I have this problem.. I started my car to go to the gas station... shut off my car to fill up with gas... started up my car drove some where (location is not important) shut off my car and turn the key to listne to the radio. went to start the car again.. NOTHING, **** me off. so I managed to push start it to get to a place where I could look at it. took the starter off and tested it.. works fine. but the wired thing about my car is that there is a splice in the wire that runs from the key switch to the starter (that should be power). when I took off the big black cable for the back of the starter if sparked. I am thinking there is a short.. so I look at the wireing guides I have and I don't see that the S4 N/A manual trans. starter doesn't ground out unless it does in the harness that also controls the EGI and Emissions, which is something I would rather not deal with.... none of you have had this problem have you?.. would it bee a bad idea to ground the starter to the body? like I said the car would run if the starter would tunr it over.

thanx for the info.

 

Kind of hard to follow some of what you're saying,...But, the starter (and solenoid) grounds through its case to the trans/engine where it bolts in, so grounding isn't the problem. Does the solenoid work? That's the first thing to check. When the solenoid is energized it does two things - It kicks the starter gear out to mesh with the flywheel gear, AND it makes contact between the battery cable and the starter motor. So, if the solenoid isn't working, the starter won't work either. Check the solenoid.

 

just to know what you mean, the starter is not cranking correct?

 

is it cranking? or are you getting nothing?

 

The big black cable is your positive lead from the battery. It's gonna spark if you hit ground with it...

Now check the main fuse to see if it's blown (shouldn't be at this point)...

The big black cable with a yellow stripe is your ground lead from the battery...It shouldn't spark- unless you're touching the big black cable terminal with it