Every couple of days, I go out to my car in the morning and it won’t start. There is power to the car, so I know it is not the battery. After sitting in my car for 10-12 minutes, trying the ignition every few minutes, it finally starts. Only once has it taken longer. And it has only happened once at night. It is getting progressively worse (it used to only happen once a month) and I am not sure what to do. I have taken it to a shop and they can’t seem to replicate it. Maybe it is a dead spot in the starter? Or something to do with dirty spark plugs?
Can anyone help? Thank you very much.
Please explain the problem more clearly.
Do you mean (1) that the starter does not engage and turn the engine over? (i.e. no sounds from under the hood.)
Or is it (2) the starter turns the engine over, but it fails to fire up and run when you release the key?
Those are two very different problems, so it is hard to help without knowing which one it is.
More importantly, what kind of car are you talking about?
Tester
Sorry about that…new to this. It is a 2006 Saturn Ion. The starter does not engage…no noise from under the hood.
It’s likely an electric circuit problem, including the various switches and the starter solenoid.
We need the particular make, model, year, sub-model of the vehicle; and the engine type and size, to decide what troubleshooting course to take.
With more recent vehicles, like yours, we have to worry more about the security system blocking the starter operation.
If the starter solenoid doesn’t engage (Do you hear it engage?), then, I wouldn’t worry about a flat spot on the starter rotor.
Are there any lights on on the dash board, and do they stay on while holding the switch in the start position.
Turn the headlights on, and then try starting the car. When the no-start happens, do the headlights stay on at normal brightness, or do they get very dim or go out? If they go out, then you probably have a loose/bad connection at one of the battery cables.
If the lights stay bright…
When you turn the key to start and hold it there, do you hear a click from under the hood? If so, then you may have a bad solenoid or a bad connection to the starter. If not, then your ignition switch may be bad, bad electrical connection, or any one of a dozen other possible causes.
Either way, this has nothing to do with your spark plugs. They are not involved in making the starter turn.
isn’t this still under warranty?
ive had many of these cars i have worked on where you have lights and everything else but when you turn the key to start it all the lights go off until you let off the key… all of them just needed the starter wires , nuts and studes wire brushed cleaned. i just did 1 last week that had the same problem make sure you clean both of them the 2 or 3 on the battery side of the silenoid and the 5/16 ignition side. the cause is from water and salt from the roads causing corrosion.