Guess what, something else broke down on my car. Ohh, well. I think its the starter, I hope. Ive had trouble starting it for the last few days. But yesterday it made a weird noise in the morning, and after work I tought it wasnt going to turn over. But it finally did, so i went to toys r us. When I got out, turn the key, nothing. OK. Lights are fine, dash headlights, dome, etc. So I leave the lights on and crank it again. Nothing and the light didnt dim. SO that kibda rule out a dead battery. I did notice that sometimes when i cranked it, I did it like 10 times, only the light for the temp cotrol would dim, but the rest would not.(thats probably unrelated)
One thing i noticed was that when i would crank the engine id hear, a motor or something tuning, prob the fuel pump.
It was dark and wet so i didnt check anything, the only thing my dad tried was to hit the starter, cause maybe it was stuck/frozen, i dunno.
So any of you guys have any ideas.
thanks

 

I've had the same symptoms you describe many times.

Check the little slide-on solenoid connection on the top of the starter, they often get dirty and cause this exact problem. It's the smallest of the wires that lead to the starter.

Often when I've had this problem, the battery was just not charged enough. It seems, at least with my car, that the battery requires close to full power to turn over the motor and start the car. If your battery is on its last legs, you'll experience just this type of starting difficulty.

I've actually replaced a starter because of this, only to find out my battery was not fully charged.
My advice is to thoroughly clean all connections at the starter, make sure all the wires look alright and not frayed or otherwise damaged, and fully charge your battery. Only if these steps fail should you start suspecting the actual starter unit.

Let us know how it goes!

 

I've had a starter problem since I bought the car back in '94. Sometimes the pinion gear will not fully engage with the flywheel and make a grinding noise. I have replaced the starter six times with four different companies including the dealer, ring gear replaced, new Optima Red battery, new cables, added another chassis ground...what gives? It did the same thing b4 and after the SP engine was installed.


I have a new flywheel, but I want to be sure I fix the problem b4 I put it so I don't tear this one up too.
The ring gear I replaced did not have any flat spots on it, it was chewed all the way around.

 

How in God's name did you score that for $150??!! Tell me you're just toying with us!

 

Jimmy, every time I've seen this problem, it was caused by a cheap improperly rebuilt starter. I'm guessing your flywheel must be really bad if you cant get any starters to mesh with it!

 

That'd probably be the hot start assist motor, located on the left strut tower.

Anywho. Check all the connections. At the starter, on the battery, everywhere. They get covered in oil and nasty and all.

Pull the starter and check the ring gear on the flywheel. See that the teeth are good and also the ones on the pinion.

When you have the starter pulled, if you're comforable with a few sparks flying, try this:

See the solenoid at the top of the motor. It has three terminals Two big ones and a small one. One big one went to the + battery terminal. The other big one goes to a little pigtail that goes inside the motor. The small one went to the ignition switch.

The ignition switch is designed to carry a small ammount of power. The starter motor draws a lot of power. The solenoid triggers the motor, and the ignition switch triggers the solenoid. The solenoid also has the job of moving the pinion forward to hit the flywheel ring gear.

Get jumper cables and a battery or a good battery charger. Clip - connection to the mounting bracket of the motor. Touch + to the small terminal. (You may wanna step on the motor to keep it from flying around as it's forceful. Just hold it with your foot.) The motor should Click loudly and the pinion should jump forward. Now move the + terminal to the terminal with the pig tail. If you're not still touching the small terminal the pinion should go back in and the motor should spin. Now to get them to work together, you need to touch both the large connector without the pigtail and the small connector with the + battery or charger terminal. The pinion should go forward and spin.

That's how to fully test a starter. (DO NOT ALLOW THE + TERMINAL TO TOUGH THE CASE OF THE MOTOR OR THE MOUNTING BRACKET!)

Since your hot start motor still works, I assume your ignition switch is still good.

 

here is a link that may help http://www.monmouth.com/~rothe/battery_cables.html
sometimes old battery cables can cause your problem

 

I swear. $150 USD to a guy that had no idea what the hell he had. The car is completely original, exhaust from the manifold back was put on the car two weeks b4 I got it, & the tires still have the little nipples on them.
The motor has 158K. The original owner said it smoked at high RPM's a couple of times so he took it off the road, but my Dad has driven it up to redline and it didn't smoke for him. I suspect the guy took it to Jiffy Lube to have the oil changed and the ppl there spilled some somewhere in the engine bay.

I was the first and only person to look at the car while it was for sale. It was only in the paper for one day. Treasures are out there, you just have to find them.


About my starter prob,

I will put the car up for sale in January and I want to have this prob fixed by then. I will swap flywheels and try ANOTHER Mazda starter to see if that works. The flywheel on the car now is very worn.

 

Thanks everyone for your help. My dad took the starter out and eplaced it. He says its working fine, I havent test driven it yet. But, the old starters pinion gear(?), spins both ways, which to my undertanding is a no, no. Ill see if I can rebuild my old one as it looks way beefier than the replacement one.
Again thanks and happy rotoring.
pAcO