Hello everyone, I had an issue this morning with the starter. The car started and warmed up fine this morning and proceed to drop my son off at school. I always park and walk him to class each day. Upon returning to my car, the car would not crank at all. The lights did not dim and I heard no noise at all everytime I turned the key for igntion. I know it is not the battery as none of the lights dimmed and I did not hear any clicking noise as I would expect when having a bad or weak battery. I was in the incline so managed to push start the car in reverse and drive home. Once i got home, I turned the car on and off twice on the driveway without any issues. My thought is that the wires might have corrosion or might be loose. I will check this weekend and advise but wanted to see if anyone has come across this issue?

 

Possibly starter stuck in just the right position that it couldn't extend / spin?
Definitely check all your connections.
Sometimes giving your starter a quick whack with something can help too.

 

Push starting a car, it seems a lost art! And in reverse too, kudos.

Sounds to me like the contact in the ignition switch. Some folks here have had an ignition cylinder that is loose where the plastic meets the die cast housing. Also, just wear over time for the internal contacts, could make it intermittent. I think it's serviceable but other folks can chime in on that...

 

How old is the starter? When they start to go bad, you get intermittent starter engagement, as you described. Often, thumping the back of the starter with something solid (*2×4 works) will allow the solenoid and pinion spring to retract, which allows the mechanical connections to work again. Once you get to the point of needing to give it a good whack every time before it will start - you should probably replace the starter 😂.

Occasionally, it's just some road grime or grit that got stuck in a way to prevent the contactor from completing the circuit. You may be fine from now on, if it only happened the one time. Just keep an eye on it (*and carry a 3ft long 2×4, just in case...).

 

Perfect, thanks for the help guys. Going to work on the 7 this weekend. I will spray contact cleaner on the igntion switch and clean the starter ground and battery connections with a wire brush as I am sure they are probably gunked up with oil and crud.

 

The first thing to check is the small wire that comes down to the starter to activate the solenoid on for the pinion. This connector is commoonly loose and or very dirty as it basically is out in the open for the most part just above the starter. It will get loose and jiggle around just enough to cause loss of contact and no start. The starter is probably ok but check this first. Might be an easy fix.

 

Thanks guys for the info. I managed to clean out the wires and connections with CRC electronic cleaner (works great). The funny thing is that when I went to tighten the nuts; I broke one of the bolts on the solenoid. I laugh because I was lucky that my uncle had a spare one on his '83 parts car that was aftermarket/reconstructed. After installing it; i noticed that my startup is much better so maybe it was for the best it happened as chances are it would have gone out. It was a mistubishi part number which leads me to believe that this might have been the original one.

 

Yes probably original starter, but probably still ok, sounds like the solenoid was the issue & easy enough to replace & try, than at least u & your uncle still have a spare starter.

 

Agreed, i stored it for future use just in case I need a core or want to slap on a new solenoud on it later.