hey guys, ive been having an issue for the last few days. when i get in the car and start it up it wont turn over....it sits there and clicks but doesnt engage the engine. what could be the issue? starter? spark plugs? i just bought a new battery thinking that was one of the issues but the problem still remains. i was gonna go get a tune up today but wanted to see what you guys thought first.
First thing I'd check is loose connections. Start with the battery connections to the battery posts. Little steel brush or light sand paper. if you don't have anything else take a knife and scrap it. You can get a coating of corrosion on there that you can barely see. Doesn't take anything to knock it off. Make sure the connectors are snugged down (don't put too much lateral force on it, those are carbon rods and can snap). Second look for a loose connection on the other end (probably fine at the under hood box). Is it everything that's down or just the starter. Could be the connection at the starter motor. Got anything to check voltage? any kind of multimeter? When it won't start immediately check the voltage directly off the battery posts. Voltage good at the battery then it's a connection problem. Voltage not good at the battery then you got something that's occassionally drawing it down. Chase it. If that's not a deep cycle battery drawing it all the way down is not good for it at all.
How old is your battery??? for the past 10 years the new ones will give up real quick w/o much warning.. especially with the hot weather, this will be antoher factor that can attribute to a battery (or one of its cells) giving up the ghost. As Dave said if you have access to a multimeter you can check real quick. Measure the battery voltage w/o a load (no lights radio or other accessories being on) and then turn o the head lights if the voltage at the battery drops much below 12.0 vdc it is probably a bad battery. If it drips below 11 it definitely is a b/o battery. Should the voltage stay up at the battery move up to under the hood and do the same test. As said if the voltage drops under the hood as compared to what was measured at the battery than you have a connection, cable corrosion issue.. Good luck
i just bought a new battery from sears. diehard plat, the same one you bought dave with the 930cca. its not the battery, its only 2 months old (sn from the battery) and the problem was happening when i was running my old battery. ill check the voltages but it seems more than that. i havent had the spark plugs swapped since i bought the car, that couldnt be part of the issue? ron, i havent checked the fuses, ill do that now. im looking for a blown fuse? wouldnt that make the fuel pump inoperable?
yup. If you are cranking the motor, just not starting, then it could also be a lack of fuel issue? Just throwing it out there since the other yea hoos can't read that you already changed the battery. hahahaha
Might be the starter going bad, I just replaced mine but mine was turning slow and getting worse. It wasn't the battery in my case though I thought it was at first. If your out of warrenty the starter can be had for about $75 from a dealer willing to price match. Lists for $111
If it's clicking and not turning over. You've covered your bases so far. Get under the car and check the gound connection located on the bell housing on the passenger side where the tranny fill tube mounts. Make certian it's clean and tight and than double check the positive connection on the starter, make sure you disconnect the + lead on the battery first.
This ain't fuel (or plugs). It's a bad connection or battery or starter. 1) Your battery can be brand new and if something is drawing too much power when the car is off (head lights for example) it can draw it down to where it can't start the car. 2) If it finally "grabs" and then starts the car fine then it's going to be a connection or a good chance of a bad starter motor. That "clicking" you hear is the starter solenoid. Starter motor is connected to a shaft by a gear. That shaft is extendible with another gear on the end of it. Your fly wheel is a giant gear connected to the motor. When you start your car the electric magnet in the solenoid gets powered and that shoots out the extendible shaft. The gear on the end of the shaft engages the teeth on the flywheel and the starter motor is able to turn over the motor. When you release the key the solenoid magnet is turned off and the shaft retracts disengaging the gear from the flywheel. When the battery is low the shaft flys out and the gear engages the flywheel but there isn't enough juice for the starter motor to crank the engine. As the battery loses a bit more you get rapid clicking as the magnet force about equals the retractor spring. So.... if it cranks fine (once it cranks) then: 1) bad/loose connection. The spark/current can heat/clean tiny spots at the junction or even micro spot weld and then you get enough juice to make things work that time. At the starter, the vibration of the solenoid operating can jiggle the power connections if they're loose there. 2) Could be a bad starter motor. The starter motor can have "flat" spot(s). A particular position puts the brushes on the armature at a shorted coil or dead spot. Again the vibration of the solenoid or just very weak motor operation will turn it enough to get to a live spot/area and the starter motor fires up. Once it's operating the momentum carries it through the bad spot(s). So that's all if it all of a sudden cranks fine after some attempts that only resulted in "clicking". If you have to jump it every time there's clicking then it's more likely something is drawing the battery down while the car sits (although there is still a small chance it's dirty terminals (cable clamps))
i have never had to jump it from a dead battery, the problem comes and goes but doesnt happen all the time. tonight for example, i started the car fine 4 times. each time it worked beautifully. though this morning i had to try it twice to get it finally to turn over. cam, ill try your thing in the morning thanks bud. dave, i have a sneaking suspicion its the starter. thanks for the info. + if i buy a new starter, what brand do you recommend? BBB Precision BOSCH REMY
i dunno if this is an issue on the SRT8 starters but the neons have a problem with the starter solenoid signal wire/clip becoming loose over time and not getting a good connection
I think LXs have the opposite problem. That little wire is a bitch to get off of our starters. The other way you can check if its the starter is to bang on the starter while someone else turns the key. If the the starter has a dead spot, it will usually kick over when tapped. Same with fuel pumps. My first truck I used to keep a length of rebar behind the seat for this very reason. If it didn't turn over, you just popped the hood and banged on the starter with the rebar and then you'd be good to go.
hahaha! i will def try that! how hard do you think the install of a new starter would be? im thinking i should just replace mine with a bosch right now.
Starters (haven't changed one in many years) are usually pretty easy. They're down on the outside bottom side of the block (back there by the flywheel). About the size of a 2 liter bottle around and not quite as long and held in with 2 bolts or nuts on studs. Usually the one towards the motor is less easy to get to. Just a matter of getting a socket on it. clearance. Probably want to get to it from underneath. Power lead and harness connector or something. So a couple of bolts and the wire connections. Usually the hardest part is holding the thing up there (heavy) with one hand and getting the first bolt started in confined quarters. (heh... I'll bet I can find that in the service manual :grin:. hang on)
lol. In step 5) they say "always support starter motor"... that's cause the things are heavy and they sort of come loose all of a sudden and you're holding it up with one hand and did I say they're heavy? got to be 10 or 20 lbs. It's pretty much guaranteed you're going to smash a finger either taking it in or out (of course now days they have these fancy/pussy mechanics gloves). It's a pretty simple job. Used to be that you could take your starter motor into Napa/Kragens/whatever and they'd bench test it right there and tell you if it was a bad winding, brushes, solenoid, gear whatever. Then you'd usually do a core exchange for a rebuilt one. New ones are expensive mainly 'cause it's a heavy duty electric motor.
