Car NOT STARTING!

[JAK]

Hi guys,

Last night I wasn't able to start my car. The lights and cluster would go on....and I think I heard a clicking noise as well when trying to start (sometimes) - but it wouldn't crank or turn over.

What could it be? Bad starter, battery?

[genphreak]

Hi guys,

Last night I wasn't able to start my car. The lights and cluster would go on....and I think I heard a clicking noise as well when trying to start (sometimes) - but it wouldn't crank or turn over.

What could it be? Bad starter, battery?Hmmm Mustard relay, dirty battery connections, battery not charged enough to turn the engine over (only if the lights go out when you 'try' to activate the starter motor...)

[E34-520iSE]

Check the engine earth cable - it may have became slack.

HTH,

Shaun

[JAK]

Thanks...


We tried boosting it but that didn't work. The batter seems fine still (tested for over 12v w/ a voltmeter)

We managed eventually getting it started by hitting the starter a few times as someone tried igniting it. It worked! But now if you turn the car off and try igniting again - it will not start! The starter needs to be 'smacked.' Could this mean its just the starter??

[mattyb]

yep

[tim]

Someone recently posted on this issue describing a failure in the wiring. He had replaced with high quality 0 gauge, and that too eventually went bad. A lot of amps going through copper eventually causes what I call "black wire disease", and you usually see it on the ground side of the connection. The jacketing looks fine, but underneath the wire looks all black and corroded with specks of blue and orange.

It's hard to tell visually from the insulator jacketing whether a wire has gone bad. May want to go over the obvious connections with a multimeter before you rush out and get a starter. Usually, a bad starter will not work at all because the brushes are fried, the bearing is shot, etc. Pretty rare to see one intermittant, but not impossible I guess.

Otherwise, sounds like the starter.

[JAK]

Once we get it fixed - I'll definitely post the solution.