that familiar with the car, I checked and double checked that it was in park, the doors closed, nothing turned on, etc. If it weren't for the oil pressure light, I would think the battery had been stolen or a main fuse had blown.

I'm STUMPED. Admittedly, I'm not much of a mechanic but I know the basics. I don't even know where to start on this one.

Tomorrow I will pull the intake so I can get to the new battery and put a meter on it to see if it has held a charge and has the correct voltage. I will check any fuses I can find, but don't see that as holding much promise.
What about the ignition switch? Could the computer develop a glitch that refuses to allow EVERYTHING to run. If I had any power at all, wouldn't something glow albeit dimly; interior lights, headlights, dash panel, something?

Has anyone ever had this problem? Does anyone have any idea where to start looking?

Thanks.

PS I did try researching this and other forums but could find nothing very similar to my problem. Most people at least can get theirs to crank if not firing. I get NOTHING!!

 

This morning the instrument panel lit up with no apparent problem. Trying to start resulted in clicking under the hood. It seemed to click faster when hooked up to jumper cables. At least I have reportable symptoms now. Possibly the starter solenoid? But what would account for the completely dead state yesterday? Would a bad solenoid kill everything? Would it do it only while hot? Battery showed 12+ volts on voltmeter before I tried to start it. Hooked up to my truck I'm reading 13.5 between the cables at the grille and fender (since you can't really get to the posts on the battery).
Really stuck for answers...

 

Stuck a code reader (admittedly a cheap one) on the car and turned the key to the on position. The panel lights all began blinking rapidly, accompanied by a clicking noise at the dash. Would not even try to crank, or even make the under-hood clicking I had heard this morning. Did not get any codes.

 

Since last we visited our poor little dead Intrepid.....
Last night I put a charger on the battery (or at least on the cables that run to the battery since the Chrysler engineers in their infinite wisdom decided that a battery being *******ly inaccessible was not a concern) and left it on a 2A trickle charge setting.
This morning the car was as dead as ever. I can kick the charger up to 10A and get panel lights, door ding, etc. At 50A start setting I get clicking under the hood again.
So, I pulled the battery, even though it is BRAND NEW. The battery was correctly installed, positive cable to the rear and all. Connections were tight and appear to be clean, although I'm not real impressed with the negative cable's wimpy connector.
With the battery out of the car, I stuck the charger on it. At the 10A (fast charge) setting the meter on the charger would jump between approx. 12A and 0A (with the "charged" light coming on) about every 1-2 seconds. At 2A it has a similar response. Pulled the charger off the battery. On my cheap little multimeter I'm reading 12.9V between posts on the battery. Admittedly, the charger is a cheap (Harbor Freight) one but I've used it on other cars.
I've checked continuity in the cables between the battery and the access posts, both negative and positive are fine. Continuity between the positive post and the fuse box is good as well. Haven't quite figured out the ends to check the rest, but the connections on the starter/solenoid appear tight and clean. I would expect this because the guy that freshened the motor installed the starter, which he had previously tested as good (from an '02 Intrepid if that has any bearing on things).
I pulled the starter relay and using my multimeter I could see that it had continuity between the blades that should and none between the ones that are open.
I'd test the alternator, but since I can't start the car ...........
Letting the battery sit while I go to work for a few hours. Will check the voltage on it again in about 5 hours and see if it has dropped just sitting on a plastic crate. I also pulled the caps and verified the cells are full of water (or whatever you want to call battery fluid).
At this point I really don't think I have a starter problem. I'm leaning toward a battery problem, followed by maybe the alternator, and thirdly, a short somewhere that is sucking all the juice away from the starter.
I'm still very open to suggestions, links to videos to show me where to find/test things,

 

OK, so yesterday the battery only dropped 1/10th of a volt over 7 hours. Found a different, more modern charger and put on it. It showed the battery at 95% charged. Fast charged it until the green "charged" light came on, maybe 20 minutes max. Put the battery back in the car, tightened down all the cables, and started the car!! Grrrrrr. Put same charger on the posts and hit the alternator button. Showed 13.5V with car running. Apparently it isn't the alternator either. Car started so apparently it isn't the starter.

I realize that sometimes you have problems that don't get resolved so much as that they simply go away. Have started the car several times since with no real indication of it starting to drag the battery down. Haven't road tested it yet and let the engine compartment get up to its normally high temperature to see if that triggers a failure of something, maybe later today.

I really prefer definitive solutions, to be able to point to a part and say "that was the problem," but this may not be one of those times.

 

Hey bcj138596. I recently purchased a 2000 intrepid. The guy i purchased it from installed a new battery the day before I bought it. About a week later after purchase I went to start the car to go to work and I had the same symptoms. It was my starter. I had it replaced and its been running fine ever since. Hope this helps

 

Ch the ground points for corrosion.