starter issue??

[AutoMods]

any ideas before i buy a new starter?

Sometimes when i turn the key, i hear a click but the engine/starter doesn't turn. battery is fully charged. usually if i just turn the key back to off and then forward again 2-3 times it will spin over and start and run fine. but more recently shit got real, i got stuck in a parking lot for about hour with the car not starting. after waiting a while it finally kicked in.

[BGjohnson]

Starter relay or solenoid. Or you got a loose connection somewhere.

[Deimos]

car info?

[AutoMods]

ls1 rx7

[Sleepy]

Push start. :D

[FiFdYnUtZ]

Starter relay, mine did it years ago

[sparkles]

Because racecar

[AutoMods]

Push start. :D

actually i had gathered 3 people to push start my car. gave the key one last try and it fired. back in the day I remember having to push start a random stranger every now and than . haven't seen anyone do it for a long time now

[SLVR7]

Fc and fd had ignition switch issues. Take the electrical side apart and clean the contacts, mine did the same thing.

[slow ride]

Thats what I said. I'd pull the solenoid and motor apart and clean up everything and use some dielectric grease on the contacts, etc. Worked like a charm in my old GVR4 that exhibited the exact same problems. Worth a shot and you get to see how it all works.

[SaNdMaNsSi]

Contacts are always the first place to look...but, in my line of work, the easiest way to think of it is one "click," starter. Multiple "clicks," battery. I have people tell me all the time, "My starter is out." Then I get in their car, turn the key, and you hear "click click click click" in a fast series. No, your battery is dead. "No it's not, my radio and lights still work..." That's because it takes a lot of juice to turn over a motor, it takes relatively little to run your stereo. In your case, a single click means your starter solenoid is engaging, the starter motor is not turning over. If the solenoid were bad, you'd turn the key and you would hear no sound at all. If the contacts are corroded, broken, etc. you will be getting a weak signal which isn't allowing the starter motor to fully engage. However, if your contacts are clean, most newer starters are a combination solenoid and starter. In the old days, they were usually separate. You'd find the solenoid up on the firewall easily accessible and could cross the two terminals with anything metal, and that would start the car even if the solenoid were bad. Nowadays, the solenoid is either bolted to, or is part of the starter, and you have to replace them as a pair.
If you want the hillbilly test, the next time it does it, turn your key and hold it in the "on" position while someone taps the starter with something. If the starter then turns, it's probably the motor itself that's bad. The tapping isn't going to clean the terminals. Also, if the starter motor is just weak, and you're halfway strong, you can rock the car back and forth and try the key. If you get the flywheel to move the starter motor at all, it'll probably engage at that point.
All of these are typical ways I diagnose problems for people while on site at someone's vehicle. You'd be surprised at the number of Ford Taurus' I've started in a parking lot by tapping on them with an oversized wrench or crossing terminals with a screwdriver.

[SLVR7]

Not the contacts in the starter, the contacts in the ignition switch. It is a well documented issue with the fc and fd.

[Drifte]

Contacts are always the first place to look...but, in my line of work, the easiest way to think of it is one "click," starter. Multiple "clicks," battery. I have people tell me all the time, "My starter is out." Then I get in their car, turn the key, and you hear "click click click click" in a fast series. No, your battery is dead. "No it's not, my radio and lights still work..." That's because it takes a lot of juice to turn over a motor, it takes relatively little to run your stereo. In your case, a single click means your starter solenoid is engaging, the starter motor is not turning over. If the solenoid were bad, you'd turn the key and you would hear no sound at all. If the contacts are corroded, broken, etc. you will be getting a weak signal which isn't allowing the starter motor to fully engage. However, if your contacts are clean, most newer starters are a combination solenoid and starter. In the old days, they were usually separate. You'd find the solenoid up on the firewall easily accessible and could cross the two terminals with anything metal, and that would start the car even if the solenoid were bad. Nowadays, the solenoid is either bolted to, or is part of the starter, and you have to replace them as a pair.
If you want the hillbilly test, the next time it does it, turn your key and hold it in the "on" position while someone taps the starter with something. If the starter then turns, it's probably the motor itself that's bad. The tapping isn't going to clean the terminals. Also, if the starter motor is just weak, and you're halfway strong, you can rock the car back and forth and try the key. If you get the flywheel to move the starter motor at all, it'll probably engage at that point.
All of these are typical ways I diagnose problems for people while on site at someone's vehicle. You'd be surprised at the number of Ford Taurus' I've started in a parking lot by tapping on them with an oversized wrench or crossing terminals with a screwdriver.

http://i.imgur.com/pCFiQ0V.gif
I remember jumping my monte carlo starter with my screw driver

[slow ride]

Not the contacts in the starter, the contacts in the ignition switch. It is a well documented issue with the fc and fd.

I see. good info.

[SaNdMaNsSi]

I also recommend turning the serpentine belt by hand while someone holds the key in the on position...









Disclaimer: You will lose appendages if you actually tried it and got it to work.

[derek072887]

Also, if the starter motor is just weak, and you're halfway strong, you can rock the car back and forth and try the key. If you get the flywheel to move the starter motor at all, it'll probably engage at that point.

How would this work? For rocking the car to move the flywheel the car would have to be in gear (manual trans) and the clutch engaged, if the clutch is engaged the clutch switch will not be depressed which means the starter will not engage anyway. Also the starter gear is not pushed out towards the flywheel unless the starter is spinning in the first place.

[AutoMods]

thanks guys. lots of good info. i'll let you guys know what it turns out to be. will be a couple weeks until i put my new motor in.

[SaNdMaNsSi]

How would this work? For rocking the car to move the flywheel the car would have to be in gear (manual trans) and the clutch engaged, if the clutch is engaged the clutch switch will not be depressed which means the starter will not engage anyway. Also the starter gear is not pushed out towards the flywheel unless the starter is spinning in the first place.

A lot of times when starters wear out, you can get teeth almost right on top of each other...IE, when the starter pushes out, it hits a flywheel tooth instead of the valley in between....by rocking the car back and forth, you can sometimes get the flywheel to turn even 1/10th an inch, which is enough room for the starter to properly engage the groove the next time you turn the key.

[SaNdMaNsSi]

How would this work? For rocking the car to move the flywheel the car would have to be in gear (manual trans) and the clutch engaged, if the clutch is engaged the clutch switch will not be depressed which means the starter will not engage anyway. Also the starter gear is not pushed out towards the flywheel unless the starter is spinning in the first place.

My cars all just use hamsters anyways, so I don't need to know about flywheels. Hamster wheels are the way to go.

Also, some of us quickly do away with clutch switches...we forget that other people like them....

[JacobS]

thanks guys. lots of good info. i'll let you guys know what it turns out to be. will be a couple weeks until i put my new motor in.


i bet itll be longer than that! hahahaha

[AutoMods]

i bet itll be longer than that! hahahaha

you just work on getting your first sub 16 second timeslip

[JacobS]

touche......dick haha