Won't start 15% of the time

Try this.... when you can't get it to crank over, try taking a hammer and lightly tap the starter a couple of times.... if you find that that helps... then you need to replace your starter. I had an old 63 galaxy that had the same problem... once i tapped the starter with the hammer, the thing would start. Once i replaced the starter, I never had that problem again.... often times a dead spot develops in the starter.. thsi may have happened to your car...

good luck..

Fwed

That hammer trick is most likely proving that the starter has stuck or nearly worn out brushes. If you're enough of a "wrench" to remove and replace the starter yourself, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to open it up on the bench and swap in a new set of brushes.

'Course I may be out of date on that, perhaps they're now building starters that don't come apart as easily as the ones I've worked on.

Just my .02,

Jeff

Next thing I would do is check if the starter solenoid contacts are worn. This can only be conveniently done by removing the starter and taking the solenoid cover off to inspect the contacts. If this is the problem, it's cheap to fix, but most likely a mechanic doing the job would want to replace the complete starter with a rebuilt unit.

And somewhere around the time of 02/08/2004 10:38, the world stopped and listened as fweddybear contributed the following to humanity:

I've had that happen to me, only it was a HVAC blower motor. Tapping the motor would make it start up...Also hitting a hard bump would do it too.

-snip-

Does 'no reaction from the starter' mean that you hear the solenoid [or whatever the new fangled ones are called] clicking? Do the lights dim when you turn the key?

What finally gets it to go? Do you just keep bumping the key & it finally takes, or do you need to walk away and come back later. Or does opening the hood, fiddling with something, and closing the hood do it?

Jim

No clicking at all.

Do the

No.

I've been parking on a down slope. I start the car rolling and pop the clutch.

My 1st thought is bad ignition switch but I'd make sure all my grounds [off the battery, off the solenoid?, off the starter. . . others?] were clean and tight before I tried to figure out how to change the switch.

Jim