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Frustrating intermittent start no start.


MC1970U

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I am stumped on this. The car starts fine most the time and then sometimes out of the blue it just won’t. I did a parasitic draw test and thought the radio I installed over the summer might be drawing to much standby currant so I disconnected it charged the battery and the car was fine for a week. I have the same thing happening again tonight with a no start. Each time the car would not start I could hear the relay I installed for the distributor working fine. I have had the battery checked out. This time charging the battery is not helping.

 

One interesting thing is that each time this has happened the starter solenoid did not even partially cycle/engage/clicking like would usually happen when a battery is partially dead. Other than hearing the relay engaging just dead silence?

I have checked to make sure I am getting current everywhere I am supposed to. Any ideas where I should check? 

 

Thanks,

 

s

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I have had this happen before due to a lose hot wire on the starter. Check the connection of the battery lead on the solenoid to be sure it is tight.

This is a good starting point and may be your actual problem. A loose connection somewhere can give the illusion of power when metered or a smaller load is placed on it further down the line. It will loose connection when you put a full load on it such as trying to turn the motor over. That loose connection will sometimes open up and you will have the symptoms you are describing appear.

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What has changed, if anything?

Bad battery?

Neutral safety switch? If it is just slightly out of adjustment, try moving the shifter lever when it won't start.

Good luck!

Bruce

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Went out yesterday to try and push it into, it was stranded in the front yard, the garage to try and get down to the bottom of this and don't you know it started up again. So I parked the car in the garage, pulled the starter and started trying to trace the wiring back from that point to see if I could figure something out. So far nothing? 

 

"I have had this happen before due to a lose hot wire on the starter.  Check the connection of the battery lead on the solenoid to be sure it is tight."

 

I did and all connections were tight.

 

Bruce and Sam the neutral safety switch was the first thing I thought of when I started having this problem. The neutral safety switch seems to be working fine as it has had no effect moving the shifter in and out of any position once the car has decided not to start. It's something I have tried repeatedly.

 

"Bad battery?" The battery is new and I have taken it down and had it checked. Checked out good.

 

Even though the starter benched tested fine is it possible the starter solenoid could have some kind of intermittent issue? Since I bought the car the starter has always been a bit sluggish. Has anyone had good luck with one of the Powermaster high/ultra torque aftermarket starters in a daily driver?

 

I am going to replace the battery cables and was wondering what you guys have used with good results on the Monte's? I have not replaced battery cables in many years. I have never used spring ring battery cables and wonder about those as well. Belden used to make some nice cables?

 

Thanks guys for all the help and please keep the suggestions flowing. On a brighter/warmer note its not freezing here anymore and it is a lot easier to work on the car.

 

s

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Faulty ignition switch? Its a basic circuit, so there aren't many things that can go wrong. From your description when it doesn't start it doesn't even try to start, in other words the juice isn't trying to flow or you would hear the  relay, see the lights dim, etc. So what would cause a total failure, or no contact at all, an electrical open circuit?

 

Over time, my ignition switch became intermittent and was causing the horn relay to fail. Once I swapped it out that issue went away. Not sure if your 70 is like my 72 as the horn relays are different, but that is about all that is left in the starting equation.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Since this was an irritating intermittent issue I have been hesitant to leave a comment until a little time went by. Replacing the starter and replacing the old 4 gauge battery cables with 2 gauge seemed to have done the trick. I installed one of the Powermaster 9000 starters. It turns over like never before. Super happy with the starter but not so much with PM customer support or the ambiguous, incomplete instructions.

 

Anyways I may have got it figured :unsure:

 

Thanks for all the help,

 

s

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  • 3 weeks later...

I am stumped on this. The car starts fine most the time and then sometimes out of the blue it just won’t. I did a parasitic draw test and thought the radio I installed ov2w fffffber the summer might be drawing to much standby currant so I disconnected it charged the battery and the car was fine for a week. I have the same thing ,happening again tonight with a no start. Each time the car would not start I could hear the relay I installed for the distributor working fine. I have had the battery checked out. This time charging the battery is not helping.

 

One interesting thing is that each time this has happened the starter solenoid did not even partially cycle/engage/clicking like would usually happen when a battery is partially dead. Other than hearing the relay engaging just dead silence?

I have checked to make sure I am getting current everywhere I am supposed to. Any ideas where I should check?

 

Thanks,

 

s

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I see this post / problem came back???

 

I was going to say a similar thing happened to me so I had my OEM original starter rebuilt at a starter / alternator place.

He said the problem was the solenoid and he could have repaired it by turning the big washer like thing, that makes the electrical contact when starting but he replaced the solenoid instead. I had already replaced the brushes for $2.00 back in 1981 when this happened the first time because they were worn out down to the screws!

Hope it is still working well.

Bruce

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  • 4 weeks later...

I had a similar issue on my wifes' '02 Trans Am with the LS1, turned out to be the starter solenoid and found out the hard way that the solenoid itself is not replaceable on that generation of F-Body, had to get new starter and solenoid....That car and its driver is a drama mama :)

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