my girls car, 03 lx auto. this has been going on for awhile i guess, i was finally able to witness it, and now it wont start. upon trying to start, instead of cranking or grinding it makes a constant/very fast clicking or chatter if you will, sounds like when you used to put baseball cards in your bicycle spokes. while thats happening the gauge lights pulse along with the chatter. this is why i question if it's the starter or not, it's not the normal grinding that i'm used to hearing. is there anything else it could be? i don't have the time or the money to be throwing at the problem

 

Sounds like an electrical issue. Have you tried jumping the car, or checking the battery terminals to see if there is corrosion buildup?

 

Sounds like your starter motor/starter motor relay.

 

where is the starter relay located

 

so i pulled the starter, she took it to autozone and had it tested, it tested good. when they test these do they just hook it up to a multimeter? do they test it for engagement? when she turns it over, the clicking is coming from the starter, and i can feel it vibrating as if it wants to crank, which still convinces me it's the starter. so far i've checked the fuses, checked for loose/frayed wiring, and checked and cleaned grounds. she was supposed to leave this morning for a 2 week job training and isn't able to leave until her car is up. i need to get this going.

 

youve confirmed a stable battery voltage?

a big thing with some cars is a condition where it will have good battery voltage, but low voltage at the starter. i can tell you that the relay is good because the starter reacts to the command, but remember, the starter is grounded through the block, gets 12v directly from the battery and a starter signal (the thin wire) from the starter relay. Im assuming the car still has the stock good/ok grounds and 12v's from the starter relay (while cranking). you might want to check the thick white wire on the starter. if it has lower than battery voltage, but the battery is still good, you might have dirty terminals or a starter cable with really high resistance and it will need to be replaced. I believe this circuit is fused by the main power circuit, so if the car still powers up and all the electrical equipment still works, you should be fine, but double check the big fuses that have the sight glass. If everything checks out ok, that starter is done.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by burnitdown &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">so i pulled the starter, she took it to autozone and had it tested, it tested good. when they test these do they just hook it up to a multimeter? do they test it for engagement? when she turns it over, the clicking is coming from the starter, and i can feel it vibrating as if it wants to crank, which still convinces me it's the starter. so far i've checked the fuses, checked for loose/frayed wiring, and checked and cleaned grounds. she was supposed to leave this morning for a 2 week job training and isn't able to leave until her car is up. i need to get this going. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I would check voltage on the alternator and starter leads (alternator when the car is running).

 

Its the battery most liklely. I had the same thing to happen to me. When the battery dies and you try to start it...the clicking sound that your referring to is the selinoid (spelling??) and its trying to ingage the starter but just not enough juice.

My battery has a place where you can look that will have a green glow or no glow. If the glow is not green then the battery is dead. If its green you have another problem. Once the battery is found dead you will have to find out why. Have Autozone or who ever to test it and see if its bad, if not its probably the altenator.

If you live in an area with ruff roads the battery plates inside the battery can move and come in contact with one another and cause it to go bad. Number of things can happen but most likely the battery is the suspect here.

 

problem solved. ended up being the battery