Guro 305

She did it again tonight. She's doing it often now.

What do you guys think it is. The car starts up and no problem. I'll drive her around a little and park, do what I have to do and then.....stranded!

I'm gonna go rescue her now so hopefully some of you will respond while I'm gone and I can read this when I get back. I just changed the battery two months ago. I tested the alternator and it was good. The car starts everyday but it seems when I drive her more often it will leave me stranded. If I wait long enough, it will start. Help me out here guys, is it just my starter?

BigBadLou

iTrader: (3)

It would probably help to tell us how she leaves you stranded.

You know the saying: help us help you.

Lou

Toehead

probably a heat-soaked starter.

Guro 305

Very simple. I believe it's what I said earlier.

You start her up to get where you want to go and when you park the car and turn it off it does not start back up. If you wait long enough it will or if you jump start it it will start up immediately but I already changed out the battery and tested the alternator and both are good. The old battery tested ok as well but I changed it out anyway.

If you bring her home for the night and start her up the next day, no problem. Seems like when it's cooled down it's perfectly fine.

enswrob

sounds more like an ignition module going bad after heating up not working correctly.

Toehead

It all depend how. Does it just not crank?

kcb37

Little more then it dosen't start.
Does it crank fine, just not start?
Ignition control module would be a good one, could be the CTS too.

Does it crank slow, or not at all,
heat soaked starter.
Bad battery cables, loose connections, dirty connections.

Guro 305

You maybe on to something. Sometimes it will crank slow and start and other times, the times it strands me, it will not crank at all. My fan runs all the time and it sounds really strong when I turn the key but as soon as it gets to that point where it's supposed to crank the power dies. If you let go of the key the power comes right back. So no, it doesn't crank at all.

Also, if I remember correctly now that you mention it, this did seem to start happening ever since I changed out the battery terminals. The starter is ten years old but then again I have put maybe 40K- miles on the car in that amount of time......long story. I can try changing out both pos' and neg' cables and get back to you guys. It is a cheap fix at least for now. Does anyone know the length of the cables?

tyler92

alright this happened to me and here is what was wrong with mine.

There is a junction (several wires meet there)down between the radiator and the battery on the pass. side. 1 of the wires was melted off mine and it caused electrical failure. I would look at that.

Tyler
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also when when my engine was overheating it would cause the starter to over heat and not turn over. but several hours later it would fire right up.

Hope this helps.

wdigitog

I had the same thing. with a '86 Caddy...It turned out the previous owner had installed an alarm system with an ignition cut-out. It used a relay and eventhough the system was turned off, the relay was sticking every now and then. Are you the original owner? Is there an old alarm system? Check for a sticking relay..........my $00.02

BigBadLou

iTrader: (3)

Guro, before you start ordering overpriced cables from the dealership, definitely check out the battery terminals.
If they are not completely clean and tight (not only the battery posts but also the cable connection!), the amp draw from the starter will cause an excessive voltage drop on the terminal and make it seem like you lost all power. One possible manifestation of such problem is heat build up in the terminals so BE CAREFUL when touching them after cranking.

A quick test with a voltmeter while cranking can help you verify a battery terminal problem. If you don't know how, lemme know and I'll post some info.

Lou

mark wells

I had a simular problem once and it was the starter drawing too many amps and ended up taking out an alternator and the battery before the starter finally died...was not even able to start it with jumper cables. If the above all check out I would deffinatly have the old starter checked.

Guro 305

Nah! Just bought new terminal cables at Advance. They were only like $16 for both. Fresh new cables with fresh new terminals. Mine are in pretty bad shape as is. Hopefully I'll have time to do it tomorrow and let you guys know what's up.

Guro 305

Changed out the positive cable and terminal. Will finish the negative during the week. Since I was down there I figured I'd change out the back-up light switch and both belts.

I'll keep you guys posted as to what finally happens.

Guro 305

Hasn't left me stranded yet. I haven't driven her much but so far so good.

I'm hoping this is the end of it.

jwscab

the side terminal battery cables are pretty notorious for crappy connections. However, I have seen the cable bad down at the engine/starter as well, depending on which wire you are looking at. I had a weird one some time ago that ended up being a bad cable molding, like where the crimp goes, the wire and lug were fine, but the crimp inside was badly corroded and bad. it was very hard to figure out, but if you replaced both cable and it's working well, it was probably one of the old cable messing with you. good job finding the issue.

Guro 305

It's been three weeks and she has NOT left me stranded anywhere for any extended period of time.

So far, so good. It seems changing out the complete set of battery terminals and cables has worked. It's starting up everytime now. If I can just figure out what's draining my battery every five days of non-starting or so, then we'd be in seriously great shape. But for this thread's sake, this case is closed!

Toehead

Glad you got it sorted out!