servo2055chevy

I just got a quick question. I have been having problems with trying to start my car lately. Sometimes warm, mostly cold, I will go to start the car and it won't turn over, I will just hear a click everytime I try to start the car. Just one click. The battery won't be dead but the lights inside will dim... Now this happened a few months ago and my friend said it happened to his truck and it was just a loose starter wire. Well It was... but it's been happening recently where it would click, then before I could let go of the ignition from trying to start, it would fire over. Anyway, thismorning it wouldn't start at all, I kept trying and trying and trying but it just clicked, so I jacked up the car and tried to tighten the wires but they were tight already so I snugged em up as much as possible then the car started... Maybe a bad starter?? there was no sign of bad wires or any kind of dirt. It just makes me nervous because I never know when its just gunna click and not start
-Thanks

TNT_Z28

yep, starter.

i just had to replace mine on my truck a couple months ago. same symptoms. sure enough it happen in january in a minnesota winter. that was fun

the good news is, its two bolts and a couple of screws.
75 bucks plus your old core plus an hour of your time and youll be back in buisness

fireturd350

iTrader: (8)

Yep sounds like a starter to me also. I had similar. It would crank but it would crank very slow once hot. Finally at gas station one day... crank crank crank... pop smoke all over no more cranking just a faint click. Depending on your exhaust shouldn't be hard. Even with shorties I could wiggle the starter in and out without removing. My current long tubes I have to pull the back pipe.

Make sure to keep track of the shims and how they were located. Reinstall the same way and it's easy.

servo2055chevy

But my car does start now, I just every so often it will just click every time I go to turn the ignition. and the the volts gauge goes down as if my batt is dead but then a few more times of trying it finally cranks over. It never cranks slow though

bradley23150

iTrader: (10)

My car was doing exactly that. Sometimes it would start like nothing was wrong, and sometimes it would click and not turn over. Replace it now before it leaves you stranded. Mine eventually got so bad it took literally about 100 clicks (turns of the ignition only resulting in the solenoid clicking) before it would start.

I replaced the starter and it starts perfectly fine now. I got my starter at autozone for $55, just bring in your old starter as a core.

camaronewbie

You can test the starter by applying 12v+ directly from the battery to where the purple wire connects to starter - if the starter turns everytime you touch it with this wire, then your starter is fine, and your issue lies somewhere with that purple starter wire. Use a nice sized (10 gauge) wire for this test.

Here's a troubleshoot guide to the starter system: http://www.austinthirdgen.org/index.php?pid=38

I have same issue - been fighting it for over a year. Finally found my problem last week - my neutral safety switch (NSS) connector doesn't connect well with my NSS - thus sometime starter will get enough amps to activate the sloenoid, and sometimes it won't. Mine is a new NSS - so I'm going to see about getting a new connector for it. I can physically wobble the connector on the NSS, and see how it's shorting since it wobbles and doesn't connect good and tight.

You might have similar issue with NSS, or at the ignition switch itself (not the key cylinder, but the switch), or at the C100 firewall connector.

On that guide - ignore the starter enable relay - that's for VATS cars and you shouldn't have VATS on a 1988.