I think it might be the terminals on the Battery, but I am not sure when I try to start it the starter makes a messed up sound like clack clack clack and its not turning over at all. please help me out guys. I think I should do the cap, rotor, distributor, and wires, but I dont want to start putting more money in to this thing right now. I am not sure if its getting spark or not.

1. Remove the negative connector from the battery. Clean the inside of the connector to shiny clean with sandpaper or wire brush or file. Now rough up (clean) the neg. terminal itself.

2. Do the same with the positive connector and terminal.

3. Connect positive to terminal.

4. Connect negative.

 

Start the car.

 

No start, but click? Remove battery from the car. Have a friend take you and the battery to an auto parts store. Have 'em perform a free test on the battery.

 

Battery dead? If yes, how old is it? More than four years? If yes, buy a new battery.

 

This is a "start" for you. If you're fortunate, it's corroded connections. If you're less fortunate, it's dead battery. If particularly unfortunate, it's solenoid shot on the starter.

 

Others will chime in with other good things to do. Best of luck, and good wishes for the beginning of your Subaru troubleshooting career.

my car did that when it had a dead bat. try jumping your car as well

Another thing to check is the battery cables themselves. Sometimes they can get corrosion into the cables under the insulation which will put a serious voltage drop in them, thus, not allowing the starter to get enough juice. This is soemthing else to consider if the battery tests out fine.

yeah, my hatch had corroded terminals on the cables. it would start sometimes, but not always. other times the solenoid would click, but there wasn't enough juice to crank the starter. i replaced the cables and battery and it was fine after that.

Tap the starter with a ballpeen hammer while someone cranks it. Sometimes it gets a bit stiff and combined with corroded cables and whatnot, won't turn over. Tapping it has always worked for me.

take a small jumper wire and jump 12v to the small spade connection on the back of the starter (after removing the plug on it).

 

If it cranks over just fine, you're dropping too much voltage in the starting circuit, or the connection to that spade plug is bad, and may need to be redone with a blue spade connector. Had this happen on two friends' cars recently.

 

-Dave

I have had problems with the starter circuit as well. like was said already, If you jump 12 volts to the little spade on the starter and it works, you've got a problem in the igniton switch and or wires. a real easy fix is to run a wire from a constant 12v source(preferably fused, like from the fusible link box) to a button inside and then back to the starter spade. If you use a piggy back connector you can actually plug the factory wire back on there. this is what I did for 2 of my old gl's. When turning the key to start doesn't work I just leave the key in the "on" position and then hit the button till it starts. comes in handy for relieving fuel pressure and other times as well.

 

Test your battery so you can rule that out.