Help PLEASE!!! 2000 Lumina 3.1 wont start

I have a 2000 Chev Lumina and it won't start.:frown: We were having issues with the car not starting for 15-20 minutes after we shut it off. Someone told us the starter was bad. When we took the starter out we tested it and it seemed to work fine but since we already had a different starter we decided to just put that one in and we got a brand new battery, but now it won't start over at all. All it does is click. We have checked all the wires, the ground and made sure everything was secure. We even checked all the under hood fuses and the fuses inside the car and they all were good. We're now wondering what to do or check next? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

msdaisydukes

Did you check out the new starter before your installed it? Sometimes they don't work straight from the gitgo. Could have a faulty solenoid.

If you have a 12v test light, make sure the purple wire going to the small "s" terminal on the solenoid has power to it when the key is in the start position. If it doesn't, you may have a bad neutral safety switch. You can try putting the shifter in neutral and see if it starts, as usually , when a neutral safety switch starts to fail, it will still work in the neutral position but not in park.

Yes we did check the starter when we got it and it worked fine. I'm going to try another starter in it because I am wondering when my brother in law tried to by pass the solenoid a few different times if he could have burned it out. I am going to also try to change the ignition and starter relays in it and see if that makes a difference. The car was running up to the point when we change the starter out and then all of a sudden it don't want to work anymore.

If it really clicks it means that the voltage comes to the "s" terminal. The solenoid works but either the contact inside the starter is missing (I don't know if it really can be with a new starter) or the contact on the way to "s" terminal is bad, the current is limited, and the solenoid can't go the whole way to depress the contact.

The latter can be checked by bypassing all the relays, switches, etc and connecting +12v to "s".

BTW, are you sure that the main wire to starter has a proper contact?

I mean the red thick wire that really powers the starter and is not broken by any relay.
I can't believe that you forgot to fix it properly, but I don't believe in miracles, either. If a working new starter is put to a car and is properly wired, it should work.