Intemittent No-Crank

1996 SL2, very close to 100,000 km. Just in the last few months I had an
occasion when I turned the key and nothing happened. I fooled with the shift
and the emergency brake and it took off, so I thought I wasn't holding my
tongue right or there was a bad connection in the interlock system.

It's happened more times now and it's getting to be a problem. Today I had
to try half a dozen times before it went, and when I got home I shut it down
and tried re-starting and twice it wouldn't crank. I hear the click of a
solenoid and nothing. On the next attempt it started. I know now that moving
the shift lever through it's range doesn't have an effect. Then on my last
errand it started fine on both ends.

So what do you think? Starter? That's my suspicion.

 

1996 SL2, very close to 100,000 km. Just in the last few months I had an

I would start by tightening your battery cables......you may just havre a
crappy connection.....

 

Good point. I had the battery replaced last September. Maybe they didn't
screw it down enough.

 

No luck there, the terminals were tight as a drum and clean as a whistle.
Made one trip today with no problems and tried a few extra starts too.

Needless to say, no trouble lights. I also checked the battery voltage and
it was 14 V. Shouldn't be a problem there, it's not even a year old.

So, I'm calling Saturn tomorrow to see what they say.

 

I had a similiar problem with my '97SC2. One of the battery cables
was loose - not at the battery, but where it connects to the frame/ground.

 

Thats just what I was going to suggest next.

 

Clutch switch?

If the clutch switch has become misaligned or the clutch is not pressed all
the way down because of the floor mat obstructing the travel, a similar
symtom may result.

Randall

 

I looked in the Haynes manual and it shows a set of normal open contacts
inside the starter which are made when the starter solenoid gets energized
to provide power to the starter motor. With time and the heavy current the
contacts wear out and eventually wear out enough that they can't make
contact any more and have to be replaced. That is why you hear the relay
click but when the solenoid pulls it does not close the contacts to turn the
motor. Since yours is intermittent it looks like it is in the verge of
going. I had the same problem with my Toyota Camry and I took the starter
out and removed the contacts and went to a local rebuilder and he sold me a
new set for $10 which was a lot cheaper then a new starter.
Alex

 

No clutch, it's an automatic. I get your drift though, there are interlocks
in the drive selector that could cause the same problem. I thought that
might be it too.

I took it to Saturn and the tech thought the starter was the problem, at
least he was 99.9 % sure. The only way to know for sure would be to
disassemble the starter and to find the spot on the armature which caused
the problem. Apparently the starter can stop over one of these "bad spots"
and refuse to rotate. Naturally, no one is going to disassemble a starter.

In any event, $561 CDN later I had a new starter. So far, zero problems, so
I guess that was it.

 

Neighbor asked my opinion on his car that wouldn't start. He heard a click
when the key was turned and the courtesy light dimmed a bit but no crank. He
assumed that the starter motor was bad.

I opened the hood and first looked at the battery. There was a lot of green
corrosion on the battery terminals and battery Positive wires. Gave a good
tug on the wires and the one to the starter pulled right off (only having
been hanging on by a few strands from corrosion). Said, "Found your problem"
to the amazed owner. Got a new clamp for $2, cleaned up the wire by cutting
it back to good copper and called it a job well done.

Owner is a wine conneseur and got me a bottle from his cellar. I suspect
that I could trade the one bottle for a couple of cases of what I usually
drink. <G>

Oppie