Shyguy Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 I purchased a 2005 LGT two weeks ago and havent had a problem until today. I was sitting in line for a ferry, and when I went to start my car nothing happened. Everything lit up, the radio the dash the climate control. But when I turned the key to the start position no click, no noise, no dimming lights. After repeated tries, I got the same result. My first thought was that I had no idea as to the health of the battery. I had been sitting in the ferry line with the radio on, so my first thought was a dead battery, even though i didnt get a starter click of dimming dash lights. The car was in stock stock tune but it has an accessport, so i hooked it up to check the battery voltage, which read 12 volts. After a few more tries, i gave up. I waited a few minutes untill all the cars had loaded and an attendant came over with a jump box. I decided to let him try it since i had no better ideas to try. He made me wait 30 seconds till trying to start, so the batter would have a second to charge if it was dead. The first try gave me the same result. But the second try, after only waiting a few seconds the car fired right up. I went straight to an oreilly's, since they have a tool that tests the battery, starter and alternator. And the battery was the only part that tested bad. So I bought a new battery, and hoped that was the issue. I drove 40 miles home after that. But after the car sat for 10 minuets while i was inside, the same issue came back. It had all the same symptoms and several attempts yielded no change. I decided to let the car sit for a few minutes again and it fired right up. Checked all the fused none were blown or loose, and the car has no aftermarked systems besides the accessport. Im at a loss as to what to try next. Sorry about the long post i wanted to be complete with the symptoms i have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apexi Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 Manual transmission or automatic? I wonder about starter? or clutch safety switch if it's a MT? Hopefully others will have a better idea.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ehsnils Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 Neutral switch or clutch switch problem is my first suspicion. Some models have a relay in the main fuse box under the hood too, and oxidized contacts/connectors may be the culprit. Finally it can be the ignition lock that's dying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I Donated Too sigmafour Posted February 12, 2017 I Donated Too Share Posted February 12, 2017 Just in case. It sounds similar to a problem I had, all the same symptoms - except no ferry. It turned out to be the battery lead clamps and they were not able to bite down onto the posts tightly. I purchased two lead caps from O'Reilly to make the battery posts thicker, basically they are shims - cost $2.49 for the pair. Now the clamps do up nice and tight and the problem went away completely. Same as putting new clamps on the end of the wires only less costly and with less work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
08SpecB_DE Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 Just in case. It sounds similar to a problem I had, all the same symptoms - except no ferry. It turned out to be the battery lead clamps and they were not able to bite down onto the posts tightly. I purchased two lead caps from O'Reilly to make the battery posts thicker, basically they are shims - cost $2.49 for the pair. Now the clamps do up nice and tight and the problem went away completely. Same as putting new clamps on the end of the wires only less costly and with less work. This should be the first step and also make sure you have no corrosion on the terminals. A loose starter power connection or trigger wire can cause the same problem which will be step 2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyguy Posted February 12, 2017 Author Share Posted February 12, 2017 Thanks for all the good advice everyone, its nice to see a forum thats so helpful. Its a manual car by the way. I checked the terminals this morning, and the positive terminal was loose. So i cleaned both of them and resecured them. I must have missed that while i was installing the new battery last night. I havent had the problem return yet though. One question i do have is both times the battery was disconnected, the first time i started it, it took a few more seconds than im used to for it to start. Is this normal, i havent seen this kind of reaction from my other cars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HAMMER DOWN Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 Yes, after ECU is reset or lost of voltage. It take the ECU about 10sec. to do it scan & the the motor will crank/start. Mileage:331487 Retired/Sold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solidxsnake Posted February 12, 2017 Share Posted February 12, 2017 Thanks for all the good advice everyone, its nice to see a forum thats so helpful. Its a manual car by the way. I checked the terminals this morning, and the positive terminal was loose. So i cleaned both of them and resecured them. I must have missed that while i was installing the new battery last night. I havent had the problem return yet though. One question i do have is both times the battery was disconnected, the first time i started it, it took a few more seconds than im used to for it to start. Is this normal, i havent seen this kind of reaction from my other cars. Yes, after ECU is reset or lost of voltage. It take the ECU about 10sec. to do it scan & the the motor will crank/start. Yeah, as he said, after a battery pull/ECU reset, if you just turn the key to ON (but not START) and let it sit for 10-15sec, then crank, it'll start right up. Shouldn't hurt anything by starting it right away, except for the minimal extra drain you'll put on your battery by cranking for an extra couple of seconds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyguy Posted February 12, 2017 Author Share Posted February 12, 2017 Thanks, I was hoping that was all. Im going to try driving it for a while and shutting off today, to see if that recreates the issue. Yesterday both times the problem showed up, it was after driving for over 30 minutes on the freeway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyguy Posted February 13, 2017 Author Share Posted February 13, 2017 I havent gotten the problem to return, so hopefully it was just the bad connection at the terminal. Ill update this post if i find anything else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyguy Posted February 21, 2017 Author Share Posted February 21, 2017 So the problem has returned twice now since the last post. Both times were after very short drives, going to the gas station a few blocks from my house. The first time was like the first were after only a few minutes everything returned to normal. The second time the problem persisted long enough to diagnose. I checked that all battery connections were good and I still had good voltage. After that I checked the starter connections, they were all secure and when starting the car was providing power to the starter. After this I decided it was most likely the starter and started tapping on the solenoid until the car fired right up. So at this point I'm assuming its the starter, i'll swap it out tomorrow. If the problem returns after this ill update the post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
solidxsnake Posted February 21, 2017 Share Posted February 21, 2017 If it is indeed the starter, you may have luck just replacing the solenoid contacts instead of the entire starter (to save a considerable amount of money). I'm not sure where to find the contacts for the starter on our cars in particular, but it shouldn't be much different than this procedure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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