Alright so the other morning i went to turn my car on (91 Camaro 305 V8) and the starter tried to crank about one time then wouldnt turn over and also killed all the electronics in my car. so i thought it might be a fuse, checked them all, they are all good. thought it might be a faulty connection somewhere, checked them all, they are all good. so then i thought maybe since it killed my electronics when it tried to crank it was my alternator and not the starter. so i pulled my jeep over tried jumpin the battery.. did the same thing when i tried turning it on. if it was the alternator, the extra juice from being jumped should have most likely atleast allowed it to start so i could get it to the shop, but it didnt. so here's what i'm thinking.. i'm thinking my starter is going bad, and when i try to start it tries so hard that it drains the battery, therein killing all my electric too. however, i was under the impression that there was some sort of sollenoid that in the car that was supposed to prevent this from happening. also, as if this could get any more complicated, after i crank it and kill the power to everything, when i turn it back into accessories my cd player will come on, but not when i turn it forward to turn on the fan and what not. does anyone have any possible idea what this could be? i just replaced this starter a few years ago.. i know that doesnt really mean it can't be faulty, but i want to make sure before i put the time, money and effort into putting a new starter in it, which i will have to do myself since it wont start so i cant take it to the shop where i work. any help is extremely appriciated.
The solenoid in my Tracker has begun to stick fairly often. I keep a a big screwdriver in the glove box to tap it loose. Just find the solenoid and tap it lightly. Dunno if it'll work, but it's worth a try.
buy a new battery from walmart (return it later) put it in the car and see if it starts.
if it doesnt even crank pull out the starter and put + and - right to the new battery just use jumper cables to do this. the starter should spin really fast. if it sounds werid or anything just take it back if you have an aftermarket reman it probably has a lifetime warrenty atleast if you got it from napa. or if you can get the parts they are really easy to rebuild.
the alt isnt going to affect starting the car not that im aware of at all.
the solenoid is just the little peice attached to the started, which tends to go bad too and you can usually just replace that but its almost the same price as a reman so its not worth it.
I had the same problem on my car before, turned out it was my battery i took it out and went to autozone they tested it for free and it was only reading 9 volts. It was under warranty so they gave me a new one. Take the battery or stater what ever you gonna do get tested first before you buy anything.
Alright, thanks guys. so i'm hearing battery or starter or starter solenoid.. i'll check all those three out. if it was the battery though i would have thought it would have started when i tried to jump it, so my bet is on the starter or the solenoid. i'll see if i cant get it tested sometime soon.
90% of the time its the battery and/or cables and connections, even down at the starter......take off all the connections at the battery and at the starter...clean em up with a wire brush, then coke/soda or baking soda ...and then a little vasoline....look for corrosion at any exposed cable ends and clean that up too...then try jumping it again....I'm sure battery is run down by now...
if that doesn't fix it, remove the battery and get a free check at your local auto parts store ...
rarely is it a starter or solenoid, and usually U get an indication if it is, like a grinding spinning noise when U turn the key for about a week before it blows...and with new vehicles U change em both...don't mickey mouse it and only change the solenoid and not the starter..
BTW...years ago, I once had a bad positive cable from battery and starter (96 GMC Jimmy), that APPEARED perfectly fine, with no cuts, crimps, hard bends etc that cost me $125 to find out and replace...I have done some car work for 40 years and would never thought it was a simple cable, especially after I had cleaned all the connections/cables and inspected the cable myself..
Sounds like it could be an ignition switch problem to me. I would try jumping it at the starter with a screwdriver to see if it will turn over. That will answer the battery question real quick.
If you loose power to the dash when you go from run to start with the ignition switch and still have power in the acc. possition, I would consider checking out the switch.
I don't really want to tell you guys what was wrong.. because i pride myself on being pretty smart, and this made me feel like an idiot. i had a bad connection on my positive battery terminal. i checked it when this all started, and it was in there very snug.. but last night when i touched it it sparked really quick, whihc was a dead give away. just took a wire brush and cleaned it up a little and tightened it back down and everything works perfect. basically, like LK said.. don't ignore the little things!
Very common problem...and many times they just need a good cleaning, even though U see no corrosion..as I said that usually the problem 90% of the time is battery and/or connections...