ODUsith

So I’m having an intermittent issue with starting the car. The battery appears to be ok, but the starter doesn’t even click. After the first time, the car started about two hours later. Then the car had no issues for three days and now it happened again for the second time. Is the starter going bad? How can I determine if it is going bad?

Arsenii

Hello,

What's the mileage on the car?

One of the ways to tell if it is the starter at fault is to measure the voltage across a battery and the starter while attempting to crank the car when the issue is present, if the voltage drops significantly, then you can try a good old method of whacking the starter with something soft and heavy, like a wooden hammer handle, a couple of times to see if it will get unjammed, which will for sure tell you there is an issue with the starter motor. While at it, try spinning the engine by hand to make sure that there is nothing blocking it from spinning, just in case..

If the voltage won't drop a bit, then there may be an issue with the contact somewhere, like a relay going bad, which you can test by either shorting the Switch side or swapping it with the one from the junkyard for example. Check the voltage on the Starter Solenoid connector, not the B+ terminal for the motor that is bolted in, see if it is present, if not, you will have to start tracing the wiring and all the components along the way from the starter to the Ignition Switch to find a bad contact or something else that can be causing it to lose voltage mid-way.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

ODUsith

Thanks I’ll try that! The mileage is 257,000

Arsenii

Welp, that likely answers your question frankly..

mandyfig

Agee, it is the starter, get it changed!