Please help

So I go to start my car tonight to go out and my engine doesn't turn over. The battery is fine as the radio and hud come up fine, but no engine.

So after fiddling around for a while I notice that my transmission shifts in and out of gear without the clutch depressed. Luckly I just got my parking break fixed . I had noticed intermittent problems where I wasn't getting as much pickup as I should, but I hoped that the problem wouldn't need immediate attention.

Am I looking at a whole new clutch or transmission cable??? or worse?

 

If the engine is not on, the transmission will shift freely. that's normal.

 

This may not be it, but here's a shot in the dark.
Some cars have a neutral safety switch on them where the engine can't be cranked unless the clutch is depressed or the auto trans is in park/neutral. If you're safety switch (on clutch cars it's usually mounted down by the clutch pedal) is shot, or the electrical connector is bad or disconnected, it can't complete the circuit to allow the car to start.

As I said, just a guess if it was starting before and all the electrical stuff seems good. Could be a bad starter solenoid, corroded connections, etc.

Good luck and let us know what it ends up being.
Brad

 

The clutch saftey switch went on my car and i got the same problems. All i did was run a jumper wire and connected the 2 prongs in the plug. IF you do bypass it remember to leave it in neutral beofre you start if the clucth isnt down.

 

Hey, thanks a lot for the quick replies. The problem seems to be a fluke, I think the starter motor was frozen for a short time or something to that effect.

I went back outside to diagnose the problem after all the good advice I was given and the car started. Strange, but I'm not gonna complain.

I kinda freaked out when this happened because in the past when the car has had problems it cost me quite a bit.

Didn't know the trans. should shift in and out of gear without the clutch depressed while the car is off.

 

Tap the starter with a small hammer?

-Dan

 

Yeah I should keep a small hammer in my car to knock the solenoid loose just in case it happens again and then look at buying a new starter.

There's always push starting too

That kind of sucks though because I had it replaced before. The last thing I had a shop do before I started working on the car myself.

 

Yah, their easy to replace. Did that last year on my RS when it went out. Heh, this "new" one is starting to stick a little even. Good thing is has a two year warrenty.

-Dan