Ray and Tom (Or anyone else) I need help figuring out whats going on with my 2003 Saturn Ion, basically what happens is every now and then (it seems to be random, took it to a mechanic and it started up right up every time!) Anyway, I would go to start the car and nothing, wait a minute or so and it will crank about 1/4 wait another minute or two and turn the car key and it will crank about half way, couple more minutes and it will turn over but die right away, wait another couple minutes and Im good to go. I would like to know whats going on as this is driving me crazy.
What does crank 1/4 and crank half way mean? And when you say you get “nothing” when you first turn the key, what exactly do you mean? No sound? Or just cranking over but won’t start?
If it is something like: 1) turn the key - silence; 2) turn the key and RRrrrr…nothing; 3) turn the key and RRRR…RR…R…rrrr…nothing - then you probably just need a new battery. How old is the battery? Has anyone tested it?
Have someone check the battery terminal connections. If there’s a poor connection at the battery due to corrosion it causes a voltage drop. This voltage drop can prevent the engine from starting while at the same time it causes the poor connection to heat up. After attempting to start the engine several times, the poor connection gets so hot where it finally expands to a point where a good connection is made and the engine starts.
Tester
@ Cig- it means as what I said, first time you try to start the car and turn the key nothing no clicks or whatever. And no I dont need a new battery, it already has a new battery.
Thanks Tester, I’ll check that out, I want to find out whats going on with this! Last time I took it to the mechanic and left it there for the weekend, and he said every time he went to start the car it started right up, like one of the elders at my church said, those type of car problems are harder to find out whats going on. Last time it happened was the Sabbath (Saturday) as I tried to start the car to go to church. When this happens it generally takes all the stuff I said before it will start, and that can be around 10 minutes or less.
@TwistedFang, sorry I tried to help. First, you could have said that you had a new battery. You’re talking to a bunch of strangers on the internet. Given your issue, don’t you think this info might have been relevant?
Second what you said is completely ambiguous all the way around. Lots of people come here and say they turn the key and “nothing” - but there are lots of different things that means to different people. Its even more ambiguous when you say “it will crank about 1/4” and “it will crank about half way”. Since those statements are completely meaningless, the “nothing” also remains meaningless.
You don’t need to make separate replies to reply to different posts.
@ Cig ok so how else am I suppose to say it if I turn the key and there is NOTHING? Doesnt that say it all right there? specially when after that I said I would try again and it would do a 1/4 crank? I think I described it good enough and dont get why your trying to say my wording sucked, when it didnt, I would agree that I should have added the battery part, but the first part I have to disagree that I worded it wrong, which I didnt.
@TwistedFan - so you’re standing outside of the car and watching the crank and can see it goes 1/4 of the way around? Then you can see it goes half way around?
Look, hang out here a while. People show up and say all sorts of stuff where they assume people can read their minds, see what they see, hear what they hear, etc.
Then maybe you won’t think you described it “good” enough.
Whatever - you probably need new cables as Tester said. If you really want to know put a meter on your starter connections and see how much voltage shows up when it first does “nothing” then cranks “1/4” the “half way”
@ Cig- nope, Im in the car trying to get it to start when this happens, I am going to have the cables looked at and hope that fixes the issue, Not sure if my thought was correct but I was thinking that it may be the Starter?
Sorry but I think I described it pretty good myself, like I said, how else am I suppose to describe when I go to start the car it doesnt do nothing (ie not even trying to turn over, no clicks or whatsoever)