Car won't start

[Phantom]

So, I go to take the Cougar out last night and turn the key, and get a whole lot of nothing.

Here's the specifics: When the key is turned into accessory I hear a 1 second "whirrrrmph" sounding noise. I've never heard this noise before...

Then when I turn the key, I either get total silence, or I get a single "click."


I'd normally suspect a dead battery, but I just drove the car 2 days before and it was fine... and the battery was replaced 4 months ago. Also, this happened 2 weeks ago too... it would provide a single click... then would start after a couple tries with hesitation and then worked fine.


Any ideas on how I can get it started to take to the dealership? I'd really like to not have to tow it.

Thanks.

[skater]

Starter burned out? It sounds like it's drawing too much current from the battery...

[xbluesx]

Double check your battery connections. Clean them and the posts on your battery and retighten them.

[Phantom]

Tonight when I get home I plan to pull the battery connections... clean them up... and try the battery again. If that still doesn't work... I'll try and jump it with another car... if I still don't get any engine turn I'll post again.

If the starter was burned out... would the engine still turn or so? How about with the fuel pump?

[skater]

Originally posted by: Phantom
If the starter was burned out... would the engine still turn or so? How about with the fuel pump?

For the fuel pump: the engine would turn over but not start. Since your engine isn't turning over, it's not the fuel pump.

The battery terminals thing is a good idea, though hopefully they would've been cleaned when the new battery went in. There's another option, too: the starter relay could be going bad. That might make more sense given the symptoms you described.

[james99]

My car did the same thing about a week ago, all I did was clean the poles on the battery and replaced the connectors and everything worked fine.

-james

[Phantom]

eeh... I hate to get this thing towed to the dealership.

I cleaned the posts/connectors when I replaced the battery, but noticed corrosion again recently. I'll give cleaning it a try and post the result. Thanks for the help guys.

[Phantom]

Nope... that wasn't it. I cleaned the terminals... and still only a single click. Pulled the Probe in beside the Cougar, and ran the jumper cables... still nothing. So that rules out a dead battery. skater says it not turning over rules out the fuel pump...

guess I'm calling for a tow truck tomorrow. :(

[xbluesx]

Did you ever figure out what was wrong?

[tay76]

it sound like the starter it self, or the relay, if its the starter you can take something and bang on it while someone else is turning the key you may get lucky enough to get it to start one more time to get it to the dealer, or then youll know what it is for sure and go from there.

[Rikenbomb]

Sounds like a dead starter indeed? Is your car MTX? Try push starting it. If not, you may want to look into getting a new starter. They are somewhat of a pain to install but fairly do able.

The starter is located underneath the intake towards the firewall. You'll see a rather large looking cylinder (that's the motor) and I believe it's held in by 3 bolts.

You did check your fuses right?

[rmeman]

I have same problem. Tried everything, no go.

I'm almost ready to shell out 240$ CAD to get a new one..I hope to god that's the problem though!

It just did this all of a sudden, no previous false starts, no nothing!

[rmeman]

luckily there is somebody more car savvy that lives next to my house!

as it turns out, banging on the starter, rolling the car, etc didn't do jack. what did help was realizing that the wire going from the battery to the starter had been loose on the inside and wasn't touching very well the battery.

got it together and all was fine again!

same symptoms as original poster, hopefully it's the same for him!

[Moraki]

It was the starter... he posted it in LOL chapter.