Car won't Start

[porschenut]

I haven't driven my car for about 3 weeks and forgot to put it on the battery maintainer charger, I tried it yesterday and it won't fire up, just hear a clicking noise and then lights flicker, my battery is 4 years old and I drive the car bi-weekly when I'm home, I think it's the battery, am I correct in my assessment? Can I use the battery charger/maintainer to fully charge the battery? Or should I just jump the car?

[Loren]

You can try to charge the battery - but 4-5 years is all you will get out a battery.

I would just go buy a new battery (with a vent line) - see the Battery thread here.

[porschenut]

So if the battery is dead, then the battery charger/maintainer won't charge it? Also, should I leave the battery charger plugged in while changing batteries so I won't loose codes/settings?

[wross996TT]

you can't save a dead battery. you didn't post the MY or model of your car so if it is 03+ you will not have to save radio codes as they are stored in the DME. if <03, you can try the cig lighter plug-in to save the codes. you should keep your new battery on a maintainer as well.

[porschenut]

you can't save a dead battery. you didn't post the MY or model of your car so if it is 03+ you will not have to save radio codes as they are stored in the DME. if <03, you can try the cig lighter plug-in to save the codes. you should keep your new battery on a maintainer as well.

It's an '02. I'll keep it the cig-lighter charger plugged in as long as there is no harm to the car. Is there anything I should watch out for while changing the battery with the maintainer plugged in? TIA