Starter not turning

[Vikinger]

Hello,

I am new to this board, looks like nice crowd off knowledgeable and friendly people.

Hopefully someone is able to help with my problem. I went shopping, parked the car, 10 min later it wouldn‘t start anymore. It’s a european car with an alarm and immobilizer system. The light on the opener goes green, hence I am not suspecting that system as the root cause. I have replaced both the motor cabling harness and the plus cable harness to the starter, who were really bad, but no change.

Since the solenoid of the starter is not klicking, absolutely no noise whatsoever, is it right to bet on the starter? Any other ideas?

thanks in advance for any hints.

 

[gerryvz]

It is almost 100% that your starter is bad, and requires replacement. I had this same situation happen back in 2007.

Two things to check/do:

1) check the battery voltage to make sure that you have enough power to crank the starter

2) using a hammer/mallet and a large screwdriver or metal bar / long wrench, place it against the starter and give it several hard taps with the hammer. It might be enough to free up the starter to get you back home. Even better if you can get the hammer directly hitting on the starter. It's a long shot, but worth a try if you can.

But it is very likely your starter as the problem. They do tend to fail suddenly after a period of slow cranking, which you may or may not detect with your ears over time.

Also, do a search of the forum with a few words that describe your problem, and you will probably find other people that had a similar issue.

 

[JC220]

Also try starting the car and moving the gear shifter from P and into N etc. Could also be related to a faulty neutral safety switch.

I would want to be tracing the starter motor wiring back and diagnosing the issue fully before condemning the starter motor itself. Expecially as you say the starter solenoid can't even be heard clicking.

First check is to make absolutely sure your battery is fully charged and the battery terminals are clean and tight.

 

[Vikinger]

Found the solution, unfortunqtely not without a small incident. I wanted to check the starter and battery by jump starting the engine via the three pin connector next to the can bus box. The engine started, the car started to roll despite being in Park position, hitting the frame of my garage door :-(

It turns out that the linkage arm between the gearbox and the lever had gone off. The car was in Drive position all the time, that’s why it didn’t start.

 

[JC220]

Found the solution, unfortunqtely not without a small incident. I wanted to check the starter and battery by jump starting the engine via the three pin connector next to the can bus box. The engine started, the car started to roll despite being in Park position, hitting the frame of my garage door :-(

It turns out that the linkage arm between the gearbox and the lever had gone off. The car was in Drive position all the time, that’s why it didn’t start.

Sorry to hear that, no real damage done to the car I hope?

That is a rare one to happen! But understand now what happened keep an eye on those shifter bushings!

 

[Vikinger]

The bonnet was in upright service posittion unfortunately and hit the open garage door, the bumper hit the the garage door frame. The bonnet will have to be replaced, luckily the original part is still available. The bumper will have to be replaced.