hello, im new to this site but ive always come here to get new info about my car

my car was runnig great then out of no where the starter started grinding and then it woulnt engage, when i would turn key it would wind up, but wouldnt hit the gears.

so i went over to cost less and got a new one for about 100$ and it would work, AFTER i would turn key nothin would happen just a clicking noise, then a second try and it would start right up almost like i had to charge up the starter or something....

i replaced the ground cable to the body of my car and that seemed to work first try only for a day. then the only way i could get it to start was by using jumper cables from another RUNNING car. connecting jumper cables to another battery just didnt work.

all of my acc lights work exept my high beams, everything seems so random and i dont know what could possibly make it be like this please help as i have work and school to go to everyday and im stuck riding my 1984 honda spree around.

 

Sounds as if your connection to the starter was all that great. If that doesn't work try getting one more starter and paying close attention to the hook up.

 

Have you tested your charging system/battery? Have you tested all the wiring from starter to battery? I don't mean a visual inspection either, I mean actually checking w/DVOM. If you can get some readings it would really help, good wrenching!!

 

there were only two wires coming from the starter..one black wire soldered to the solenoid the has a connection at the end that goes into my wiring harness, and another wire that i attach the the positive terminal that comes from the same wiring harness...it is a refurbished starter and i heard sometimes refurbished starters don't have the right milla-amps running through it?....i really have no idea

and i dont know how i would go about checking my charging system, is that something i can do at my house?

 

is there supposed to be some type of shim in between my starter and the tranny? the las starters bottom bolt was unthreaded and i checked the teeth and they werent chipped or anything... is it possible my gears arnt lined up right?

 

is it repetitive clicking or just a single click?

 

I just replaced mine a couple months ago. I actually thought it was my battery terminals for a while since it would work fine for a week then just stop working. They were pretty jacked so I replaced them and sure enough it started. Drove it for a couple days and then came out and it wouldn't start again. Replaced the starter with a reman one and it wouldn't start because it was bad too. Went and got another one again , this one would kick over but was grinding the flywheel. WENT THROUGH 2 OF THESE THINGS TILL I FINALLY GOT A GOOD ONE. The parts guy almost didn't want to take it back because he didn't believe me lol. He was like,"I've never seen starters go bad this often." pshhhh

 

install old timey hand crank starter

 

if its an automatic the shifter park sensor causes no starts,wiggle shifter

is there an aftermarket alarm etc?
are the battery clamps good?the ground cable to the frame clean?
check related fuses under dash and under hood boxes
if you remove it again look at the flywheel teeth

 

If you have a volt-meter or multi-meter ($5 at harbor freight) you can test your battery/alternator/charging system.

With engine off, the meter should read slightly higher than 12 volts when connected to the battery.

With engine running, the meter should read between 14 and 14.5 volts when connected to the battery. If it still reads around 12 volts (the same reading as when the engine is off), that means the alternator is bad and is not properly charging the battery...or it could mean there is a loose connection somewhere between alternator and battery.

 

could be the same problem i had with mine years ago, sometimes nothing would happen when i tried to start it, and i had to go behind it and rock the whole car and something would click and it would start fine afterwards

went through like 5 starters, turns out the shifter bushing was nearly disintegrated and it wasnt fully locking into park and thats why it wouldnt start and rocking the car fixed it. new bushing fixed it and tightened up the shifter alot

we had to order one for a 3rd gen at work last summer from Nissan and i think it was 3 bucks (guess who knew it was the bushing that went bad lol). just gotta remove the heat shield and replace it

 

Any likely suspects?? 8 )