posted
I drove my car to work this morning at 7:45. Over the past two days, it has been slow to start, so my husband and I have been worried. He said it didn't sound like the starter was the problem, though, but I don't know what that means.
At 10:00, I tried to start it but only got a barely audible whine, kind of like the sigh of a little girl. The fan and radio worked fine, though. No lights had been left on.
Any idea what it could be?
Posts: 1903 | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
I'm not much of a car person, but the obvious thing seems the spark plugs. Also, is there any scheduled maintenance in your car's manual that you haven't had done?
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Something between the battery and the engine is not connecting. Either there's not enough juice from the battery, the spark plugs are off, or the mix of gas and air for the engine isn't mixed properly enough for it to catch. If you take it in, they can figure out what's wrong with it for free, I think.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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posted
Its not about finding blame, its about finding what's wrong. Scheduled maintenance is done to keep parts from failing; if there is scheduled maintenance that was not done, and the part is a possible reason for this occurence, 1) the car should be taken in for that maintenance anyways and 2) that undone maintenance as a cause for this problem should be examined.
But yes, the spark plugs make sense, as they get dirty relatively easily and can cause a good battery to not be able to ignite the engine.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
Further note: as someone with quite a bit of experience in troubleshooting all sorts of things, I always make sure things that should be normally done, are. You'd be amazed how many people forget to plug a cable in, or fail to do routine maintenance on a vehicle.
Troubleshooting 101: eliminate the easy.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
Yes, I'm very good about doing regular maintenance. I replaced the spark plugs just this summer, so I doubt that's the problem. The thing is, the starter sounded funny on Saturday (though I don't remember saying that it probably wasn't the starter). When I started the car, it made this odd sort of whumpa-whumpa sound for a second before starting. I also kind of doubt it's plugged fuel injectors, because I've used fuel injector cleaner in the last year.
Posts: 35 | Registered: May 2003
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Oooh, I know what you should do. Call/write Click and Clack. They're remarkably good, for good reason, at this sort of thing (as in, will narrow the problem down over the phone in five minutes to one or two things, with nothing but a description of the sound the car makes and the answers to a few basic questions).
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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IOW, Troubleshooting 102: get a real expert with extensive reference books at their fingertips and years and years of experience to solve the problem for you .
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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How old is the car? I can't claim comprehesive knowledge, but my Dad's own several older cars and whenever something went wrong with the starter, it was the solenoid.
Um, is your solenoid plugged in? Posts: 753 | Registered: Mar 2001
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It's a 1993 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme S with the 3.1 T engine. I don't know nothing about no solenoids.
Posts: 35 | Registered: May 2003
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http://www.edmunds.com is often helpful. They have forums devoted to every car in existence, and chances are someone there has had your problem. I've found solutions there before.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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posted
Brinestone, when you turn the key, does the "check engine" light come on? Is there a clicking noise, like the engine is trying to turn over? If it is, turn the key back one switch and see if the wind shield wipers will work. If they are slower than normal, it's the battery. And while you didn't leave the lights on, it is possible that your alternator is bad, which would drain the battery. If the wind shield wipers work fine, then check the battery terminals. Are the corroded? If they are, you'll need to clean them (I use a tooth brush and baking soda) and try again. If they look good, try putting the car in neutral and see if it starts. If it does, it's the safety neutral switch.
If your "check engine" light doesn't come on at all when turning the key, you have a computer engine, so diagnosing it should be pretty easy for a mechanic. However, if you know anything about where the fuses in the car are or how to tell if one is bad, you might check those.
But I'd bet it is a dead battery (if so, check your alternator, but the battery is 11 years old) the battery terminals, or the starter.
The last time you changed the oil, there wasn't a problem, right? You remembered to put the top back on? You haven't seen the oil light on recently or seen the temperature of the car get higher than normal? (And I ask because once I had a mechanic not only not put the top back on, he left a screwdriver in my engine. And another time, that thing they drain the oil out of the oil pan with wasn't reattached properly and fell out and I lost all the oil. Damn good thing I noticed the funny smell and stopped in time.)
That being said, do you have gas in the car?
(You know, along those lines, when I was a teenager and working at McDonald's, the first thing we had to do when a machine wasn't working was check to make sure it was plugged in and turned on. When I was the manager and people would tell me something wasn't working, it was always the first question. Is it plugged in? Is it turned on? You'd be amazed at how many disasters were averted just by plugging something it. It sounds really stupid, but simple things are often the most overlooked.)
Posts: 9871 | Registered: Aug 2001
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quote:Brinestone, when you turn the key, does the "check engine" light come on? Is there a clicking noise, like the engine is trying to turn over?
Yes to the light, no to the clicking noise.
quote:If it is, turn the key back one switch and see if the wind shield wipers will work. If they are slower than normal, it's the battery.
I'll try this.
quote: And while you didn't leave the lights on, it is possible that your alternator is bad, which would drain the battery.
Jon Boy just replaced the alternator less than three years ago, so it's probably not that. But you never know.
quote: If the wind shield wipers work fine, then check the battery terminals. Are the corroded? If they are, you'll need to clean them (I use a tooth brush and baking soda) and try again. If they look good, try putting the car in neutral and see if it starts. If it does, it's the safety neutral switch.
I don't know how to check the battery terminals, so I guess I'll leave that to Jon Boy. Maybe one of these days I should ask him to tell me what he knows so I don't have to rely on him so much.
quote:The last time you changed the oil, there wasn't a problem, right? You remembered to put the top back on? You haven't seen the oil light on recently or seen the temperature of the car get higher than normal? (And I ask because once I had a mechanic not only not put the top back on, he left a screwdriver in my engine. And another time, that thing they drain the oil out of the oil pan with wasn't reattached properly and fell out and I lost all the oil. Damn good thing I noticed the funny smell and stopped in time.)
That being said, do you have gas in the car?
(You know, along those lines, when I was a teenager and working at McDonald's, the first thing we had to do when a machine wasn't working was check to make sure it was plugged in and turned on. When I was the manager and people would tell me something wasn't working, it was always the first question. Is it plugged in? Is it turned on? You'd be amazed at how many disasters were averted just by plugging something it. It sounds really stupid, but simple things are often the most overlooked.)
No to everything there. The gas tank is over 3/4 full, oil was replaced recently, and cap is tight (it wasn't, so we were leaking oil, but we tightened it and filled it up). I'm thinking it's probably the starter motor, but we'll keep the rest in mind.
posted
The alternator and battery both died shortly after I bought the car, which was June 2002, so I replaced them then. Last time I checked, the terminals weren't corroded. The car has plenty of gas. I checked the oil Saturday, and though it was a little low (I need to add a quart), it was otherwise fine. All the gauges were reading fine on Saturday. I'll be sure to take a look at the fuses when my dad comes to take a look.
And just how in the heck do you leave a screwdriver in an engine?
Posts: 35 | Registered: May 2003
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quote: If you don't hear the cranking sound when you're trying to start your car, this means that the starter doesn't work - something could be wrong with the starter or simply the battery is dead. First, check the battery. If the battery is OK, but the starter still doesn't work, there are a few most likely sources of the problem:
- starter or ground cables or connectors - starter motor itself - ignition switch, starter relay or neutral safety switch (a switch that allows to start the car only in Park or Neutral position with automatic transmission or only with pressed clutch pedal with manual transmission)
If you don't even hear the clicking of the car trying to turn over, the wind shield wipers probably won't work. Further on down that page, it does say that older batteries can die for no reason, even if they worked the day before. Hopefully, you just need to clean the battery terminals, or at worst, replace the battery. (The battery terminals are marked in this picture and in your car, will have a cable attached to each. Sometimes, these will get all rusty and corroded and look really gross. If you take the cables off and wipe them off, and wipe off the terminals, too, then reattach them, it might be enough to get the engine started. Ooh, this is a good picture of what your battery will look like in your car. Scroll down to the photos halfway down the page.)
Posts: 9871 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Oops, sorry JonBoy. I was still looking for pictures when you posted that.
I have no idea how it happened! I was planning on going on a trip and my son was a baby (so this was years ago ) and so I thought I'd take the car in to get the oil changed and asked them to do whatever they would do before taking the car on a road trip and especially to check the air in the tires. Well, when I got to where I was going, my dad decided to make sure the care wasn't burning fuel and opened up the hood of the car and lying in the middle of the air filter lid was a screwdriver and no wing nut to keep the lid on! He also checked the tires and they weren't right either, but when I got back from the road trip and checked them again, they were fine, so I don't think they even did that. I've never had my oil changed by someone else ever since. I either have my husband do it, or buy a new car. Posts: 9871 | Registered: Aug 2001
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If there isn't any clicking/starting noise when you try to start it up, I'd check the starter first.
[weird car problems tangent]I had problems this summer with my truck not starting sometimes. Everytime I couldn't get it started (usually after a couple tries it'd start fine) was in the Post Office parking lot. I think there must be bad vibes there, since both when my starter went out and when my battery died (within the last year or so) I was parked in that same Post Office parking lot. Incidently, I never could figure out what the problem with my truck was, it seemed related to when it had been sitting for a little while and when it was particularly hot outside. It wasn't spark plugs (they're less than 2 years old and my engine isn't particularly diry-no burning oil or anything), not related to the starter or battery, since they'd been replaced, not funky vaporlock (since the fuel pump is at the tank and I can hear it pressurizing the lines). I guess it's just little demons under the hood. [/tangent]
posted
Now ludosti, the whole reason I stayed away from that was because Ruth specifically said that Jon Boy didn't think it was the starter. He a guy, so he'd know, right? Posts: 9871 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Oh, and I have weird gremlins in my car, too. After it rains, the gears won't actually "catch" right away. And it does this every gear change till the car warms up.
And I have them all over this new house. The light on the water dispenser on the fridge doesn't work sometimes. Sometimes when I go into the kitchen, it's on for no reason and then other times, when it should be on, it's not. And my dryer buzzer only works sporadically. There's nothing wrong with the buzzer, it just sometimes doesn't make a sound. It's kind of creepy.
Posts: 9871 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
I would absolutely love to be a former mechanic. I bought a big textbook about automotive mechanics, and I've been reading it, but there's so much that I just suck at. Like replacing gaskets. I would screw that up in a heartbeat. Or just finding the right bolt.
What I need is for someone to show me how to do something, let me try it out, and then I'd be comfortable doing it myself. My wife and I have talked about getting some old barely running car for a few hundred bucks and then just learning how to work with all the various parts. I'm afraid to touch anything under the hood besides the dipstick and the coolant reservoir and I'd like to get beyond that.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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Book, it's a 5-speed. I don't like automatic transmissions. But it only happens when it's been raining. The temperature doesn't matter, because it started happening this summer. And once I get the car on the highway for a few miles, it doesn't happen anymore. But, if I just drive my husband to work and my son to school, it still happens. It's weird.
Posts: 9871 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
Speaking as a stuborn car owner who drives a heap of junk (The Ghetto Mobile) and refuses to pay some one to work on it, I think i'd be starting with the Fuel injectors....
Posts: 1094 | Registered: Mar 2004
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That's nice of you, Bookwyrm. I'm afraid I'm nowhere near Arkansas, but it would be awesome to have you walk me through some repairs.
Most of the time, I'm just too afraid to pull it apart, because I don't have a very good track record of getting it back together right. That extends to most fix-it jobs around the house.Once I've done it a few times I'm OK, but it's just that first time. That's why I want to get an old junker that I'm not afraid to completely ruin.
I hate taking my car in to a shop. I always feel like such a loser and I hate how much it always inevitably costs. Most mechanics have a habit of making me feel like an idiot to some degree, and I think it's because of lack of respect. I can't talk the lingo and obviously I'm not keeping my car in tip-top shape or I wouldn't be there. And I hate making snap decisions after being quoted some $500 price for a repair. Argh.
My truck needs new brake pads and probably new rotors, and yet I am procrastinating going to the shop.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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It's not the sparkplugs, the ignition, water in the fuel, oil problems, or the transmission.
It's an electrical problem somewhere between the battery and the starter motor. (or an electromechanical problem in the starter motor, but that's just getting technical)
Try to jump start it. If that doesn't work, take it to a mechanic.
If you want to learn to be a mechanic, here's my favorite advice to people who ask questions about their car:
Buy a service manual (Chiltons, Clymer, the factory manual, whatever) for your year and model car.
And if you want to read an absolutely hysterical book that is compleatly outdated, but does the best job of explaining the basics of automotive theory, get a copy of:
"How To Keep Your Volkswagen Alive. A manual of step by step procedures for the compleat idiot."
This is the book that spawned the whole "....for dummies"-type instruction books, and it's better than all of them by a long shot. Don't even worry that you don't own a VW. It's worth it just for the entertainment value, and you'll "come to terms with your ass" (car) better than you've ever believed possible.
Posts: 3735 | Registered: Mar 2002
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