Car engine wont start after accident

Author Topic: Car engine wont start after accident  (Read 2838 times)

Hey all,

Maybe an important question after a car accident last Wednessday. So it's been a long story, let's keep it short: There was busy traffic on the road, there were two roads on my right side, on the first road the line of cars stopped in time. After the first bigger car on the second road an old men came out with a speed of 25 mph, hitting the corner of my bumper on the right side. There were only four meters left before the accident, so I stopped as fast as possible but yeah... the nightmare happened.

After all drama had been solved, the police told me if I wanted to move the car so the engine gave "one click" after starting and that's it. For anyone who wants to read further; last Friday the car was declared "total loss", the price of repairing the bumper and all damaged material came up around €2000,- ($2.198,00 USD), that's €947 ($1.040,75 USD) higher then the car's price today.

Is anybody familiar with the Hyundai Excel 1.3? I'd know that it is a popular car for students like me.

For the damage, see picture below.
« Last Edit: December 13, 2015, 03:21:48 PM by Antares »

what do you mean by "click"
does the engine turn over?

what do you mean by "click"
does the engine turn over?
When you press the engine on, it normally should give a starting sound. If I do it, instead of the starting sound, something is 'clicking' by the engine. Even the Hyundai dealer couldn't really answer the question if there was a safety button that disables all parts of the car after an accident.

When you press the engine on, it normally should give a starting sound. If I do it, instead of the starting sound, something is 'clicking' by the engine. Even the Hyundai dealer couldn't really answer the question if there was a safety button that disables all parts of the car after an accident.
its an electrical issue of some kind then

its an electrical issue of some kind then
Then I'd believe that it could be the car battery. The car alarm lights were on for twenty minutes, but two weeks before I have driven 180 miles somewhere to a town in the Northern part of The Netherlands and back to home again. Normally the car battery should fill it self up after you drive large distances.

The car lights and radio were turned off immediately after the accident. But I could check with another car battery tomorrow when I get the money of the insurance.

Do you have car insurance? Also a bit off topic, but I have to comment on how clean/spotless those roads look in The Netherlands!

Do you have car insurance? Also a bit off topic, but I have to comment on how clean/spotless those roads look in The Netherlands!
Yeah it's required to have a car insurance in The Netherlands. Since the accident wasn't my fault, the insurance of the other driver will pay an amount of money (I think €1,053) euro's for my car's value of today. Also the roads are better here indeed.

Where do you live? Those roads look pretty crazy.

Well I'm glad your still alive Antares!

Where do you live? Those roads look pretty crazy.

The Netherlands.

try removing all fuses except those needed to start the car, maybe something is shorting out

try checking oil pressure, coolant, and other fluids, as well as battery charge

literally the same thing happened to me but I wasn't in an accident.

if it makes exactly one click, doesn't turn over, keeps making one click when you turn the key, and the battery isn't dead.  it's your starter.  for a car as common as yours they cost ~$100USD.  I would put money you forgeted the starter solenoid and that's the only thing preventing the car from running.  front core supports in cars today are far too strong to allow the motor to be forgeted at anything under highway speeds.  Have the starter tested and go from there.  could be a cheap repair to get the car running.

I burned a Fiat 600's engine and it did what you described. Trn of a key and one click from the engine. Nothing else.

i recognized NL from just this photo, haha nice.  glad you were insured

Ouch, poor car, I hope it's not anything major to fix, but the important thing is that you're okay.

Yesss! Thank you for the picture!
(Sorry, I just love car wreck pictures/videos)