I went out took check out this winter beater yesterday. Got out of my car and went to take a look. Literally 2 minutes later, I get back into my car to start, no start. It turns on, when I try to start its clicking, but not cranking and turning over.
It’s an S13 SR. Never had any issues prior to this except for a track day mishap when my belts were loose and alternator was not keeping charge.
Belts are fine with more than enough tension this time.
Got a boost, still nothing. Didn’t really see any sparks at all, so I also cleaned the battery connectors. Nothing. Car is turning on, lights, radio an all. So the battery is fine. If it was the alt, the boost would have solved that. Like I said, not turning over, just clicking.
Ended up calling for a tow home, I should have signed up for CAA.
I’m assuming no spark, probably the starter motor? any other ideas. THX.
try bump starting it, get it rolling at a decent speed with it in first then drop the clutch if she fires up your starters toast. or try tappin the starter with a hammer or mallet see if it comes back to life , i had same problem, car started fine. 5 minutes later she wouldn’t start, starter went just like that.
Thx. I bump start is not currently an option. got it towed into my driveway, need more manpower atm to do the bump start. lol. I’ll try hitting the starter.
So hitting my starter motor didn’t do anything. BUT I was able to push it to the top of a hill and bump start it. Success.
Turned it off and restarted it two of three times. I guess it was on a bad spot inthe starter motor. Don’t think I should risk it however. Still may buy a replacement. Anyone have a new or rebuilt one for sale?
I’m also gonna try to start it again tomorrow morning.
check the wires on the starter if u say your batteries ok sounds like a weak connection possibly to the starter. i dont think its the starter but u can easily pull it off on 240.
Didn’t start this morning, so earlier winter storage than planned. I’ve checked the connections, but will check it again before I pull it off. Mike, your driver was out of town, lol.
mike, it could b the wires on the starter…the one connecting the solenoid to motor or vice versa. thers 2 nuts, one of them goes to battery, other one is the wire going to the solenoid i believe. check if they’re both tight. this is what happened to me like a month or two ago, i thought my starter was done but it seems that the nut loosened and then tightening back up has fixed my problem.
Mike, the armature in the starter is more than likely starting to seize up in the casing. Cold weather shrinks metal. Making a tight fit.
Either get a new/used one. Or open her up and give it a shot. (fixing it)
Make sure you check the wiring around the sr’s starter. I had a similar problem at a track day and it turned out that that one shitty wire on the starter kept falling off, so ziptied that shit back on. Its a pretty common thing with sr harness’s that have been used and abused.
had similar problem at work. everything looks fine but when i took the ground wire off the starter it looked perfect outside but when i took it off and just bent it it broke. lol even if the connections are tight on the starter i hope you cleaned them well. with a wire brush if you dont have that hot water usually does the trick in cleaning off corrosion.
