Starter broke?

[Dakota Sang]

Hello! so my LGT has had a few rough weeks and admittedly I have not been the best owner (especially when it comes to it not working). Sunday night the car wouldnt turn over and start so I bought a new positive battery connector cause the old one broke when my Dad and I tried to fix it, and the new one started it right up and got me home and now it wont start for anything. The battery has plenty of life, everything turns on, everything works BUT it wont turn over. I looked everywhere online and on the forums but Ive received different answers and now I'm more confused and concerned than I was when it was just sitting in that damn parking lot. I dont know what I'm supposed to do guys. please.

 

EDIT: I dont know where I'm supposed to post this sorry mods

[08SpecB_DE]

Check for power at the main positive terminal on the starter and check for power on the trigger wire at the starter while someone trys to start the car. If you have power at both, tap on the starter with a hammer while someone trys starting it. It might a good idea to put a 22mm on the crank pulley and make sure you can manually turn the motor over.

[SchwarzeEwigkt]

My wife’s Forester did that a while back. Turned out the connection for the negative battery connector wasn’t so hot. It corroded and went from starting fine to not over a few hours. I had to clean it up and narrow the plastic spacer on the clamp to get it to grip a bit tighter. Worked fine for a year after that.

 

Then it did it again. Ended up being the field coil wire on the outside of the starter got rusty and disintegrated, so the solenoid wasn’t connected to anything.

 

I’d start with checking to see if you’ve got 12V at the B+ connector on the starter. If you do, you know your + connection at the battery and your cable is good. You did say you had a bad connector, so I’d be suspect of the battery cable or connection, honestly at either terminal at this point.

 

If that doesn’t pan out, pull the signal connector off and check to see if you get +12V from it when you turn the key to start. That’ll prove your ignition is working and trying to close the starter solenoid. If you’re not getting signal there, my first guess would be that the immobilizer circuit is confused and won’t let you start the car. I don’t know much about that.

 

If your signal wire lights up correctly with the key, it’s probably the starter solenoid or starter itself. You can try tapping on the solenoid with something like a hammer handle while somebody attempts to crank it. If that gets it to start, the solenoid is sticking and you’ll want to put in a new starter sooner rather than later. That is, before it stops working completely. If it doesn’t crank, something else is probably wrong with the starter, like my field coil wire issue.

 

Luckily, if it won’t crank, there’s a fairly short list of things that can cause this.

 

 

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[jaylew]

1) do you hear the solenoid activate (a clicking/clunking) which engages the starter with the flywheel/flex plate

1a) if you hear that noise, give the starter a tap with a hammer or dead blow. Could be bad commutations and a good smack will help it turn over

1b) if this works, than yeah its the starter. get a new one

 

2) if its a manual transmission, can the car be bump started?

[ashwinearl]

The battery has plenty of life, everything turns on, everything works BUT it wont turn over.

 

When you say plenty of life, are you going by a test from an Auto parts store? Or is it a brand new battery.

 

The reason I point this out, is that Advanced Auto said my battery 'checked out' but I was having intermittent starter issues. When my mechanic put a booster on the battery, the starter fired hard and strong. The cold cranking capability was low but the auto parts tester said it was in spec.

 

This was his first check before digging into grounds and power connections from the battery to the starter.

 

Is it a 5 speed? There are also clutch sensors that need to be triggered for the starter to engage, I believe. I do not know for sure, just arm chair thinking here.

Edited November 6, 2019 by ashwinearl

[Max Capacity]

Hopefully he'll clean both battery terminals before anything else.

[awfulwaffle]

Have someone smack the starter with a long stick while you try to get it to crank. Had a daily in college that would only start this way, because solenoid would stick

[Max Capacity]

You can even hit the starter and then go and start it too. Had to do that back in the 1970's to my 340 Duster and also recently to the 86' Ford F150. Actually the F150 solenoid is on the right front fender under the hood. Easy part to fix.

[Dakota Sang]

When it first crapped out on me I had to replace the positive terminal for the battery so when I was putting the new one on I thoroughly cleaned the battery and connectors.