97 Sunfire will not turn over after changing Battery, what could be wrong?

I have a 97 sunfire that was dead when I went to start it. I had to get a jump and then it started up and was fine. I drove home and got to my driveway and the car died. It was dead again, no lights in the car come on when you turn the key. Tested the battery in another car and found out it was dead. Bought a new battery, changed it out and now all the dashboards lights come on but when you turn the key nothing happens. All the lights go off when you turn the key and the starter never seems to kick in. Anyone have any ideas what could be wrong?97 Sunfire will not turn over after changing Battery, what could be wrong?I had a 97 Sunfire which died in pretty much the same way. It was the alternator. The cost to repair it was so significant I just traded it in--the car had devalued so much since I bought it that I lost a lot of money.



(I had the solenoid checked, as well as all the connections, first, and none of those was the issue, but hopefully that is all your problem could be!)



Good luck.
97 Sunfire will not turn over after changing Battery, what could be wrong?
Soelenoid...starter..loose connection
97 Sunfire will not turn over after changing Battery, what could be wrong?
maybe your alternator
At one time Pontiac was notorious for the nuts holding the cables on the starter backing off, because there was no lockwasher installed. Check that. Also, could be your starter solenoid on the firewall. One other possibility, the ignition switch contacts may be loose.
Could be any of several things.



The one that is most difficult to diagnose is the alternator. The alternator in a General Motors car can fail in such a way that it will test good, but will cause a draw on the battery when the engine is shut off. Overnight a fully charged battery will be dead. The cost of a re-manufactured replacement alternator is about $125. They take only about 1/2 hour or less to replace. So if your mechanic wants to charge an outrageous amount to replace the alternator, find another mechanic.



It could be a bad battery cable(s). Or the connection to the battery. If when the car is running and one of the cables is warm, the cable is bad. Also check where the ground cable is connected to the chassis. Check where the positive cable connects to the starter. Clean the excess corrosion from the battery terminals with a mixture of baking soda and water, and a wire brush.



You could have a failed switch allowing a courtesy light to remain lit. But if your car has a battery saver circuit, this is unlikely. Most newer General Motors cars have a feature that turns off the courtesy lights to save the battery after about 15 minutes. But if your GM car does not have this feature, check the courtesy lights in the glove box, trunk, etc. If they are not turning off, this could be your problem.
If your alternator is shot your car will run on your battery alone which will drain it very quickly, I could be a starter issue on top of that if even after you replaced the battery%26gt; when you turn the key over do you hear a soft click (not from the dash from under the passenger side of the engine compartment (the usual spot) if you do your starter is engaging but you could have a bad solenoid, 10 years on a GM is the usual time for the starter to go. i can tell you how to test your starter and solenoid if you want.
Make sure the new battery is fully charged, some are not. If the car starts with a boost then its clearly not the starter, or the solenoid. It ran once boosted with a dead battery so its not the alternator either. Just get another boost, let the new battery charge up and you will be fine.