Damn Inlaws.....

[Mike Compton]

I loaned the car to my inlaws. They live 20 miles from town and thier car died. 4 1/2 months they had the thing. fought like mad to get it back. Finally I got it back today...on the back of a dang tow truck. ARGGGGG....


Anyways. They replaced the started about 2 months ago. Now the car does not want to start at all. No clicks. No try to turn...nothing. They said that the Alternator was starting to go. ummm...doesn't it pretty much either charge or not charge? Anyways, I will try a battery charger or jumping it or something to see if it is the starter or if it is a battery/alternator prob.

I can not believe this.

Sorry. But I had to gripe to someone.

 

[masho95]

Whip out a multimeter to test the battery/altenator once you do get it running. The battery should be charging at about 14V once running.

 

[Mike Compton]

Well we messed around with it a little tonight. Still not running. I think that we have determined that it is the starter. We turn the key....nothing. put a multimeter to the battery. With car not running it read 12.15 v. When you turn the key to start it, it reads 11.89. I think that is plenty of juice. Right?Banged on the started just a little (car not lifted, so we did what we could) and then we were able to get a little turn out of it.

We are going to start tomorrow evening and pull the starter and take it back to O'riely's and see if that does not fix my problem as far as it running...

 

[masho95]

Yeah that's close enough to 12V so it should start. If the starter "tried" to move after you hit it, that's a good sign that the starter needs to be changed.

 

[Electricat]

If you haven't already done it, thorougly and carefully clean and tighten all the wiring terminals. More times than I care to admit, I have thought I had a bad starter/alternator/battery/solenoid, and it turned out to be a bad connection that looked fine at first glance. Good luck, electrical gremlins are sometimes tough to find...

I sympathize about the inlaws....mine were just here for a visit, so I was hauling their butts all over creation, and they felt it necessary to make little comments about every squeak, scratch, and imperfection in the SHO. I have taken this car from a non-running, abused junker to a quite nice ride, so I am a bit sensitive about it! I can't afford brand new cars like them, and even if I could, it sure wouldn't be a freakin' HONDA MINIVAN!! Whew...I feel better now!

 

[Ferendon]

Luckily replacing your starter is cake, so long as you don't mind getting a little dirty (Ford and their damn oil filter placement).