I was hanging with my friends on friday, when I get in my car and I hear just click, click, click when I turn the key. My friend comes out quick like "its you starter". So Saturday I buy one at Foreign auto parts, and take my old one(stock, 197K on it) off, and new one goes on, I know I did it right, I got a nice tool set, and it was a really simple install. So I start the car, and it works, so I smile and giggle like a young school girl about to get laid, turn off the car, put everything back together, and when I go to start it again, I hear click when I turn the key. So I was like WTF!! So today I took the part back and had them send it out to get the new starter retested just in case it was a bad one, and I call from work and they say the starter is working just fine. So now Im left with a what the hell could this be??!??!!! And I thought it was weird because the car never even showed signs of not wanting to start. For 197k, it started like it was new, so I keep wanting to think its not the starter. I need someone's advice, or maybe somone went through this already. I need my car for work!!! Id appreciate the help guys.....

Things to know:
Battery is new
Altenator is new
Battery Fuse is new
Wires do not have rust or any corrosion
Defenitely sounds like there is power going to the starter, but the teeth dont push out to turn the flywheel...
Like I said, the new one started and on the second crank didnt start, and the started was tested and works fine
Battery cables are secure and tight, as well as on the starter

Please help. Thanks

 

how bout the main fuel relay? are you getting power to the fuel pump? could also be ignition switch.

hth.......

 

check for voltage at starter wires.......if voltage is there...check ground for starter and main ground for batt.

 

i'm gettin that too...i dunno what it is...my car's going into the shop friday and i'm asking them to put a load charge test on it thinking it's the charging system going faulty. hopefully they'll figure something out

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by redpeppers &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">check for voltage at starter wires.......if voltage is there...check ground for starter and main ground for batt.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I have to try that. Just tools I dont have. I just dont understand because the starter sounds like its getting power to it. And like I said, never gave me a problem.... I talked to a friend, and he said to double check ground wires.... Dammit, I need my car on the road!!!

 

check your distributor, the same thing happened to me. check to see if your gettin any spark

 

I had a similiar situation with mine. Check for spark, could be your distributor. My problem was my timing belt jumped teeth.

 

i had the same problem. it turned out to be a broken ground. the one that grounds the neg batt to the tranny!
check all the grounds!! you'd be suprised at how simple the problem is.
thats my 2 cents!
good luck!
-jason

 

Thanks a lot guys. I actually put my original stock starter back on today, and the first crank got it started. So, I figure, "watch, as soon as I tighten the bolts and put everything back together it wont start", and sure enough, nothing, same click click.... So its defenitely not the starter.... But WTF, I havent really double checked the ground cable that connects to the battery, but Im checking that in the morning.... Man, this is some weird ****. And by the way, the distributor was changed in 02, or 03, according to receipts when I bought the car, and the fact the distributor says right on it, "manufactured in 2002".... ****, this is getting me aggravated.... And other thing is, now when I crank the car, sometimes the power dies out.... And in a matter of seconds, the lights come back, only when I try to crank it... When I turn the key, bam, everything dies, then like 3 seconds later, everything turns back on... Man my car is acting wierd...

 

perfect excuse to swap the motor and put a gsr like you wanted in the first place...see ya later man and good luck

 

have you had your battery tested. take a look at the battery.

 

when you say your lights go off, then turn back on a few seconds later, are you loosing COMPLETE (ALL) power? then the power comes back on?

do you have a stereo system? where is the power wire connected too? the battery? or the ignition? check the fuse box under your hood in the top right hand corner. make sure the thick black power wire (Ignition wire is TIGHT) mine was loose and would do everything you are saying your's does. i thought it was my starter, then i had the car at a shop to have my knock sensor changed and then it wouldnt start.. so he said it was the Ignition switch. so i had that changed and it still did that.. I checked all the wiring in my car and it turned out to be the Ignition wire in the fuse box was loose.. no more problems since.

hope that helps.. let me know.

 

check the ground thats on the starter, loosen it and retighten again. maybe even take it off and scrape some of the crap off to get a better connection. did 3 swaps in my garage, had the same thing happen on 2 of them. i was banging on the starter for 45 min trying to get it to start. then i tried that, and it fired right up.....could be the culprit......