Starting Problems on '01 Taurus

i've got a 2001 Taurus. lately it's been acting strangely.

sometimes, but not always, when i try to start it, the car's battery will turn on but the starter won't engage for a second or two. then, it does. other times, it starts right away. other times it won't start, but if i leave the battery on for a few seconds and try again, then it starts. this morning, it was starting almost immedietely. this afternoon, it won't start at all. i have had the starter checked and it is (supposedly) fine.

i took it to a mechanic and he kindly volunteered to take it from me for a day and play around with it until he found what was wrong. problem is, i don't want to pay the guy $40/hour if he doesn't know what's wrong with it. other mechanics have been of similarly poor help.


any ideas?

-wkw

Sounds to me like you have a starter motor with a finnicky connection somewhere. That would be the inexpensive solution. You might also have a bad ignition switch (not the key cylinder switch) or loose connection to the switch. Possibly when the car is cool, the connection contracts enough to make good contact. If the connection is not making good contact, keeping the key switch in the start position causes the heat generated by the high resistance connection to allow for a better connection (maybe the plastic connector housing starts to melt and flow) which allows the circuit to close.

If you have a multimeter or test light, check for voltage to the starter solenoid sometime when the car doesn't want to start. If you have proper voltage to the starter, the problem is with the starter. If you don't have voltage to the solenoid, then the problem is somewhere between the key and the solenoid.

-Rod