illmortal

I'm gonna cut to the chase as to what's going on.


My car's starter was nearing death, so I replaced it. It's been almost 4 months now that I've had this starter.

Now I have a new issue with this new starter (though I think it's a refurb.); there has been 4 separate times where my starter decided not to work.

I would turn the key and only get the click (the click you hear under your steering wheel) but no crank what so ever.

The first time, I figured I might have not tightened the bolts enough and now they're becoming loose, so I remounted the starter. And my car cranked right away.

The second time my starter did this, I popped my hood, ready to start unbolting my starter, when my legs applied weight onto my front bumper, causing my car to move back a tiny bit... I heard a click. Right after I heard the click, for no reason really, I decided to try and crank my car.. and it cranked right up!

The last two times my car's starter has not worked, all I have to do is push my car a bit from the front side and I hear a click which then proceed by cranking my car up.


Now can anyone tell me what the heck is going on!? I don't know if it's a grounding issue... if there's a bad fuse? Did I mount/remount the starter incorrectly?


I strongly doubt it's the ignition switch...

DennisMik

iTrader: (2)

It sounds as if the gear on the starter is staying engaged in the flywheel instead of retracting. When you roll the car, the flywheel moves and the starter gear retracts and that's the click you hear. This senario only works if you have a manual transmission and you leave the transmission in gear when you park it.

Maxima_Joe

iTrader: (384)

Sounds like a loose battery terminal.

illmortal

Bro that's what I was saying to my father! But I have an automatic and he mentioned that maybe my solenoid is going bad or that my starter doesn't notice that my car's in park?

Should I have a mechanic remount it? It's pretty straight forward to replace... so I don't think I made a mistake other than maybe I didn't align the teeth of the flywheel with the teeth of the starter? But I dunno how I could do that either unless there's a specific tool that aligns them correctly.



Naw it's not the battery. It's somewhere dealing with the flywheel/starter... I didn't want to mention this idea because I wasn't so sure, theoretically.. but it does make sense.

yummydodgerdog

That happened to me as well. Started with giving the starter a good whack. Which led to a broken contact wire in the starter. It still didn't turn on. It ended up being the ignition switch at the steering wheel too. My guess is it went bad from all the off/on abuse trying to get the sucker started. The ignition switch was about 25 or 30 bucks.About the "mechanic remount" don't bother. He's gonna take your $. Save the money and take the time to gain experience. The task was rather easy. You can do it if you found this website.

njmaxseltd

iTrader: (19)

The "click" you hear is probably the tranny hitting the park pin when the car moves slighly as you lean on it.

With that said, I'd check the park neutral safety switch. Also might want to see if the car starts in neutral when you get the no start condition in park. Or even move the shifter through the gears and back up to park and see if it starts.

wesmantooth1

I had the same experience. I was perplexed, as it seemed pretty random. The symptom I had was the turning the key, no noise, aside from the relays clicking below the dash, NOTHING ELSE (batt was new). I got it to start once, and all I did was open/shut the hood. But then I got stranded at a restaurant in the middle of Texas July heat. I was pulling my hair out, trying to check relays (don't really know how to check them still aside from the click you hear under the dash, etc). I cleaned all terminals, bought a battery terminal cable or two, but didn't install. I pushed it home (didn't have a tow strap, so my bumper got all jacked up, ghetto, i know.... but the heat was getting to me) At one point, I open/shut the hood again, and the jolt from the hood hitting the surrounding metal "woke" up the starter solenoid, and allowed it to start. I finally figured out by when the issue presented itself again, (about 1 out of every 10 starts), I'd hit the starter solenoid with a thin metal rod, and it came to life--EVERY TIME. I'd heard this old school solution before, but never tried it.
Now my starter was only about 2 years old, lifetime wrrty from O'Reilly's. Don't discount that it may be the starter. They told me if it tested fine, they wouldn't replace it, but i told them that after I whacked it, it started every time, that's all they needed to hear.

wesmantooth1

Oh, and I had already looked into the park/neutral switch, ignition switch, and hadn't bought anything, but was going down that road too, working it from multiple angles. Car starts great now, just have bumper screwed up is all.

illmortal

Damn that's actually a good test, I'll try it again next time. The crazy thing is... it happens when I park on a specific region of my drive way... yet the surface is leveled/flat, there's no dip.


Thanks!

illmortal

Ok it started while in Neutral... So I need to take apart the center console and replace the park/neutral safety switch?

DennisMik

iTrader: (2)

maybe. maybe you can get away with adjusting it. If you have a meter, check the switch for continuity in park and neutral. Of course right now you don't have continuity in park position, but maybe with adjusting, you can correct that.

illmortal

Is there a guide on how to replace it? My car has finally given up on starting, I believe the switch died. I just purchased a new one about 2 hours ago and from my understanding it's actually located within the driver side on the tranny itself? If I can do the job myself, I'll do it.. but for now my car's stuck @ my job's parking lot.

Not sure if I can gain access from under the hood or if I need to lift the car to get underneath the car...

asand1

iTrader: (1)

According the FSM the harness plug for P/N switch is at the top of the trans.
Find F32 found at F3 on the grid.

illmortal

Damn... now a new issue. I have a feeling I'm going to be a victim of replacing every piece of equipment that has to do with getting my car to crank over like it normally should.

I replaced the Neutral safety switch (this is an automatic), car cranked right up.

Then starter, which is a duralast, purchased about 4 months ago from autozone, decides to die. I pulled the starter out, and arced it, it clicked but wouldn't spin up.

I replaced the starter with the same freakin' makers of the starter (since it comes with life time warranty) and the car cranked right up for the next few days.

Last night the weather hit about 29 degrees with about 6 inches of snow. I tried to start my car so I could move it into the parking lot.

I get the damn clicks again. Then I read that when it's cold out and you're having starting issues, you should "hold" the key into cranking position for 20 seconds, while doing so you should be able to hear things slowly moving under the hood... I did exactly that, held the key for 20 seconds, attempted it 3 times, it definitely made sounds but very quietly as if they were trying to crank up.

After the third time, I decided to let my car recuperate for about 5 minutes and attempted to hold the key @ crank for another 20 seconds... this time I didn't get a click and there was no other sounds coming from under the hood.

I tried arcing the starter again, all I'd get is a few sparks like it normally would but not even a click. I checked battery voltage (12.1v) and starer voltage during crank (11.6v)

I don't know where to go from here now. I assume that if I arc the starter, I'd be bypassing the ignition switch... so it should crank up if it was the ignition switch.

Someone, anyone have an idea as to what's going on? This is the worst time to be having car problems.. so close to getting a promotion at work but my car is going to screw all of it up for me.

illmortal

It's another Starter. Will Autozone just refund my money? I found a Schucks close by and they sell a brand new starter for $144

I'm done with refurbish junk.. but I need my refund from Autozone, I refuse to do any more business with them unless I need soap and rug cleaners, that's all they're good for.