wailukutoy

Hello everyone,

My car was slow to start for a while, so I changed out the battery about two weeks ago. Immediately after changing the battery, the car would have problems starting. Sometimes, I would have to turn the key two or three times before it would start. There would be nothing, no clicking sounds or anything. However, when it did start, the car would start up quickly with no problems. Yesterday, I drove my car around with no starting problems. Today, my car won't start at all. The battery is very weak as my lights and power locks don't even work, but it won't even jump start from another car. Does anyone have an idea, as to what may be wrong? Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for any input.

brianyaklin

from what your sayin, it sounds like your alternator is going out. your alternator is what charges your battery when your car is running. i think that autozone does a free diagnostic check on your alternator. maybe check them out, good luck!

wailukutoy

Thanks for your input. Wouldn't my car start when jumped if it was only the alternator going bad?

BigBallsMcFalls

sounds like a 'worn out starter contacts' situation

ez to fix, buy starter kits on ebay. look for 'clicker fixer'

this guy has the parts, better than the dealer parts actually
http://myworld.ebay.com/ebaymotors/clickerfixer/

BigBallsMcFalls

es. worn starter contacts can cause all sorts of symptoms besides just a click. as the starter contact dies it can come and go....

wailukutoy

Thanks for your input. It never clicked at all prior to it not starting. Wouldn't there at least be a little while where the starer would click a little before just totally not working? Thanks.

BigBallsMcFalls

maybe

doesn't matter click or no click you don't always hear the problem

97ltd4x4

Couple of things,If for some reason your battery keeps dying,I would test for a parasitic draw pulling down your battery when not running.(amp check with vehical off,volt meter w/ amp test ),alt,aftermarket sterio,alarm,ect the problem most times.

Vehical not starting,no click,not able to get jumped,no lights,ect.I would be very suspecious about your battery connections.

You can test for this with a voltage drop fairly easily,and find a possible problem with a volt meter...and/or start trying to twist connections to feel if anything is loose....Really inspect the pos to battery connection,pos terminal to wiring harness,neg to battery connection,neg harness to ground cable connection,for looseness and corrosion......

Really inspect/test where the positive battery connector connects to the wiring harness cable can be a problem area,especially if they are aftermarket,this would explain why the vehical will not crank with a jump,lights weak,ect....connection stops at cable end,not getting to rest of system.

If you have lights,power to acceseries,vehicle will start w/jump(pushes through the resistance of starter contacts),hear a click w/starting,Its time for new starter contacts...I would plan on replacing them if the vehical has 100k miles anyway,since its such a common problem at that milage.

wailukutoy

Thanks again everyone. So I cleaned and tightened my contacts and all my electrical components are strong. When try to start my car, there is one loud click. No luck in jumping my car either, same one click. I just didn't think it was my starter because my last starter on my old truck began stuttering for a while before completely dying out. I only have 65k on this car and as stated earlier, there seemingly were no problems with the starter prior to this. Thanks

pepsibluefloat

try runnin a hot wire directly down to the starter and see if it does the same thing.

wailukutoy

Thanks everyone for all your help and input. I changed the contacts in my starter today with the help of previous yotatech posts and the car started up. It was just strange that it never gave me previous problems. I'm just thankful that it works now. Thanks again

Jin_Chris

Glad that you fix the problem.
I had also exact same contact problem and fixed it by replacing "just" contact. Right! there is no obvious symptom. That is good and bad. It is bad because it is hard to diagnose. But it is good as the obvious symptom of the bad alternator would be "stranded in the middle of interstate" (most of other cars...)

When I had the problem, such ebay kit was not available so I had make "custom" contact with "copper plumbing bracket" that I got from home depot. hahahahah... It is still "starting" at single turn even after 30k miles...

Enjoy!

BigBallsMcFalls

yup. bad contacts feel like

bad battery
bad alternator
shift interlock problem
computer problem
alarm system cutoff problem
low or no oil
bound-up engine....

funny how bad contacts can make you think a dozen things can be wrong