Starting Issue

[recomer]

Well, the Eagle let me down. At work here, started the Eagle to go get some gas and lunch and no issues getting to the gas station. FIlled up, went to start...click click click.... Great...  Lights all work, radio all works, new battery, new battery cables. Verified everything is tight and no corrosion on the battery or cabled. Tapped the selinoid, nothing. Turned the ignition to on, went up front to do the selinoid bypass, just sparks no starter turning. Tried the same with the transmission in neutral, no differerence.

Would I be correct to assume the starter went out on me?

[GRONK]

starter or solenoid.

[shaggimo]

Even though they look clean, double check your cables and terminals, give em a good cleaning, I had this happen twice over the summer, new cables, looked clean, but caused a no crank condition.  Cleaned the terminals and cables, put that red protector on, haven't a problem since.

[recomer]

Thanks GRONK & shaggimo. Cars at the garage now. I pulled and retightened everything, battery and cables just replaced in Oct and not a bit of corrosion, everythings tight and Battery is well charged. Still click click click...

[shaggimo]

If you have an advance auto near you, they will bench test your starter for free, if memory serves me right, it can also tell if your starter draws too many amps.

[IowaEagle]

Did you bypass the solenoid to see if that is it?   That's usually the first thing I suspect.

[captspillane]

Make sure you bypass the neutral safety switch. Thats the post at the bottom of a solenoid on a automatic transmission car. The solenoid clicking means that its not getting enough power or enough ground, and its most often a ground issue. A manual car gets the ground through the two screws into the fender wall at the base and an automatic gets its ground through the neutral safety switch in the tranmission.

In all my cars I put manual solenoids. That post has driven me nuts on most of my cars. You won't damage anything by starting the car in gear, it will just be slightly difficult on the starter since the torque converter is empty in park. Its there to make sure the car doesn't jolt forward. I personally love to be able to start the car when it suddenly develops a vacuum leak and dies while you're slowing around a curve, so that safety solenoid has to go.

Take an alligator clip to the post at the very bottom of the solenoid to a good reliable source of ground, preferably the battery post itself, and your car will likely start right up.

[recomer]

Well talked to the mech yesterday and looks like my alternator wasnt really doing the best job and was barely charging battery). Second time since I've owned it I've had alternator issues..First time, bearing seized (was in middle of cross country trip). Seems that last start I did before heading to gas station just about drained the battery. They were able to jump start it but alternator wasn't charging the battery enough to sustain it. Last Alternator was from Napa and so is the new one they are installing so hope I'll be able to call them on their "lifetime" warranty and recoup some of the losses. Will see how that goes. Will have car back this afternoon.

[mechanic80]

That manual/automatic solenoid switch is a great idea exactly for the reasons you've mentioned.  Momentarily shifting to neutral just wont help if that ground issue exists, and I've seen people shift to PARK while moving but not thinking.

[DaemonForce]

That manual/automatic solenoid switch is a great idea exactly for the reasons you've mentioned.  Momentarily shifting to neutral just wont help if that ground issue exists, and I've seen people shift to PARK while moving but not thinking.

Agreed. I'm the dangerous type that shifts out of gear and tries to restart from intermittent death on the freeway. From what I recognize, the neutral safety is just another mommy-may-I game on these cars. The simpler everything is, the better. I've had tons of starting issues lately and the solution seems to involve removing some electronic controls each time.