weird starting problem

this happens randomly. ill shut down my car and ill go back to it either 2 minutes later up to 6 hours later and it wonts start. it doesnt even try to start. when i turn the key i hear the fuel pump and the clock shuts off like it should but its like the starter isnt getting the relay. the starter will actually start after anywhere from 2 tries to fifty tries. then all of a sudden its like nothing happend and when i try it it starts right up. this happens randomly like i said. today it did it twice. once after it being off for 10 minutes and the other 4 hours. the rest of the day in between these two times it didn't do it. the last time it happend was about a week ago and then two weeks ago. anyone know whats up with it?

I'd take it to Autozone and have them test the starter. They should do it for free. The only thing I could think of, is perhaps there is an intermitant wiring problem or something that happens sometimes and doesn't others???

Sounds like the same thing that happened to my girlfriends' stealth. Her's too had problems starting, but it didn't happen everytime. It turns out that the battery terminals and the wiring was corroded. So she put new gold connectors on and cleaned up the terminals on the battery to a shine and well, it starts just fine now. That's just my two cents though.

Hey guys, well, I'm not absolutely sure this is ur problem, but it sounds very very similar to one I had with my 99 3kGT SL. During a period of about two weeks (it eventually aggrivated me) my car would, and at completely random times, just not start. Car did exactly what you said yours was doing. Well, I eventually came up with a temp fix, and sort of answer to my problems, I had a friend get in and turn the key to crank position while I would tap the starter with my tire tool. And it would instantly crank. So, I took it to auto zone to test the starter just to reinforce my thoughts.....and they tried to tell me it was my battery, that I didn't have enough cold cranking amps or somethin like that, but I JUST replaced the batt, and it's a Platinum grade batt, sooo I said screw that and just bought a new starter. I mean if you gotta tap somthin to get it to start, it's GOTTA be that part. Anywho, the starter cost me like $120, and I got $40 of it back for the core charge, replaced it myself, took only 30 mins, and I have never replaced a starter before. VERY VERY easy job :) good luck, and I hope my info isn't too late.

sweet, thanks. it took about 100 turns of the key to get it started this morning. can you give me any tips on how to replace the starter like where its located and other stuff?

Here's some possibilities:

- Your battery terminals arent connected tight enough, clean enough, or the ground isn't grounded well enough.

- Starter solenoid is bad, which means replacing the whole starter. If you hear a click come from the engine bay when you turn the key your solenoid is fine, and your starter motor could be bad. If no click, then possibly ur solution.

- Starter relay is bad, you can check by switching it with any other relay in the little box in the engine bay.

Tips for removing/installing starter:

It's located right in the front of the engine bay where the transmission meets the engine, you can follow the wire from the positive terminal on the battery down directly to the starter. There's (2) 14 mm bolts that mount it up to the engine (actually transmission), remove those and the starter will pull out and down. Then there's a 12 mm bolt that holds the wire from the batter onto the post on the starter, along with a clip connecter that you just squeeze and pull off. Remove those, connect them to the new starter, put the new starter back up on the engine (transmission) and bolt it back in.

Well those were more of instructions rather than tips, but you get the point.

thanks, but not needed. i picked up a starter from autozone, disconnected batter, jacked up my car, dropped my downpipe, started to take off the clip connector and it just slid off. it wasnt clipped in. clipped it in, connected battery, left downpipe off. it sounded so loud it was amazing. at idle it sounded like v8. i took it around for a few miles, and when i got on it, it was sooooooooooooooo loud. unbelievable loud. it was sweet though. sounded like a v8 but you could hear the turbos spooling and then when i got on it it was v8 header loud and then my bov would go off. if i was a bystander i would be confused as hell. anyway,there wasnt any backpressure so it kept dieing (correct spelling?) so i put the downpipe back on.

Not good for the motor... but at least you didn't do it long.

Yea, pretty much what twisted said, but if you still have probs finding it, post back and I'll take some pics to show you.

Not good for the motor... but at least you didn't do it long.


Please explain why it is bad for the motor?

Please explain why it is bad for the motor?

:1:

Why on earth would running open downpipe be bad for the motor? Eardrums...yes, motor....no

I thought he said he left the downpipe completely off? That would mean there would practically be zero backpressure on the motor. Someone told me this has a negative effect on the valves and the whole combustion process. I'm probably wrong, but I'm just going on what I've heard.

Well, this would be true exept he has turbos...and they provide all the necessary backpressure for his car, so he could run open with all the needed backpressure

Gotcha. The guy who told me this was refering to N/A I suppose then. Ah well, that clears things up.

then why wouldnt my car die all the time? it wouldnt idle and just die when i pushed in the clutch. it had to keep dropping the clutch to get it started. why is that?

sorry. why *would* my car die all the time when i had my downpipe off. i also took off the front precat if that has anything to do with it.

It only died when you had the downpipe off?
And then when you put the downpipe back on, and changed nothing else, it worked?

Is that what you are saying? Are you sure you didn't change anything else in the intake? Because that is odd. I think, something else must have been changed...not just the downpipe. If not, then that really is a mystery to me.

i unhooked the negative battery terminal, took off the downpipe and front precat, put back the negatve battery terminal, and started it up. it would idle fine just sitting there but when i drove it, it would die when i pushed in the clutch. i put the downpipe back on and it did the same thing, so i reset the computer by unhooking the battery and hooking it up again and now its fine. is it that much loss of backpressure to make it die?

My guess is the first time you hooked up the battery, you probably didn't tighten the cable down enough to the terminal. Then when you turned it on, the additional loudness/vibration from running open exhaust probably shook it a bit looser, and that caused your car to die.

Then when you put it all back together, you probably got a good connection again with the battery, and everything worked fine. That is the only logical conclusion I can come up with.