How do you know if its your starter?

[BigRand]

Okay I feel like a real newbie again, but I gotta ask.

How do you know if your starter is going out?

Here is the story....

So a couple of years ago I had an ignition kill switch placed on my vehicle that basically won't let the car start when you turn the key and press the clutch down, until you push on a wire to complete the connection.

Well a a couple of months ago....after long trips with the car getting hot, I would shut the car down, and when I'd try to start it back up, it would just click...fans would come on everything would come on but the car wouldn't crank.

I'd leave it for about 15min and then boom like magic it starts up again.

So I bought a new daily driver about a month ago, and just let the eclipse sit because I'm doing some other work on it in the near future and just didn't need to drive it.

After a month of sitting, I changed the plugs, and charged up the battery again using a battery box, and tried to crank it over, but nothing. All the lights are on but nothing yet.



The problem could be that it just needs a little more juice to get started from its long hiatus or something else all together....any ideas?

 

[DGajre777]

You know if it is your starter if you hear a clicking noise when you turn the key. If your engine turns, but doesn't start then it is not your starter.

Next time that happens, try this -
1) Try to crank the car 3 times. 10 seconds each crank and wait 60 seconds for the starter to cool in between cranks
2) After the 3rd crank, put your foot on the gas pedal and floor it while you crank the car. I can guarantee you that the car will start.

This is similar to the same procedure used on carburetor airplanes to do a hot start.

 

[Locke]

Test for power to the solenoid when the key is in the crank position, and check that there is good hot and ground connections at the battery and the starter. If you do get power to the starter's solenoid when the key is in the start position, but the starter is not turning, replace it. If you do not have power there when trying to crank, start tracing the starter circuit back toward the key to find the problem.

 

[Slippi84]

Did you relocate your ground? I just moved my batter to the trunk and put a kill switch in and the SAME thing happend to me. My problem was I didn't take the painrt off enough and the place I used as a ground wasn't grounding all the way but the lights would come on.

 

[Project2G]

This happened to me on my 2GNT and I found out it was the clutch safety switch after replacing my starter, battery, and ignition switch.

 

[Bubbs Malone]

I was going to suggest replacing the battery, that seemed to help me. I was having a hard time starting the car, the starter would baulk and it might start after the third or fourth try. If a cell goes bad it won't charge fully, good luck with your trouble.

 

[RSTeclipse97]

You could try bypassing the clutch and kill switch with a hot wire to the starter and see if it will crank. If it does than you know you have a problem with one of the switches