It's gotta be the starter right?

[VanMeter]

Friday last week, I got into my car started it up and noticed that it seemed weak like I had left a light on from the night before. Checked everything and nothing was left on. Drove 25 miles to work not a single problem diming of the lights or lack of power nothing. then the car sat while I worked came back out to the car started it up and it seemed slightly weaker then before. Double checked everything AGAIN and drove home with out a problem. Car sits all weekend not started even once. Monday morning rolls around and the car is really stugglin to start but does. No problems as stated above to work. I work my shift and come back out to go home now the car will not start and when it does try to the RPM gauge jumps to about 1500 to 2000 but no noise or anything while that gauge jumps. Now the fun stuff.

things that i tried.

1) seemes like a dead battery right. the battery is a couple of day older then a year and was never dead before this. Jumping the car did not work.

2) Maybe the altenator isnt charging the battery causing the weak start. the altenator is the same age as the battery.

3) the starter clicks once and sometimes not at all. So i tried bridging the starter with a screw driver. Did not work.

4) smacked the starter thinking that it was on a bad spot. Still nothing.

5) used the positive cable that should go to my positive terminal while jumping and placed directly to the positive on the start. I managed to get a single click out of all the sparking going on.

Any ideas you 2 cents is greatly appreciated.

 

[Adumb]

sounds kinda like what happened to my car, the armature might be getting stuck in the flywheel, id try the starter, is it an mtx?

 

[38SHO]

i'd try the electrical system

chances are you have a bad battery from the get go... did u get some kind of store brand one like at discount, autozone, pepboys... etc?

but your battery should be able to recharge once its running... so this points to your altenator.... mine just whent out and I had the same basic problem, last 4 or 3 times I started it, it was just weaker and weaker... finally took it to work and checked out my voltages and I was at 12.0 volts running..... after I charged it for awhile. The last time I had it running was back to work at lunch thank god, I pulled up to the SHO spot, shut it off, and tried to start it right away again, and it wouldn't crank... ha....

so you need a voltmeter.... multimeter... whatever you want to call it, heres some facts

a fully charged batter is 12.6 volts.... thats just sitting there... when you hit the starter its going to drop... how far down it drops is an indication of your battery life.... or charge

once the engine is running your battery should be reading somewhere in the 13's volts or so.... defintely more then 12.6.......

so heres what u do, charge up your battery

measure its voltage
start the car and record what voltage it whent down to
and once the car is running record its voltage then as well

report back and lets see what we get

this is the sure fire way of knowing........

 

[VanMeter]

sounds kinda like what happened to my car, the armature might be getting stuck in the flywheel, id try the starter, is it an mtx?

No mtx Its the starter i bought a brand new battery today and put it in and got the same results a single click.

 

[SuperchargedSHOguy]

Also check your battery cables as corrosion or cuts in them can do the same thing. Have you tried to tap the starter with a hammer to see if it will start? Before you buy a new one take yours into an auto parts store and have them run it on their machine. But yes, sounds like a starter may have gone south.

edit... have you attempted to push start it? Did you have the old battery tested before you bought a new one? That would have showed if there were not enough amps to start the car while cranking. This would have definitly narrowed down the problem before you jumped right into a new battery. What year is this SHO? Starter soleniod...

 

[hawkeye18]

Sounds like your battery's not holding a charge.

 

[SuperchargedSHOguy]

Sounds like your battery's not holding a charge.

At first that is what I thought but he said he replaced the battery with a new one and got the same results. A brand new battery would have had the amps to start it (granted you can get a DOA battery off the shelf...not likely but possible).

 

[HootUSMC]

alternator?

 

[Adumb]

No mtx

not an mtx?

well it sounds almost exactly like what happened to my starter. when without the armature swinging into the flywheel(stuck engaged) it did not have the power to start my car, but if i turned the key to the start postition while driving down the road it would stall the car out.

 

[93rev2sev]

Here's my outline...
A. Pull starter, inspect for lots of oil contamination and put voltage to it with jumper cables. With no load it should SNAP into motion.
.....1. if not drenched in oil and it snaps into motion, suspect bad wireing
.....2. if oily and/or sluggish, suspect gummed up rotor, internal to starter
..........a. take apart, clean, reassemble, reinstall; and replace oil cooler to block gasket
..........b. Replace with parts store reman every 6 months from here on out.
.....3. if not oily and no motion or sluggish or no other signs of problems and you just wanna be sure
..........a. have a reputable shop rebuild it; replace oil cooler to block gasket if there are signs of leakage.
..........b. replace with a parts store reman every 6 months from here on out
B. Bump start it
.....1. Drive it to a shop
.....2. Drive it off a cliff

 

[haggarSHO]

sounds just like what happened to me, over the course of a day of driving, the starter got more sluggish on each start, till it just didnt turn over at all, and all i got was a click, and sometimes none at all, bought a new starter, 15 minutes in and out new starter in and it fired right up just fine.

 

[38SHO]

B2.......... BINGO!

hey I've had a starter like that on my 3.8 too... it was weaker and weaker and it was the starter.... most times tho when stuff keeps getting weaker its an indication of a lack of electrical power........... if u did the test I showed u, you woulda saved yourself the price of a battery...........

going out and buying parts without knowing they are defintely bad is a hard lesson to learn

superchargedSHO brings up REALLY GOOD points about battery cable corrosion and them being loose... that will make it seem like bad parts when its really just bad connection

 

[Eric VerValin]

I had mine rebuit a few 1,000 miles ago with new brushes and all.. but now it seems like the coil is just getting too worn out... it was cleaned last time, and its just progressivly getting worse... if my New..(04/08) battery isn't %100 it wont fire either...

I've just been putting it off as I do electrical service on crap at work, and don't really wanna fart around with my car after work.. But it could use a new coil, or cleaned or something... 200k miles is enough I think..

 

[VanMeter]

It was the starter as soon as i replaced it it started right up so that answers that thanks everyone for you input.

 

[93rev2sev]

Did you replace or inspect the oil cooler gasket? If not, you might as well keep a spare starter laying around.