HELP - Car will not crank

Guys, I know, I know, I know this is NOT a general Mazda group. I do own a 93 Miata but hey, it's not giving me close to the grief my 929 is. Last night, my 1992 929 (Only 112k miles) was reluctant to start. Engine turned over slowly, then started. Went to the store. Came home. About a 15 mile trip round trip. Hard to go run another errand later... Nothing. Engine acted as if the battery was dead. However, all the lights etc were working fin in the cabin. Turned the key, nothing from the engine. Put the jumper cables on it from my Miata and let it run for a while. After about 1/2 hour, the 929 cranked slowly at first, then started. Today, I got in the 929 and she cranked right up. Ran about 25 miles down the interstate, stopped to eat lunch in a small town and here I sit three hours later. I've tried getting it jumped off. I've checked and cleaned the terminals on the battery. I've walked to Napa and purchased a replacement battery. Nothing did any good. The car is acting like it's not getting enough current to start the engine. I have no one to come get me. So come on guys, please lend me a hand (Or brain :-).

Thanks, Emmette Faulk

Reply to
E. Faulk III
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do own a 93

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lend me a hand

Have you tried jiggling the key in the ignition switch? My Miata had the same problem and it turned out to be a bad ignition switch.

Also, if it's an automatic, try starting in neutral rather than park and jiggle the gearshift while you're trying. Our Volvo had a bad contact or switch in the tranny and moving the gearshift while trying to start it usually worked. At least until we could get the darn thing fixed.

Iva (not one of the guys) & Belle.) '90B Classic Red.) #3 winkin' Miata

Reply to
Iva

Hi, Yep, I tried the gear selector in Neutral, I tried wiggling the key etc. no love. Checked the fuses and relays under the hood. They seemed okay. All of the electronics work in the car. They go on and off with the key. Just no response from the motor!

HELP!

Reply to
E. Faulk III

Is this why 929's have kind of a bad rep?

Sorry can't be of more help, starter / starter selonoid? Some times a whack on the starter with a hammer will free up a semi-stuck armature but if it barely started earlier it doesn't sound like an occasional stuck armature. Worth a try though.

Did you say you tried jumping it w/o any luck and you have previously jumped it successfully?

That's odd.

Chris

92BB&T
Reply to
Chris D'Agnolo

This one is too easy. This is typical of dirty battery connections. Remove the cables, clean the connectors with a battery brush, clean the battery side real well also. 90 percent of the time this is the cure. If you are in the other 10 percent, then you are beyond my skills.

Tom

01 Crystal Blue
Reply to
altar

It sounds exactly like corroded battery terminals except that he already said he had checked and cleaned them.

Just in case... Did you clean both sides with a wire brush type terminal cleaner (and maybe some baking soda and water)? Sometimes the corrosion can be dull and gray, not always bright green and blue. Also, pull back the insulators on the cable ends and look for corrosion there.

Good luck, John McClary ('94 Miata) jsgmcclary at cox dot net

Reply to
John McClary

Yep, it's time to clean the other high-amperage connections--both hot and ground--at the starter/solenoid.

Reply to
Lanny Chambers

Had similar issues with my Chevy Suburban. Swapped the battery. Still same problem. Swapped the starter, all is well. Ironically, AutoZone told me that my starter was fine. My mechanic says he doesn't care what AutoZone says - testing your starter on their little tester isn't the same as cranking your engine. Of course, a starter for the Suburban is pretty cheap compared to the 929.

Here's a thought - I once had a VW Rabbit convertible that exhibited

*exactly* what you're describing. The problem was I had a pinhole crack in the exhaust manifold that was blowing hot air right onto the starter housing. After driving a few miles the starter would get so heated that it wouldn't turn over. It would only start after having sat for a few hours and completely cooled. It's a long shot but.....
Reply to
Joe Blow

I had an MGA that wouldn't go 50 mph. As soon as I reached 50, it would sputter and die. After a few minutes parked on the shoulder, it would start and run OK...up to 49.

Got home, had my little brother run the rpm up to the equivalent of 50 mph while I looked for trouble under the hood.

A tiny stream of coolant squirted out of the head gasket, arcing farther as rpm climbed. At 50 mph, it landed square on the Lucas distributor.

I was happy. That leak could've been really hard to find if the car had simply overheated without drowning the sparks.

Reply to
Lanny Chambers

Guys, Thanks for all the input. I found a local shade tree mechanic. He popped my 929 onto a trailer and disected it quickly. It turned out to be a bad starter. Found one at a local bone yard for like 35.00. :-)

Cost:

1: hotel room - 55.00 1: mechanic labor & trailer (tow) - 45.00 1: used starter: 35.00 1: case of beer for mechanic - 25.00

Being out of backwater itsy bitsy small town Louisiana: Priceless

Thanks again everyone, Emm

Reply to
E. Faulk III

That's a good one!

John McClary ('94 Miata) jsgmcclary at cox dot net

Reply to
John McClary

SWEET!

Actually it sounds like the lil town treated you pretty good! Give it it's due!

Chris

92BB&T
Reply to
Chris D'Agnolo

A PS to this story:

We had a 1986 Plymouth Voyager with the 2.6L Mitsubishi engine (which will never be honored in the engine hall of fame). After a reasonable number of miles, the starter failed. I went to one of the chains (Pep Boys... Kragen....can't recall which) and got a rebuilt. It lasted about two months before it failed. Since this was a "lifetime" deal, I simply got another (fortunately, it was easy to change!....unlike the Miata...) and fixed it again.

After about the third fix, I did a little analysis. Short of tearing the starter down, which would have raised hell with my "lifetime" warranty, I was able to formulate a likely "root cause" scenario:

I suspect that part of the rebuild for this particular starter was some sort of a soak in a mildly acidic solution to get the crap off the core and make it look good again. In doing so, I suspect that the internal stator ground gets compromised such that after some number of high current events (i.e. starting your car), the connection fails or, put in psuedo engineering terms, becomes conductively challenged.

Like I said, I didn't take this analysis full circle, but I am comfortable that this is what was going on. So the message is: beware of rebuilt starters. If you do get one, find somebody willing to guarantee them for "life". Of course, this does not apply to ones that are absolute hell to replace (i.e. the 1.6L Miata).

Ken

Reply to
KWS

Actually, the better advice is to never buy rebuilt electrical parts (well, personally any rebuilds for that matter). The "rebuilding" process is basically clean it, put in brushes, paint the housing, bench test it (no load) and ship it out. Since the labor is often much more than the part, lifetime warranties don't mean much. If and when the day comes that I've got to replace mine, it's going to be OEM 'cause I'm only doing that SOB once!

Tom

92 Red

KWS wrote:

Reply to
Tom Howlin

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