This is among the stranger things I've seen -- I did a search for a few different keywords but never found THIS situation:

The car is a 2001 I30, Automatic. 91,000 miles.

1:00: Picked up car from friend's shop (had a tailpipe hanger re-welded to
eliminate a rattle.) Car started up strong like always, drove normally.

4:00: Left work, ran an errand on the way home. No issues, started strong.

4:10: Turned key to start the engine and the battery acted mostly dead as if I had left the lights on for a few hours -- cranking slow and laboriously, but lights, radio, etc worked normally. It didn't sound like there was enough energy to turn the engine more than two revolutions.

A friend came out to jump-start me. The car seemed to pull energy just fine when I tested radio, fan blower, etc. But now the starter is completely unresponsive. We tried a second set of jumper cables just in case.

I tried wiggling the shift, and tried to start it in neutral in case it was the P/N safety switch. Nothing

Brought an extra battery known to be good from home and swapped. Nothing.

Visually checked all fuses that looked engine related. Didn't see anything bad.

Did NOT try tapping the starter to intimidate it into working.

Other Observations:
At no time did the "Battery" trouble light illuminate on the dash during the noon or 4:00 rides, so I don't think its really a battery/charging issue.

Other than the time between changing batteries, the clock in the dash has not lost any time.

No whirr or click sounds which I've learned to associated with failed motor or solenoid.

The fuel pump does run and the dash lights do turn off when the key is in the start position.

Security light flashes slowly when key is off and out. No light while messing with it.

So to sum up, I'm stumped. I accept the possibility that the starter may have died, especially considering I have spent 2 years trying to solve that starting issue and using the starter for 8-10 seconds at a time instead of the usual 1 second. However, the starter's behavior is odd. When I've seen a malfunctioning starter, either the start motor will whirr but not merge with the flywheel (dead solenoid) or the starter will click loudly but not turn (dead starter motor.) I've never seen one work sluggishly one minute then completely unresponsive the next.

Any thoughts?

 

Try taking out the starter and cleaning up the connections. The ground may have gone bad or the power wire running into it. Its only a few mins to check

 

Though your diagnosis/troubleshooting is solid, have you checked that the battery terminals/connections are tight? I've seen loose ground terminals in the past.

edit - agree with the above. Check all connections in general.

second edit: I sent you a PM and email a LONG time ago about a spare tire cover but never heard back.

 

dude I had the same issue on my car! I thought at first I blamed the battery but I found out that once the starter was dead it acts like a circuit for the ground which is why when it happened lights flickered and every time I tired jump starting it nothing happens

So I ended up replacing the starter after I checked all grounds and done problem solve

funny thing is that when I pulled out my starter it was REMANS and not OEM! Poor guy of the last owner paid 600 dollars or so and he was braging about how the starter was OEM and all pssh lol

 

Good call -- once I had it towed home I planned to do that and if no improvement, take the starter to the FLAPS and have it bench tested.

Battery terminals checked twice -- once on location, and then again when I swapped batteries.

On the tire cover, I did respond that I couldn't use it because I have a full-size spare tire. I was ticked about that too because I was really looking forward to dressing up my trunk with your product!


That's awesome! I will GLADLY replace a starter. Anytime anything electrical fouls up on this car I panic because it seems like just about anything electric kills the ECM.

 

lol oh man I love the car as much as anything, but I have very bad luck with electronics with this car, Even so I nearly upgraded on alot of wiring from the terminals to more ground points so I don't run into problems in the future hopefully.

But once you check the starter and if its bad replace it should turn on and also would complete the circuit for the grounds.

and don't worry about the ECM unless you do something really dumb to fry it lol report back what happens

 

Concur. Not to derail the thread but OP, it seems you're worried about every electrical component when in reality there are only a select few that pose a risk to the ECU. Motor mounts and IACV come to mind specifically.

 

Exactly or that trick of checking your alternator by leaving the negative on lol I swear when I had my first car and had electric issues some idiot told me to check the alternator did that and fired it on the spot or the immobilizer came on. Idk I never did it again!

 

next time it happens, bang on the starter with something. if its on its way out u can usually coax it to working. same with fuel pump, its like the motors have sticking points they cant pull past, but if you hit them they break free

 

Change your positive and negative terminals, and like the above poster said, Bang the starter with something. My terminals were what drove my last battery to the ground. They did not appear to be bad or anything, no corrosion but as soon as I changed them, and I replaced my battery, Everything was back to normal.

 

I concur...I had a bad negative battery terminal where it would vibrate loose over time. It killed my last two batteries and caused me a bunch of headache with my own starting issues.

My root cause of starting issues appeared to be bad battery and bad starter.

Get your starter bench tested to rule that out first, but look at replacing your battery terminals if starter checks out OK.

 

Epilogue:

It was the starter. Went out to the shopping center where the car died with a new starter in hand (able to be returned if it was a bad connection or something.)

Put the new one in and it started right up. When I returned the core, I asked him to bench test it just for fun -- turns out the motor itself was burnt out -- it wouldn't turn in the tester and he could barely turn the gear with pliers. Cool.

Man, that was a pain. The actual starter itself was no problem but all the wiring harnesses secured down right in the starter's exit path sorta peeved me.

But then again, I was working on my car in a parking lot.
At night.
In the rain.

Thank you all for your advice and input.

 

Glad it worked out

 

yea i had the same issue before i sold my car. found out it was the starter...changed the battery before, was fine for bout a month, then it started doing it again, so i pulled the alternator thinking that was it, bench tested it first, turns out it was fine...put it back in, it was fine for a little while then started slow again. didnt do anything w/ the car until it just wouldnt start anymore...pulled the starter, bench tested it..starter was ****. replaced it, no problems, car started strong than it had in a LONG time

 

Had the same issue, but mine was due to a bad cell in my battery and when it went it took the starter and blew apart the negative terminal. Sadly no fuse popped. So replaced battery and starter and all is good now.