Our '03 Tiburon (about 10,000 miles) had been working fine, until one morning when my son come out to start it & the battery seemed low (lights & displays came on, car barely tried to start). So we tried giving it a jump from one of our other cars, but instead charging the battery it only got weaker to the point that no lights came on, power locks, etc. didn't work, engine didn't turn over at all. We aren't sure if any lights, etc. were left on the night before, but we didn't think so. We did have a similar situation about a week ago, were we came out one morning and car wouldn't start, but we gave it a quick jump & it started right up. Also, we've been using that car to jump an old Toyota that we're selling that has a bad battery. I don't know if that may have anything to do with this problem. Any ideas of what the problem might be before we tow it to the dealer?

The battery could be completely drained, to the point it won't allow a charge. Do you have a battery charger you could try on it? If it won't even accept charge, I would say the battery is most likely the problem.

Thanks for the suggestion. We appreciate the help! We actually tried taking off the battery ground wire to see if there was any rust or corrosion & it didn't look to bad, so we put it back on. Then all of the sudden all of the lights and every everything else went on, so we tried to start it. It began to start, but then it clicked and sparks came from where the the ground cable connected to the car near the bottom of the battery. We took it off again, then looked at the cable, which looked good, replaced it and the same thing happened again, only this time it went a little longer before the lights and every thing else went off. Any ideas of what the problem might be?

It may be the alternator...Do you still have a warranty?

bad battery

put a different battery in it from a different car and see if it makes any different