Drove it 3 times yesterday, now nothing. It won't crank/start, but does make one click when i turn the key. Lights and radio work fine. Battery is brand new.

The very first thing you want do with this kind of trouble is to clean the battery post connections using a battery post cleaning brush. Ninety percent of the time that fixes things. If that doesn't work then the next suspect for the trouble is bad starter solenoid contacts. If they are okay then the inhibit switch needs to be checked. There you have it.

ok i cleaned the battery connections when i put a brand new battery in it this morning. i can clean em again and make sure they're tight just to rule that out but how would i go about checking the contacts. do i take the starter out? i've seen a lot of how-to online about that.

I would try using a jumper or remote starter on the cylinoid and see if that makes it crank over could be a bad inhibitor switch or a bad wire

tried jumping with another car this morning, no change.

There is a small wire going to the starter solenoid. To check the solenoid contacts and main cable to the starter you need to jumper power from the battery to that lead connection. You need to be careful when doing that as the safety switches will be bypased when doing that and if the car is in gear someone may get hurt if the car moves when things are connected. If the starter works ok then you need to check the safety switches. If the solenoid clicks and the starter doesn't work then the contacts are most likely bad or the main cable from the battery has a problem. Checking to see if there is 12 volts at the starter while the solenoid is on will mean there is a problem with the contacts. If the voltage is low then the lead connection is bad,at the battery end most likely.

 

If the starter has never been worked on before this then the solenoid contacts are way over due to be changed out. Usually 10 years is a pretty good life for them.

i'm here alone and can't roll this car anywhere to get the volts tested. i'm guessing its the contacts. i'm thinking of replacing them just to start the process of elimination. so the whole starter need not be replaced, just the solenoid?

 

ah cars.. it's all good till its not.

if i can get a hold of jumpers where do i put them on the solenoid?

Place the car in park and then connect one side of the jumper on the main power supply for the starter and the other on where the small wire connects if the starter turns over its probably the inhibitor switch.

thank you! and if it doesn't its the starter?

If it doesn't its probably the solenoid contacts.

Edited March 10, 201313 yr by mikaleda

i see where the wire from the negative end of the battery connects to the starter.

so i put one end of the jumpers on the battery's positive and negative? and then just the negative on the starter? or both?

 

thanks for your help =S

The large wire that connects to the solenoid is +positive beneath that there should be a small wire that connects to male spade clip coming out of the solenoid jump that to the large cable and it will activate the solenoid just like turning the key. The solenoid is just a big relay the negative connections are through the block.

There is all kinds of information available on the net that you can check out and see how a car starter motor and solenoid works. YouTube most likely has a number of videos about it also.