ok, i walked out to my car this morning, went to crank it up and nothing happened. The VATS seems to be functioning correctly based on the SECURITY light going out after 2 seconds- and hearing the fuel pump prime.

can the starter just go out all of a sudden? what are symptoms that it isnt working correctly? I noticed that its been a little harder to start than usual.

If the starter goes out- will it just be unexpectedly? all of a sudden it wont work? If the starter goes out and you try to start the car- will nothing happen? will it just do nothing?

help, i'm stranded w/o my car

 

the starter can just go like that...ive seen it happen....sometimes you will get a clicking out of it..... sometimes not..trying hittin it with a hammer...sometimes they freeze up...and wont turn....sometimes a whack with a hammer will free it up to get a start out of it.....

 

agreed... starters can go just like that. best idea is to jack up the car, take the starter out... and have pep boys (or your local auto part store) check it. they will hook it up to a battery and see how many amps its drawling out. the funniest one i had tested was coated in oil, and started smoking when they were testing it. needless to say.. it was dead

Joker

 

Just happened to me on one of my non thirdgens. Pulled the car into the garage for an oil change and then found that I couldn't pull the car back out. Starter was only 5 months old. Warrantees can be good

On my GTA I pulled the starter to replace my oil pan and when I put it all together I found that the starter was dead. The hammer trick worked but I didn't feel like crawling around in some parking lot and banging on my car. Starter worked fine and with no warning it was dead.

Both of these starters tested fine outside of the car (home bench test, no load)