Car started up no problem this morning. Drove to the post office, came back out and it doesn't turn over. I have power and there is a "click" but no turn. This issue has arisen from time to time in the past, and was resolved by hitting the gear shifter forward a little bit, presumably reminding the car it isn't in gear and it's OK to start. It also seems to do it more often when very low on gas.

 

No luck with that this time and it also won't start in neutral. It is low on gas, but I put 2 gallons in, same deal. Any help is appreciated.

 

Additional info: 185K, timing belt change at 181. Hitting the shifter to get it to start has worked since I've owned the car -- since 114K.

Edited October 21, 200916 yr by rottenhead

I have power and there is a "click" but no turn.

 

Most likely the copper contacts in the starter solenoid are worn/pitted/burned. You can replace them quite inexpensively but you have to remove the starter to get to them. Try a search for "starter contacts"--been discussed a lot.

 

Good luck.

Went back over and tried again -- same deal. Decided to pump the gas a few times and it fired right up.

 

Is there a good explanation for that? While we're on the topic, I do usually have a strong gas smell at startup.

You have two issues.

 

One is the solenoid contacts in the starter. The second may be a bad engine Temp sensor. I would however start with a good old fashioned tuneup.

 

 

nipper

Next time it does it smack the starter solenoid with a hammer, it just needs a little persuasion.

 

All cars smell somewhat strongly of gas when started. Especially when cold started. It takes a richer fuel/ air ratio to start a cold engine than it does to start a warm engine, or to keep it running at idle once it is warm.

Also the catalytic converter does not work when cold, period. It has to be about 600°F before it can start to convert left over fuel and hydrocarbons in the exhaust into more pleasant gases such as hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen.

I'm a little hesitant to take the starter out and mess with it, although it probably needs it after 185K hard earned miles. It's just so weird to me that it does it when low on gas, and otherwise if it does it, hitting the shifter makes it start.

I think it's just a coincidence that it does it when it's low on gas.

The "click" is the sound of the starter solenoid operating and bringing the contacts in the solenoid together. But the amount of current that the starter motor needs to rotate the engine burns the contacts so they don't make a good connection.

Why it then starts when you hit the shifter. There could be just enough vibration transferred through the shift cable to the engine to jar the contacts into a slightly different enough position that they then connect well enough to allow the motor to turn. It sounds like a stretch, but sometimes it doesn't take much at all to make that connection right and allow current to flow properly.

Not Starting and not turning over are two different things. If you can hear the click of the Start, then as noted above and the engine does not turn over, then the starter contacts are most likely worn and need to be replace.

 

If it is turning over but not starting, it could be fuel related.

 

You should leave the throttle closed, unless the engine flooded somehow.

 

Instead of hitting the shifter, try neutral. It may be that the second attempt sends enough voltage to the starter.

 

Clean the battery terminals and grounds as well.

After my last post on this issue, I ended up tapping the starter with a hammer a few times. That bought me some more time. Last weekend though, it finally started giving me a problem on every start. So went to work on it last night and was successful. Starts up no problem. I got the contacts from S*Wings in Denver. Photo documentation of the replacement here.

Nice job on the photos covering the repair job. As an added note it is always a good idea to clean the battery terminals when that kind of trouble happens as they can cause the same kind of thing to happen if they are making a bad connection.

you should work on getting a replacement starter, so you have one on hand when the original one craps out.

 

you should be able to use an ea82 starter from an automatic, it should fit the same. I kn0w this is true for manual trans, i used a 92 legacy fwd 5spd starter in an 87 gl fwd 5spd.