car been sitting for awhile

[97grandam81]

Well I left for College and my car had to sit for awhile, 8 months, w/o starting and i live in Missouri which has decent winters. Well anyways its pretty obvious that my car is not going to start on the first try but we replace the battery and since I know nothing about cars I need some advice on what could be some of the possible problems and solutions of my car not turning over. Or if it would be just easier to take it to a mechanic.

[RWPMAXX]

You already replaced the battery so does your lights and eveything work when you turn the key makes no sound at all any clicking humming anything?????

[97grandam81]

well yea everything works it just won't turn over. But everything electrical works and the batter is fine.

[GNXdreamin]

When you say it won't turn over, do you really mean it won't turn over? or are you saying it will turn over, just not start? cause if it won't even turn over with a new battery, i would bet it's your starter relay, or otherwise known as your starter sylinoid.

[RWPMAXX]

I have a 93 that did the same thing, Battery was fine everything electrical worked no problem but when I turned the key no sounds at all I replaced the starter it was fine after that....you can pull the starter and have an auto parts store test it for you it can be the starter or solenoid they will be able to tell you....RWP.

[Slade901]

The engine may have hydro-lock for not being run for a long time. Some folks even squirts oil inside the spark plug holes if they are not going to start it for a long time.

However, since the problem is here now. I would try to by-pass the starter solenoid and just jump the starter directly to the battery to see if it even turns over the engine.

Some starter seize up, just a couple of whacks of hammer on the starter body (whamm), then trying to start the engine would make the starter turn again.

You may have to squirt some oil in the spark plug holes to help free up the pistons. You can also try to rotate the crankshaft by using a large bolt with breaker bar and turning the crankshaft by the big bolt in the harmonic balancer pulley.

Try starting the car with the transmission in Neutral. That would help the starter free up some load when trying to start the engine.

[curleyq]

Some starter seize up, just a couple of whacks of hammer on the starter body (whamm), then trying to start the engine would make the starter turn again.

We have the exact same problem here. Would you be able to tell me where the starter body is located on our 86 Grand Am? My son had a friend do this for him once before and it worked, but he didn't see where he was whacking! Thanks for your help.