This is a 00 Accord with ~57k

I did a search for starting problems, distributors and starters and came up with nothing. I checked the battery and it was still good (12.69 V).

When starting the car, I hear this rat a tat tat tat tat. The engine does not turn over or even get close to it. I took off the distributor cap and proceeded to try to start the car again, and the rotor does not move with the rat a tat tat tat again.

I think the distributor has seized but am not sure.

What do you people think?

 

Sounds like either weak voltage or a bad starter...

Check your battery voltage. Then check ALL the battery cables, including the other ends, for looseness & corrosion. Check your engine ground. If the battery connections are bad, your starter isn't getting full voltage. Maybe take your battery & get it tested under load?

Sometimes a bad starter can be helped by rapping on it with a broom handle or something like that. But that's usually helpful if the starter just doesn't do anything. You might have to take the starter out & get it tested.

 

Thanks,

I took the battery charger and cranked it up to 70a and the she started right up. If the starter isn't getting enough juice, do I change the battery or starter? The battery still has a charge of 12.50 V.


Modified by bonestock at 5:33 PM 8/25/2003

 

12.5 is low. should be closer to 14v. let the car run for a while and check voltage again. if it's still low then it's probably your alternator. if it charges up but drains down again it's the battery. most likely it isn't the starter

 

Thanks for the advise guys.

I got a new battery and it registers at 12.79v. I still don't understand how a battery can still hold a decent charge and not have the cranking power.

I will definitely keep an eye on charge.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bonestock &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">... I still don't understand how a battery can still hold a decent charge and not have the cranking power...</TD></TR></TABLE>Because you probably just measured voltage without any load on the battery. If you measure battery voltage while the starter is cranking, you'd see a great big difference between your old & new batteries. Voltage & charge aren't exactly the same thing.

14 volts or more is a good number while the engine's running. That's different than battery voltage with the engine stopped. You can let the engine idle, turn on all your stuff (headlights, fans, stereo, run your window motors...) Measure voltage while all this stuff is turned on, and you've just 'load-tested' your alternator.