What does the “starter” do? how do you find out if it is bad, going bad or such? How do you find where it is located on your car?
Backwards Approach. Do You Have A Car Problem Or Just Looking For Mechanic Car Repair Training ? If There’s a Car Problem Then Lay It On Us.
By the way, the starter starts the car. The approach for diagnosing the starter depends on what it’s doing, unless you want to remove it and have it tested. It’s located on the engine near where the engine and transmission meet.
Why ? Oh, and you should give us the Model-Year of this Kia Sedona.
CSA
Actually a car’s starter doesn’t do anything. It is an inanimate object waiting to be acted upon.
i purchsed this mini van about 2 months back and have no issues at all with it. Then this weekend when I went to start the van, it just didn’t start right, almost like the battery was low or the starter might be going. I had the battery checked and outside of it being low on water, which I filled, they told me the batter was fine. But now it is back to starting fine. Also interestingly, this past weekend was the first significant rain we have gotten since I bought this car and wonder if maybe somewhere in the engine water got to something causing a problem, cause once the rain went away and the car dried out it is fine. Just kinda baffling.
It’s a 2002 kia Sedona with 136,000 miles on it.
The starter is a very strong little electric motor mounted on the side of the engine. Its got a little toothed wheel that flies out when the starter is energized to grab a big toothed wheel on the engine to spin it (turn it over). That’s what gets the engine going. Once the car is running and you release the key the little toothed wheel lets go and goes back to its original spot.
The starter takes a lot of electrical power to run it. If your problem really is associated with moisture then you likely have a problem or two with the cables that ship all of that power around - like the one that goes from the battery to the starter, or one of the grounding points. (Of course that may be a problem is the moisture was coincidental).
Take it to a local shop and tell them the story.