Over the day it's been stumbling and wont start. The starter wont even budge and finally it'll barely kick over. I'll check my oil, and is there any way I can test the battery with a standard voltmeter? And lucky me, I am broke and only have enough extra cash to replace my brakes, but I guess if my car wont start I cant really go do that tomorrow.
If it won't start, then you don't need the brakes anyway, now do you Have you ever replaced your starter? I have a 97 SL2, and I replaced it quite a while back. I currently have 184000 miles, so I'd guess it went around 150,000 or so, but the first 90,000 miles were highway driving, so I wasn't exercising the starter often then. Good luck with it. Jim
Well I got the brakes fixed and the oil changed. And against my best instinct, I put a full tank of gas in it. With me that's a bad omen - usually means that the damn thing will soon break. And I was right. At the gas station I turn the key, listen to the solenoid click into position, and then nothing. I freak out and grab onto the drive belt and give it a few yanks moving it (and making my hands nice and black) and sure enough the starter makes like half a turn. Get out and do the same. Finally it struggles, sputters and the car starts. I notice that the car is now hot as I was getting my brakes 'worn in' . Over two hours later the car wont start after I shut it off in my parents driveway. Car is still warm (just under the 1/4 mark on the temp gauge) and doesn't do more than engage the starter, but the starter just wont turn. The car now runs great after I changed its oil... Also I tried to clean the starters contacts off before I left on my "test the brakes" (and get gas) trip. The car started with ease multiple times while it was cold. I also threw my cars battery on the charger to see if that was the culprit. Within about a half hour it was done charging, and it didn't give the battery more than like 2 amps (from what I figure.) Cleaned the ground wires and coated them with an anti-corrosive agent. Cleaned the positive wire to the fuse box. Re-seated the fuses. Figured I cant check the starter's voltage if it doesn't turn at all (books both say "if starter has 9 or more volts but turns slow, its bad) well it doesn't turn at all. Fubar! My uncle and dad are going to look into this today. Blah.
Battery should be at 12V for a normally charge with engine off. Monitor the battery voltage as you turn the key and check that the voltage does not drop substantially. Some cars will not start below 10V. When you turn the key, you should first hear the click of the starter solenoid engaging. The solenoid does two things - moving the pinion to engage the engine flywheel - and closing the contacts to send power to the starter motor. Also check the battery contacts that they are clean. It's a good idea when measuring voltage, not to do it at the battery terminal but instead at the fuse block. I had an intermittent cranking problem that got worse with time. Turned out to be a loose nut on the battery cable to the starter solenoid. Unfortunately by the time I found the problem, the loose nut had caused arcing and ate up the threads on the stud (which made it a pain to replace). I probably could have just replaced the solenoid but instead went with a whole rebuilt starter. Never fails that you get a few bucks ahead and then something breaks...
If you heard the starter click and not chatter - the battery is likely OK. You can try to check the tightness of the starter motor to engine bolts (the ground return path) and the two large terminals on the back of the starter solenoid. Remove the negative battery cable before using a wrench on the studs. Failing that, sounds like a dead spot on the commutator of the starter motor - or worn brushes. That being the case, it is time for a new starter. You can short the two heavy terminals on the solenoid with a screwdriver which should turn the starter. most likely will not crank the engine since only the holding portion of the starter solenoid coil is energized at that point. The Starter solenoid internally has two coils: a hold winding from the start terminal to ground and a pull-in winding from the start terminal to the starter motor power. Here are a couple of links that describe it better. http://autorepair.about.com/cs/troubleshooting/l/aa080203c.htm http://www.prestolite.com/pgs_training/training_4.php
No joke there. Every time I get a nice bonus and have the last part paid off (or almost paid off in most cases) and things are going great...car trouble!
