my car only starts when it wants to...after i got the new motor put in it it ran fine for a week then it stranded me in a parking lot and wouldent start up, so i took the alternator off and went and had it checked, it was fine, so i went back put the alternator back on and tryed starting the car again and this time the car started just fine, so i took it home and i got home and turned it off the next time i went to it to go somplace it wouldent start again, and its been that way for a while now, ive put a new coil on and a new modual in the distributer, it has a new fuel pump and filter and a new starter, so yesterday i went and had my battery tested and the place said it was bad so i exchanged it and brought the new battery home and put it on my car and it started right up i let it run for maybe 10 minutes then shut it off and about 10 minutes later tryed to start it again and it wouldent start, it wont even turn over, it just click's, i dont know what is wrong?? a guy i work with told me it could be my started somthing in the started is freezing up because my car has been sitting for awhile. HELP!! thanks - Don

 

P.S. my distributer isent tightened down cause i needed to set the timing but when i started it yesterday it was idealing fine, after it warmed up it was ideling at about 600 rpm's so the timing seem's fine now

 

Seems like my problem, sorry i am no help i have had this problem before my new engine but it is worse now. it starts when it wants , mine always turns over though, unless i crank it so many times the battery dies. My car also dies when it wants. It worked perfect for the first week out of storage but is now not reliable enough to drive. I am baffled i have new MAF relays, fuel pump relay, TPS, all connections are good, new dist. cap, rotor, spark plugs, wires. don't know what to try next untill i can get my laptop to link up to my car. If the laptop and CM dataloging software clues me in on anything i will let you know ASAP. I know how frustrating this is.

 

Check to make sure you have a good Ground for the starter.

If its just clicking, Is it engaging the solenoid or just clicking ?

 

Friend of mine had a similar problem, Turned out someoen before had spliced into the Ignition wire for an alarm, and hadnt done a very good Job. Gave it an intermittant no-start.

 

it just clicking as far as i know how do i know if its engaging the solnoid or not???

 

As for my problem i replaced the IAC motor and car started and ran fine for 10 minutes. Then it suddenly stalled. I checked the fuel pressure and it was at 0. I figured the fuel pump right away but when i tried to restart it i heard just a click, like the starter solenoid engaging and nothing else, just like yours. That is probably why there was no fuel pressure, there was probably not enough power. Now this has me even more confused. Have you found an answer? I guess i will get my alternator tested tomorow, but i bet it is still good.

 

I would make an educated guess that it is related to your starter.

You need to measure resistance in the wires. There is a specific order to how to do this, but I don't have my manual in the house at the moment.

A fairly common problem, largely due to the starter solenoid being placed on the starter itself, and right up close to the engine/exhaust. It's refered to as heat soak. The starter requires more voltage to operate when it is hot so either the starter/solenoid has too much reistance internally or somewhere in the power/ground there is too much resistance and not enough voltage is able to get through when the car is hot. This is why after it has a chance to cool off, the car starts up fine.

My own car, I had problems with the wiring for the park neutrak switch. If it was hooked up as sstock, when it was hot the car would not start all the time. However, if I bypassed the switch, I had no problems. I had more problems previously, and replaced the starter. That helped for quite a while, but the problem eventually started showing up again. There was just enough resistance in that switch to drop the voltage to where the car would not start. If you have too much resistance in your power wire going from the battery to the starter this will cause your problem. I forget what the acceptable resistances are. However you must be extremely carefull when measuring resistace, you DO NOT want to measure anything that goes into the ECM as it will permanently damage it. Test the battery wires off the car, or unplug the ECM.


There is also the slight posibilty that the teeth on either your starter or you flywheel/pressure plate are damaged in one spot, so it is not able to fully engage. By continually clicking (trying to start the car) it might position itself to where it will line up. Possibly caused by shims, or lack thereof also.

 

Thanks for you help guys, car is still not running but a friend of mine is coming up this weekend and he's got a started we are going to try putting it on and see what happens, when we have it jacked up i will check the grounds to the starter and all that, i will let you know how everything goes Thanks again -Don:hail: