Before I get yelled at I have searched and I haven't been able to find the same issue. My s4 decided to not start last week and I can't seem to narrow down the issue and I don't want to just throw parts at. The car runs fine after a push start but when I try and start it I hear nothing but if I let it sit for awhile (an hour or more) the start will kick on very slowly until it starts almost like its a low battery (alt and batt are fine) what am I looking at here? I'm think it has to be the wiring because if its location under the oil filter it probably gets pretty nasty. What do you guys think?

 

Either a bad battery, bad battery cable, or poor connection to the starter.

 

My car used to have the same exact issue. I found a loose connection at the starter.

 

What was loose?

 

A nut that was to hold a cable tight against a terminal on the starter... Jack up your car, crawl under, and check the starter cables.

 

Check the ground on the starter

 

Post a picture of your battery cable ends too.

 

How often do the starters themselves go bad?

 

Every time a fairy dies.

Really, who can ever put an actual mileage or time number on parts and say that it's going to last THIS exact period of time. For instance, even timing belts have been known to last much much longer than the 60K miles that they're supposed to be replaced at. Who knows how much longer it'll last, it just will until it doesn't.

 

I guess a better way to ask that would be to say: what has a higher likleyhood of going out the wiring or the starter but I'm pretty sure I can answer that. Its always the wiring with these damn cars...

 

Don't you "these cars" these cars!

Corroded wiring is a fact of life, especially on stuff that's 20+ years old. Imagine if you were still using your old Tandy computer from the 80's. Oh wait... nobody does that. But people still drive 1980's Rx7's all the time, because they work great!

 

Don't go replacing the wiring and other parts until you've spotted your issue. Like I said... It could be as easy as tightening a nut on the starter. Have you check these things yet?

 

That is on my list of to do's today. The only wire I've checked so far is the actual postive batt wire to the starter.

 

Okay, pulled the starter off today and had it tested. It isn't the starter and all the wires were on tight. Like I was saying before I can get it to start once in a blue moon but the start acts like it has no power, it turns over very slowly. I checked the clutch swith and that doesn't seem to be the issue... what now?

 

If the car has the Starter Cut Relay then jumper voltage from the battery to the B/W wire which runs to the starter solenoid. Starter should immediately turn over each and every time the jumper wire touches voltage to the B/W wire. If no such relay then find a Blue plug in the very same area that the Starter relay would be, which is located near the trailin coil area, and jumper voltage to the B/W wire in that plug.

 

Okay I found a blue plug with nothing connected to it. So just hook up like 12 guage wire to the battery terminal? And is it to both the black and white wires? Will this bypass the ignition switch?

 

There is but one wire to focus on and it is Black with a White stripe so it's coded as a B/W wire so this is just one wire. This wire runs down to the starter solenoid thus this is the wire you jumper voltage to.

 

Ok found the wire. I made a jumper to the + side off the batt and no change... so I take it I'm going to need to replace the ignition switch?

 

No, how can this be possible? The role of the ignition switch is to provide voltage on a certain wire w/key to start. This certain wire runs to the Blue plug you've been playing with. This is the role of the jumper wire in the Blue plug so if the B/W wire being energized isn't doing the trick then it is irrelevant to the voltage which comes from the ignition switch that is jumpered to the B/W wire. If the B/W wire that runs down to the starter solenoid is energized then the starter should turn over and doing this procedure bypasses the voltage from that "certain wire," so the problem cannot be a function of the ignition switch viability. You need to check the condition of one of two things. One is the connection of the B/W wire to the starter solenoid itself, which is clipped on, and secondly, the other item to check would be a connector found between the Blue plug and the starter solenoid as the B/W wire which leaves from the Blue plug goes to a connector before the B/W wire reaches the starter solenoid. So this B/W wire does not have a clean uninterrupted path to the starter as it goes through a connector after it leaves the Blue plug first then passes through the connector as it arrives at the solenoid. This connector could be problematic. The connector in question can be found by following the B/W downward as it travels to the solenoid on the starter.

 

I guess I was misunderstanding I think I got it now. Let me ask this, would I be able to toggle switch the starter with a direct line to the battery? Would I be bypassing anything important. I would keep the igntion so I can turn the key and then hit the toggle for the starter. I don't know sounds pretty sweet to me but if I sound dumb don't be afriad to tell me. I just want to know if its possible.

 

It's possible and dumb.. if you can't follow and understand the simple instructions above then you should tow to a shop. If you cannot jump a wire to test properly then you also shouldn't be wiring up a simple push switch

 

It would be best to identify the problem in a specific way before thinking of how to fix it.

 

We all need to start somewhere Mr. Ward, and thank you for your patience satch!

 

you need to test the starter with it still on the car. check the draw for variances and get 7-10 different pulls and make sure their isnt a dramatic variance in the draw. This can be done at an autoparts store and gives you live in action data so you can make sure your starter is good, cause it sounds like the starter is draging and is bad or the battery is bad and your problem is between only the starter and battery if you getting a slow crank. Wiring issues would not allow you to crank at all or you get only 1 click from the starter. When testing the battery test it 3-5 times and look at the voltage. if you get more than a 10% drop between voltages its bad. If you only tested the battery and starter one time you need to do it again but leave both in the car while testing

 

take mr wards words to heart. if you your going to put in a push button start and not jumper to test out the starter then your going against the reason your posting. You posted because you wanted a definitive answer on your cars problem so you wouldnt just buy random parts to fix it. Personally i think you installing the push button isnt needed