starter

[volcakid8787]

1st off just liked to say that im a nOOb. Got a 94 talon awd tsi.
I've had the car for about 2 years now and it has ran great, driven about 11,000 miles on it without a single problem. Car has very low mileage.

Just recently i did a 1200 mile road trip. A little while after returning home i get in my car to start it and it just clicks. Before i got the car, i had a "mechanic" check it and i was told he found the alternator was producing below average voltage and told me i should replace it sometime soon. So in saying that, i first thought that it was my alternator. Replaced the alternator and nothing...The car also has a fresh battery and brand new spark plugs.
After the alternator did nothing i figured it was the starter because i hear (what i thought at the time) the solenoid clicking. Why i say "what i though at the time" is because i had my friend turn the ignition and try and hear where the clicking was coming from. Turns out that the clicking is coming from something else. I'm not sure what it is but it says ABS on it and to give you a better idea, its right next to the box that contains fuses and relay on the passanger side of the engine bay. Ill try and figure it out by my next post.
Anyhow when it did not start the first time i push started it. It was running just fine. Turned it off then a little later tried to start it again...nothing...so i pushed started it and it started but immediately bogged down and was missing horribly. Turned it off. And now im lost and confused.

I've checked the voltage across the starter by using a multi-meter across the ground at the bell housing and the contact at the solenoid, it was 11.3 volts. Also i checked continuity in the positive, heavy duty wire that runs from the positive on the battery to the solenoid and it showed .8 ohms.

I've read just about everything i can about starters and now im at a loss. Please help!

Also i have yet to check the relay but ill get back and tell yall how that goes.

Thank you for your help and i consider it a high privileged to be a part of this awesome site now!

alright so here's an update: pulled the relay out today (it is the middle of the three under the dash right?) and saw what looks to be dried fluid.It kinda looks like dried glue. I've read that when relays go bad they leak fluidsf...could this be the problem?

 

[PIMking]

Try hooking a jump box or jump start the car or put a charger on in for a while of if you got one of the kick ass ones that have the turbo jump start do that. That will tell you if your starter is good/bad with out having to remove it.

If the alt is bad then it wont charge the batt. that juice is used to run the coil that gives you spark. try that first. If the mechanic said the alt isn't working up to par I would say thats your problem.

 

[volcakid8787]

Ok. well, the battery is brand new and has a full charge. The alternator is brand new as well and when i jump started the vehical i measured the voltage across the battery and saw that the alternator was working. so i think that rules out those two things.

I have also measured the battery while trying to crank the car over and the battery drops.
Also measured the voltage at the starter and it drops as well.
Also i attached a jumper cable to the "s" terminal on the solenoid...nothing. According to the schematic i found in my manual doing this should apply the battery power directly to the motor bypassing the switches found within the ignition side of the circuitry.

Is there possibly another switch somewhere withing the circuit, or another device that may not be working properly to cause the voltage to drop between the battery and the starter motor?...that wouldn't make sense to me because its voltage is directly applied but im not sure, im a nOOb. i must ask.

by the way thanks for your advice!

 

[jdombrow]

When you jumped the solenoid did it click/engage but not spin? or nothing?

If theres voltage and ground the starter should be engaging or spinning

Otherwise I would assume the starters dead. There are some specialty shops that can rebuild a starter fairly cheap as for the voltage drop the starter should be doing something when you apply voltage, even with low voltage it will go.. just won't spin as fast.

goodluck

I'd check on local shops first, testing it once its out of a car is easy, jumper cables a vice and a wrench ( to jump the solenoid). Theres a shop around here that does only alternators and starters. Costed under $30 for a rebuild on my starter there, somewhere around $35 for the alternator I had them do.

 

[PIMking]

Take off the starter go to autozone or oreilly's the can test them for free. If its bad get a new one from them but your going to have to use the old starter as a core.

 

[volcakid8787]

When you jumped the solenoid did it click/engage but not spin? or nothing?

If theres voltage and ground the starter should be engaging or spinning

Otherwise I would assume the starters dead. There are some specialty shops that can rebuild a starter fairly cheap as for the voltage drop the starter should be doing something when you apply voltage, even with low voltage it will go.. just won't spin as fast.

when i jumped the solenoid it did not click or engage, spin or anything! i could not hear it. all i could hear seemingly, was a box the way i described it, still haven't found any info on that, that says ABS on it. i did this at night though and i saw a little spark when i completed the circuit, don't know if that helps any... Also this information may be tainted because i kept trying to start the car so the voltage was steadily decreasing. I plan to try these things again tomorrow after giving my battery a charge.

This is a brand new starter so i wouldn't think it would have already gone bad. ?? (by the way my starter is from autozone, it is a duralast)

Thanks for all your advice. And man you guys reply so fast thank you.

 

[volcakid8787]

update: Today i did the same test today on the starter motor. I jumped the starter motor by running a wire from the positive terminal from the battery to the "s" terminal on the solenoid. It clicked this time but the starter motor did not sound like it even turned. I took the starter motor out again and tested it being outside the vehicle. The solenoid works and the starter works. This leads me to believe that either the positive cable or the ground cable is faulty. (if you remember me saying above that the voltage was different across the starter motor than at the battery so that would make sense) What do you think?

 

[volcakid8787]

Ok so its about a week later and i finally got the cables for the starter setup. I replaced them today and on first try, it started. So it was just a set of bad cables that was not letting enough voltage to get the the starter motor.