So we get back from the store and realize we forgot a couple of things I go to run out and decide to take my wife’s ride. Then makes a clicking sound but won’t kick over battery seems fine. I took my car and tried again when I came back same deal.
It is a 2008 Saturn Vue XR AWD
I tried jumping it but as I said before battery seems fine. I called ONStar and setup a roadside tow tomorrow to the dealer but I am going to try one more time in the morning.
I am hoping someone on here as seen this happen on a Saturn Vue or newer GM vehicle also any thoughts on what it could be? My only thought is the starter but it seems awful strange for a 3 year old car to have a bum starter.
Actually yes me personally I have only ever driven German or Japanese cars…
And the clicking made me think low battery too but I mean she had just driven it nothing was left on, all the instruments and stuff where working fine. But I did try to jump it, maybe can try again in the AM and wait a while before kicking it over. My wife said something odd to me, she said when triple A tried to use her car to jump her friends they said her car was “un-jump able” to me that sounded like a line of horse shit.
The clicking is the sound of the starter solenoid closing the circuit and sending 12 volts to the starter motor. If you’ve tried jumping it and nothing changed it’s probably a bad starter. It’s unlikely to be corrosion or bad contacts for the starter wires seeing as the car is an 08. Starter shouldn’t fail that soon either but hey, it is a GM product.
Agreed with the others. Find a way to reach the starter and give it a good firm smack with a hammer or pipe. Starters almost always develop dead spots vs dying completely. A good wack might get it to turn over, at which point you’ve found your problem.
you don’t need to smash the starter just a few taps. if you hit it too hard then you can break the magnet inside, then it will never start until replaced.
Yes do not hit the starter. On most newer GM vehicles all this will do is damage it. Why? Because it is a PM (permanent magnet) starter It relies on magnets and not brushes to move the armature. If you damage one of these magnets, which is easy to do with a hammer blow, the starter will be broken for sure.
There are two types of starter designs. Old school brush and armature starters and PM starters. The old school ones you can tap on and it may help move if the brushes are in contact with a bad section of the armature winding. The other, not so much
Check your battery cables and battery voltage.
If your terminals are loose things inside the car might turn on and the solenoid might click but when it comes to delivering high amperage from the battery a loose connection will not provide a proper contact and increase resistance. Thus your starter will not turn.
It is not uncommon to find that the side post terminals to have come loose from the battery altogether as well. When this happens they are still connected to the cable bolt which allows for some electrical transfer but when you grab the cable to check for tightness it will pull right out. If this is the case you will need to replace the battery.
Also, you can check a few things as well.
Turn the headlights on.
Turn the key to the start position.
Watch the headlights reflection to see if they dim or not when the key is turned to the start position.
If they dim that means that voltage is being sent to the starter and it is attempting to start. Either you have a mechanical obstruction (damaged engine, bad bendix drive on the starter, worn bushings etc) or a bad winding not making a good ground.
If they do not dim that means that voltage and amperage are not reaching the starter windings and thus no power draw is occurring. In this case you may hear the starter solenoid click, it may not be making a good contact in which case you have a bad solenoid or the wire leading from the solenoid to the starter motor itself is corroded and that can happen, maybe not on a 08 so soon but it does happen.
If the lights do not dim and you do not hear a clicking noise then you probably have a wiring problem such as a bad ignition switch or relay however these can be checked for with simple wire probing of the starter solenoid start wiring.
BTW, it was his battery. He failed to mention the jumper cables he used were not only really cheap but badly frayed at one end. When roadside assistance showed up to tow it they had it jump started in a matter of minutes. New battery installed and it’s running fine again.