I am trying to jump start the 1 year old battery on my park avenue that has been sitting since November 2018. It's not working, it tries but dies out before starting. I know it has bad gas in it but it has started before from jumping it so I'm not sure of the problem. I just want to move it to the driveway so it can be worked on. The other day I noticed this part in the engine that appears as if there was a hose attached to it, but I can't be sure. I'm hoping you all can give me some assistance. Iif a hose does actually go there, then where does the other end go? Would this be preventing it from starting or maybe just from running smoothly or what?

Seems so odd to me that ever since putting in a new battery, the car has to be jump started......and now it won't even do that.

Thank you

 

Appears to be vacuum line; other end must be there someplace. Can only guess it’s connected with intake vac. or can that be a speed control servo vacuum hose for maintaining auto speed.? Yes, it could disrupt starts I’d imagine with vacuum leak.

 

Thank you - I'll see if I can find anything on internet about it.

 

If the vehicle has automatic level control, it may be related to that and probably not functioning.

 

Thank you Hanky. Yes, it has automatic level control and every once in awhile I hear that silver box in the picture make a noise. So that would have nothing to do with it starting then, would it?

 

Now to the starting problem,

So we are on the same page,
When you turn the key to the start position, we say the starter cranks the engine over.
When the engine starts running we say it fires up and/or runs.
Which is your vehicle doing?
Is it cranking over and not firing up or is it not cranking at all?

If it is not cranking over, either the battery is low or defective or with a good jumper battery it still won't crank over 2 possibilities, bad battery cables or bad connections at the the places where the cables attach to the battery and/or engine.
Here is a simple test you might try,
turn the headlights on , then attempt to start the engine. What do the headlights do ?
If they stay bright and no change when starter is engaged, problem is in starter circuit or starter itself.
If they go dim, battery low, or high resistance in cables or connections and result is insufficient power available to starter and electrical system.

NOTE; If the cables are bad or have poor connections , most times a jumper battery won't make much difference because the power can't get through the high resistance in the cables or poor connection to vehicle.You might remove the negative cable first and look behind the connection that goes against the battery. Do the same thing with the positive cable connection at the battery. If there is any corrosion behind the cable end , you won't see it until you remove the cable from the battery.
Let us know what you find, thanks..

 

Thank you so much Hanky. I will try that tonight! First I will have to confess that I am a girl and although I have done ALOT of repairs to my various cars over the last 30 years, I'm not good at diagnosing the problem. These forums help alot.
My ex husband corrected me on my terminology a few years back in that I always thought "turning the engine over" meant the car started running.

That's not the case here. It sounds like it's right on the edge of "running" but the battery dies down again. So, yes, the starter is cranking the engine over but the engine never fires up before the battery dies down.

 

I hooked the battery up to the jump starter and let it sit awhile. Because of the way the hood opens, it covers the headlights, so I had to remove the cables in order to lower the hood in order to see the headlights. As soon as I took the cables off the battery posts, the car had no headlights.

so I put the cables from the jump starter back on the battery and lowered the hood ever so gently so it wouldn't go all the way down. I had someone in the car try to start it with the headlights on and as the starter cranked the engine over the headlights dimmed, but the engine did not fire up/run.

As soon as I removed the cables, I had nothing again.

 

Hanky has provided an excellent procedure to follow with fool proof results. Your battery is shot, the time spent if you were paying yourself would of bought a new battery lol. I do the same thing, pending value of car would determine price you are willing to pay for battery.

My question would be- with jumpers on and lights off, engine should of turned over after maybe 15 minutes charging, say? Hopefully other car had motor running when tests conducted. Well, know mystery component was a load leveler anyways. Recommend still be wary of disconnected vac lines; won’t affect initial start but possible once started won’t stay running; can’t vouch for ‘85 Buick at all on that though but once upon a time had influence on carbs and distributors, early PCV components.

Good to see your still here Hanky, forum’s slow this summer.

 

I question whether it's the battery for one reason:

I bought a new battery and had the same issue. It was dead as soon as I shut the car off.
So I returned it and got another battery which is this one.
Seems odd that I would get 2 brand new batteries, both of which are dead.

Also, I didn't use another vehicle. I used a jump starter.