Car won't crank...

[Chocolate Lover]

Battery? Good
Cables? Good, attached well.
Starter? Roughly 2 years old or less.

Now what?

No clicking noise when you try to crank like you get when the battery's dead. Inside stuff lights up (interior light, radio comes on, yada yada).

HELP!

[busymom]

I checked with DH. He's betting your battery is weak, but not totally dead (that's why the inside stuff is still lighting up). If you get your battery tested, and the shop says it's o.k., next most-likely problem is the starter.

Sorry your car is misbehaving!!

[Chocolate Lover]

That's what I said but DH and his brother both disagree. Whatever, like I've never seen a weak battery before. I'll give DH a couple more days then nag him to give it another try.

Starter was recently (at most 2 years ago) replaced and I'd rather sell it than try that again. Starter is next to fire wall, not an easy place to get to.

[busymom]

DH called me back with one more suggestion. Take a hammer & tap the starter with it. If the car starts, then you're getting a weak connection in the starter, and it's time for a new one. Best of luck, & let us know what the problem is when you find out!

[jarhead1976]

Sounds like battery is low. In florida you need to replace your battery every 2-3 years the heat is brutal. Gas?

[Chocolate Lover]

Busy, it'll be a while before you get that answer.

Jarhead, what about the gas? Yes, it has gas in it.

It BETTER have gas in it, he's kinda dingy but he better not be that dingy.

[busymom]

[Mad Dawg Wiccan]

Sounds like the battery to me. Try jump-starting it off another car. If it starts, it's the battery.

[Chocolate Lover]

We did try jumping it off MDW, I don't think he waited long enough, just in case it was really really dead.

Like I said, I'm going to let him stew on it and tomorrow I'll bug him again. He just hates it when I'm right about car stuff.

I just thought I'd give him something new to look at if you all had any other suggestions.

[tskeeter]

CL, the clicking noise you talk about is the sign of a battery with a low charge level (not enough power to engage the drive clutch in the starter). Given the age of your starter, a starter failure is unlikely unless you're using the car in a delivery service and starting it a bazillion times a day. The fact that you couldn't get the starter to turn when you jumped it indicates it's probably not a battery problem. That leaves the circuit between the battery and the starter. You can test this theory by running jumper cables from the battery to the starter. If the starter turns, you've got a wiring problem. Since you've replaced the starter, it appears that the car is older. Here are a couple of possibilities. Bad/stuck starter relay (The relay for my Wrangler is less than $10, so it's cheap enough that you could just replace it on the chance that it is bad.). Bad/corroded ground connection at the block or at the relay (remove, clean with wire brush, reinstall connection). The latter is more likely if you have noticed that the car has been cranking over a bit slowly recently.

[tskeeter]

you might try putting it in neutral and see what you get

Rick, you jogged my memory. I didn't think about the neutral start switch (used to come loose in my 1980 Citation => no go).

[rileyoday]

Tapping the starter could work. I had a starter that did not work when hot. { long ago}

[Chocolate Lover]

Ok, for Rick......

1990 Toyota Cressida.

I haven't tried starting it myself so I don't know if it's been slow on the start lately. (DH's car)

I'll ask if he tried starting it in neutral...

while I wait on his answer, tell me, is the dang starter relay on the starter or somewhere easier to reach?

[Chocolate Lover]

He says he did try starting it in neutral.

[Chocolate Lover]

Ok, I made him take the battery to the auto parts store for testing, they said it was dead after they tested it, they charged it, he took it home and all that happened was the alarm went off. Still won't crank. Damn it!

[Chocolate Lover]

OMG, I'm so not gonna say I told you so when I go home......

DH didn't know how to make alarm stop, no wonder it wouldn't crank. to be fair, it's only gone off about 3 times in all the years we've had it and I found out by accident (I drove it 1st).

It cranked!!