lol what hills are there in Tracy?! Thats flat land out there....

 

Well being that I know -><- that much about the electrical system on my car I took it too some experts who traced the problem down to a silinoid wire on/by the starter (I just woke up when he called me so I'll get details when I pick it up tomorrow).

As for the lack of hills it really doesn't have to roll too fast to bump/push start. I managed to get enough speed rolling down my normal track home driveway.

My symptoms were intermittiant starting, click, wait 10 seconds, turn, start....next time in car, click, wait 10, click, wait 10, click, start...next time start right up...so very random and then after running my heats at autox (didn't shut down between my 4 runs at all) I returned to parking area shut down and let the car cool a while, when I went back...dead (so the wire must have finally totally failed).

 

I had what seems like the same problem u guys are detailing. i changed my starter and still nothing was fixed. i went ahead and found a thick wire under the sterring colum that did 12v when i hit the ignition and ran it to an undisclosed location to a switch and then directly to the starter. this way you get a functional kill switch and if anyone tries to start your car my hitting the black and yellow wire over by the diagnosis plug with power the car wont start

 

I still dont have an answer to whether or not its 100% the ignition. Im holding out on parts until I know for sure. Ive bought and returned a battery and a starter already.

 

Most likely the ignition switch. If its going bad often you can kinda jiggle the key around in it. Isa hundred something from the dealer if I recall correctly.

 

Set the ign switch to ON. Jump battery voltage directly to the trigger wire of the starter (my '95 manual says it's B/R). See if that helps. This will help take the ign switch, starter cut, clutch switch etc. out of the equation. Careful how you do this, find a safe spot to tap in so you dont get pinched by the rocking engine, prefereably with a fuse in the wire you use to tap with.

Pkay described this as "starter turns a little bit".

If by this, you guys mean it cranks each time you start the car (with the key), albeit in a struggling manner, start looking at power connections from starter to battery. Poor/dirty contacts & shredded wires will raise the resistance of the system = crappy/no starting. Crappy connections can still give you a good voltage reading when there is no current draw.

If instead, you guys mean sometimes it cranks, sometimes it doesn't (at all), you WILL have to worry about every thing associated with the starter trigger wire. Check the solenoid on the starter itself, maybe try tapping it with a wrench to loosen the possibly dirty/stuck solenoid contacts.

Be damn sure your battery is up to par, or you will have a huge headache with this, if you haven't already.

 

This is what is occuring. When you turn the key the crank is slow and it never catches, like when you battery is almost dead. We figured since the volts read a full 12.2 that the battery line had nothing to do with it. I will check this tonight if Pkay has not already, thanks for the further info. Also I tried a brand new battery with the same results :/

Thankst Rotary 7 for the price quote, I have one on the line with someone if the ignition is the case.

 

well, i got my answer.

Bad grounding wires, several of them. The one that is supposed to connect directly to the block had come lose and there was another one that had melted. The shop replaced and cleaned them plus a couple other up and the car runs fine now.

I'd suggest anyone else who has had similar problems in the past to check that out. I am going to looking into a new grounding kit altogether.

 

How would a Ground wire, MELT?
Car get hit by lightening?

 

If a large current bearing ground wasn't carrying it's load, the current would go through another connection instead... like another much smaller ground wire.

I imagine the constant testing of various theories on Meiogirl's car finally took its toll on the little bastard.

 

ya ya, but it was worth the lessons learned. thats what the mechanic said as well, the smaller cable must have melted when the one for the block came lose.

 

I had the same problem. Turns out the battery terminal was lose. The lights still came on for me, but they would dim if I pressed the brake. Check the battery terminals before you take off your starter.

-Charlie

 

this may sound dumb, ive been thinking my 1st gen 7 isnt able to be push started, but thinking on it more, i tried three times, the first time the battery was dead, the 2nd two times i tried, i didnt have the ignition turned on when i tried, does the key have to be turned to push start? i tried it down a big *** hill and it wouldnt start, tried in 1st and 2nd

 

I had a very similar sounding problem until I found this thread: Click Click Start

I wired up my own "starter booster" and haven't had an issue starting since. Wonder if this will help you.