Hi everyone

I had something odd happen today. I went to lunch with a buddy from work, but I had to run to the bank so I decided we would take my bird. We hop in, and I go to start it, and there's nothing. Not even a click from the starter because of a dead battery. Just dead silence. The lights and everything came on, it just didn't engage the starter.

So we continue to lunch by taking his car. After lunch when we get back, I go to try my car again just for the heck of it, and it fires right up like normal. I figure it was just a freak incident, so I shut it off and fire it up again. It took a bit longer but it did start. I tried a third time, and it took even longer, but again it started. I let it run for a bit and then left it until I left work. After work, I came outside to go home, and it fired right up like normal.

What could this have been? Could the battery have somehow drained itself and then somehow regained charge after I tried starting it and nothing happened? Could it be a relay or park switch or starter solenoid or something? Or maybe loose connections or something?

Thanks!

DanJz

 

you know, the same thing happened to me the other day, i had a friend turn the key while i watched the starter, and the selonoid didnt "click". So i waited a few min, and it started right up. When i got home i took the starter off and took the selonoid apart and cleaned it really good, and lubed it with a little die electric grease and it works fine. Im still not sure if that was the problem, but it seems logical.

 

That sounds like a good idea. I might have to give that a shot. Thanks!!

 

DanJz, I had exact same issue a few years ago, and it nearly wore me out tring to figger it out. What it wound up being was the contact brushes in the starter. If you are going to pull the starter/solenoid I would recommed changing the brushes in the starter as well. I think I paid $1.49 at Advance Auto Parts for the GP Sorensen brushes. It's also very easy to do. Best of luck.

 

Yeah it does seem to make sense that the brushes are the issue. I will definitely give that a shot. Thanks for the advice guys!!

 

Let us know how it works out.

 

will do. Hopefully I'll get a chance to check it out this weekend, or possibly next week

 

Dan, have you been treating that old girl right? Because, she rarely gave me any trouble at all, and I see you have a climate control issue and also this.

Of course, I am joking...it's a 17 year old car and stuff will happen.

In addition to what the guys above are saying, make sure you check all of your grounds and that they are clean and tight. The car once gave me a starting problem, and actually stalled while driving. It was nothing more than dirty grounds, and after thoroughly cleaning them the problem went away for good.

The other thing guys always talk about when a car wont start is the VATS module going bad, but I'm not sure if your symptoms point to that.

 

Hey Dave! I've been treating her great, babying her most of the time lol, so no worries there.

Actually the ground problem was one of the first things I thought of, just because I remembered you telling me that. I haven't had a good chance to look at it because of all the nasty weather and I was out all day on the one nice day we had, but I will definitely check that.

Yeah the VATS system seems alright. It's weird, because it's not like it doesn't want to start, it just sometimes takes a while to crank, and it varies pretty much every time I go to start it. Only 1 time a couple weeks ago did it just fail to even turn over, and then I tried it again a 1/2 hour later and it worked fine, started right up. It was the strangest thing