I have a 2000 5-speed and my car will not start. For a long time the starter would spin for a while, occasionally pop out of mesh with the fly wheel, and one time it didn't engage the flywheel at all. The other day I went out to start my car and the starter made ABOUT zero effort to start. I assumed the starter was bad and went out and got a remanufactured one. After changing out the starter it did the exact same thing as the old one. You could hear the starter click as if it was trying to engage to the flywheel, but it didn't try to spin. I had both starters tested and they both tested good. The battery is brand new as of last week and tests good at 12.3 volts. I am also getting voltage to the starter solenoid (I believe at about 12 volts as well) I found one loose ground, but tightening that didn't solve anything. The dash lights up and when you turn the key the door lights stay bright, but the starter doesn't move. I am at a complete loss, any advice on what to check next would be very helpful.

Mike

 

Not sure if it's your case, but from my experience, a starter "testing good" doesn't necesarily mean "working properly". Once I had a starter tested before I walked out the store with it and, according to the machine, it tested good. However, I noticed that the pinion (or star) from the starter was not sticking out of the housing, which I quickly pointed out. I asked for a different one and the next one did come out. Had I not be present at the so called "testing", I would have been sent out the door with a "good" starter.

 

Interesting about the "good" starter as that may now be my problem... As an update I spent most of yesterday scrubbing all of my electrical connections with a wire brush, after reconnecting everything I broke the connection on the starter solenoid by over-tightening the bolt. Just to see if my cleaning paid off I held the positive starter wire to the solenoid and had a friend start the car. It started right up! Now I had a perfectly good starter...with broken connections. I ran out and bought a remaned starter and put it in, on the first shot the car started up, but now every couple starts the starter spins without engaging the flywheel. It spins very fast, but it appears to just not pop out...I am really at a loss this time.

 

does the reman do this or original one? if its reman just get another one they should come with lifetime warranty, had a similar experience with my moms max with a reman it would pop in and out went and got another one and problem went away

 

any check engine lights on or service engine light on?