It's happened more times now and it's getting to be a problem. Today I had to try half a dozen times before it went, and when I got home I shut it down and tried re-starting and twice it wouldn't crank. I hear the click of a solenoid and nothing. On the next attempt it started. I know now that moving the shift lever through it's range doesn't have an effect. Then on my last errand it started fine on both ends.
So what do you think? Starter? That's my suspicion.
I would start by tightening your battery cables......you may just havre a crappy connection.....
Good point. I had the battery replaced last September. Maybe they didn't screw it down enough.
No luck there, the terminals were tight as a drum and clean as a whistle. Made one trip today with no problems and tried a few extra starts too.
Needless to say, no trouble lights. I also checked the battery voltage and it was 14 V. Shouldn't be a problem there, it's not even a year old.
So, I'm calling Saturn tomorrow to see what they say.
I had a similiar problem with my '97SC2. One of the battery cables was loose - not at the battery, but where it connects to the frame/ground.
Thats just what I was going to suggest next.
Clutch switch?
If the clutch switch has become misaligned or the clutch is not pressed all the way down because of the floor mat obstructing the travel, a similar symtom may result.
Randall
No clutch, it's an automatic. I get your drift though, there are interlocks in the drive selector that could cause the same problem. I thought that might be it too.
I took it to Saturn and the tech thought the starter was the problem, at least he was 99.9 % sure. The only way to know for sure would be to disassemble the starter and to find the spot on the armature which caused the problem. Apparently the starter can stop over one of these "bad spots" and refuse to rotate. Naturally, no one is going to disassemble a starter.
In any event, $561 CDN later I had a new starter. So far, zero problems, so I guess that was it.
Neighbor asked my opinion on his car that wouldn't start. He heard a click when the key was turned and the courtesy light dimmed a bit but no crank. He assumed that the starter motor was bad.
I opened the hood and first looked at the battery. There was a lot of green corrosion on the battery terminals and battery Positive wires. Gave a good tug on the wires and the one to the starter pulled right off (only having been hanging on by a few strands from corrosion). Said, "Found your problem" to the amazed owner. Got a new clamp for $2, cleaned up the wire by cutting it back to good copper and called it a job well done.
Owner is a wine conneseur and got me a bottle from his cellar. I suspect that I could trade the one bottle for a couple of cases of what I usually drink.
Oppie
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