Car Won't Start... Again

[dpodblood]

So for a while now my car has been making this wierd zipping sound when I try and start it up. After a few tries it will start normally. Yesterday I found it took many more times compared to normal to get the car started up. Now this morning I went to start up the car, and all it does is make a rapid clicking sound. I figure it isn't the starter motor because it was replaced recently, and I know it isn't the battery because all the accessories will run (stereo, AC, etc). Any ideas on what would cause this problem?

 

[SearchMaster]

Solenoid?

 

[Vette73]

Starters can go bad anytime, like everything else. Also it takes alot more power to start a car then it does to run a radio.

Have you tried to jump it yet?

 

[LTC8K6]

Rapid clicking is usually a dead battery. Working accessories do not indicate that the battery has enough power to start the car.

 

[dpodblood]

Solenoid?

Could be. Guess I could try tapping it with a hammer after work and see if it'll start up. If that doesn't work I guess I can try jump starting it.

 

[LTC8K6]

It's possible that it isn't the battery, it's just that the solenoid clicking is usually low voltage from a weak battery.

The whirring noise could be the starter motor running by itself without the solenoid kicking the pinion gear out to engage the ring gear on the flywheel. So you just hear the starter motor whirring away really fast without a load on it.

 

[SearchMaster]

Could be. Guess I could try tapping it with a hammer after work and see if it'll start up. If that doesn't work I guess I can try jump starting it.

I know that's an old shadetree mechanic trick but it's never worked for me. Check the voltage coming out of the solenoid - if that's all it is, then at least they're cheap.

My boat recently had very similar behavior (first the whirring, then just a single click when I'd turn the key). By the time I checked it with a voltmeter, there was nothing coming out of the solenoid though the starter was good. Unfortunately the starter/solenoid were really just one piece but at least replacing them both was fairly cheap (<$65).

[edit]The click in my case was not coming from the solenoid, it was coming from the relay. I have had the clicking be a bad solenoid in my old Jeep though.[/edit]

 

[dpodblood]

My GF had a solenoid go in her car a while back. The hammer trick did work in her case, but with her car it was just a single click not a rapid clicking sound. I'm not sure how to check the solenoid voltage (I'm not mechanically inclined), so I would have to take it to the garage to check it out. Hopefully I can get the car started at least once to avoid *another* $70 tow job.

 

[kalrith]

It could be the starter, battery, or battery cables. Just to clarify a previous statement, since it takes less power for lights and accessories than it does to start the car, all of those things could power on even if you had a bad battery, bad battery cable, or too poor of contact between the battery cable and battery post (usually from corrosion).

Autozone will test batteries for free, so that might be a good first try. They'll test starters too, but that takes a lot more work to remove.

I'd at least start with looking at the battery cables and battery posts. Make sure nothing looks amiss (torn cable, corrosion, loose connection, etc.). If everything looks right, then try fully charging the battery and then taking it up to Autozone to test it. Sometimes a not fully charged battery won't pass their test, and you'll have to let them charge it for a while in order to conduct a proper test.

The only other thing I can think of is that there could be a problem with the alternator (although much less likely than the previous potential problems). If you fully charged the battery, and the car started great for a while and then slowly developed problems with starting, then there's the possibility that the alternator isn't providing enough power to run everything and charge the battery fully.

 

[kalrith]

You can bypass the solenoid with a screwdriver with an insulated handle. Touching both posts on the solenoid with the screwdriver blade, have someone try to start the car. If it starts just fine, then you have a bad solenoid. If it has the same problem as before, then it's likely the starter, battery, or battery cables.

 

[kornphlake]

If the problem is a low charge on the battery be sure to check the alternator, there's nothing worse than buying a new battery and having to get a jump start the next morning because the alternator was the problem and not the battery.

 

[dpodblood]

Turns out it was just the battery cable that worked itself loose. I was too pissed off to bother checking it out yesterday morning. That does raise the question of; what causes that weird zipping sound it makes sometimes??

 

[Vette73]

Turns out it was just the battery cable that worked itself loose. I was too pissed off to bother checking it out yesterday morning. That does raise the question of; what causes that weird zipping sound it makes sometimes??

If you mean zipping like a zzzzzzzzz sound while trying to start the car but nothing happens, that is usually the bendix in the starter not engaging the flywheel. i.e. replace starter or check for cracked flywheel.

 

[dpodblood]

If you mean zipping like a zzzzzzzzz sound while trying to start the car but nothing happens, that is usually the bendix in the starter not engaging the flywheel. i.e. replace starter or check for cracked flywheel.

I doubt it's the starter since the starter was just replaced. It made the noise before it was replaced as well.

 

[kalrith]

Is it a super-fast clicking sound? If so, then that sound is coming from the starter; however, it doesn't mean that the starter is bad. You can get the sound from a problem with the battery, battery cables, or starter. Let us know if the sound happens again after you tightened the battery cable. I'm guessing it won't.