Ive been having issues with my starter lately. I drove home from work yesterday and everything was fine. I come out this morning and even my headlights wont turn on. Is it possible the battery went dead because of the starter?

 

not possible unless you are cranking the starter to fire up the engine. it has no constant 12V power going to it. have your battery tested. some places also test starters. you can bench test a starter yourself. test them both. whats happening with your starter that you suspect a problem?

 

Well the motor is sticking I believe, sometimes it will start, and sometimes it wont. And when it wont, a good hit with the hammer will work.

Maybe I just left my lights on, I dont know.

 

well if it sounds like the starter is sticking you should just replace the starter. easy as that. have the battery tested unless you know for sure its good.

 

That's wrong. The starter has a major 12V feed to the solenoid directly from the battery. It's 12V hot at all times.

I have a friend with an FD (yuck!) that had a similar problem. Battery would die in a few hours, alternator always very hot when the engine was running. He found that it was a shorted starter solenoid. Go figure...Only way he found out was that he put his hand on the starter for some reason and almost burned his fingers off...

 

now that i think of it, you are right. i must have been in la la land when i was typing. thanks for the correction!

 

Im going to the local auto parts store today and ordering a new starter and will be putting it on tomorrow after work.

The battery is an optima so I should be able to recharge it or just get a new one with the warrently.

Maybe I just left me lights on or my door open overnight, who knows. I just figured I would ask about the starter since I know I need a new one.

 

Don't replace the starter until you test it to make sure...

 

If you have to hit your starter with a hammer or a wrench to get it to turn over sometimes, might as well buy a new one.

I tihnk im gonna try and rebuild my old starter.

 

Exactly, might as well get one while it still works, sometimes.