Starter Problem
 

Came out of the eye dr. this morning, turned the key and...nothing. no click, no rrrr,rrrr, just nothing. lights, horn, radio all worked so it doesn't seem to be a battery problem . Pushed out of parking place and down slight slope and it started right up. Drove home (25 miles) turned it off and restarted with no problem. What do you think? drive it until I can't get it to start or...? This is an '87 Carrera with 110k.

Richard

I am sure other more knowledgeable P car people will reply but in my experience it sounds like you have a wiring problem to the solenoid. If you got no clicking sound of the solenoid trying to engage then I would check out the wires to it for tightness and corrosion. Also not sure about 87's and the alarm?? disable issues??

Peter

I should write a book on my starting problems!

I suffered the same symptoms, classic click, slow starter, no starter, etc, etc,. I first started with looking at my ground strap from the tranny to the engine. A bad ground will affect the starting system overall. I replaced mine and cleaned the copper washers and connectors. Its not a hard job. That seemed to be a temporary fix as it happened again.........I then cleaned the contacts on the solenoid, starter and battery. Great, but no great help. Ah, next I installed a "hot start kit" which concentrates the battery power directly to the starter...........again a temporary fix, but for awhile a real kick in the butt on start up. Yep, temporary fix. I got fed up and took it to my mechanic for complete diagnostics.....turned out on closer inspection the wire from the solenoid to the starter was very loose causing the starter to work on an intermittent basis. I had the starter replaced with the new higher HP unit. That took care of my problem for awhile until I stopped for gas off the interstate after 100 miles and that gut wrenching click comes back. A push start from a couple of folks got me on my way, but I was cursing the machine all the way home!! So, after all that, not to include a new electrical ignition switch, I decided to replace my brand new Interstate battery..........When I took the battery in for a credit I had them check it out anyways and it had a bad cell...................the culprit was the battery, but hey, the whole starting system was restored. I hope your path is less extensive. Take one step at a time on this on, but start with the contacts, ground strap and battery.

Bob

Peter, Bob thank you. good ideas. I'll get statred and see what I can accomplish. Richard

The other thing is heat can affect the selenoid. Cooks the grease inside the cylinder and makes it hard for it to "shove out" and engage the rin gear and starter circuit. You may try removing, cleaning, regreasing it.