Problem starting car today, any ideas?

[anthony]

Hi guys,

Guessing this is something electrical between the ignition and the starter, maybe a loose wire or who knows, but I want to see if you might have any ideas. I've been doing some long (and fast) driving over the past few days, no problems at all on the road or when starting the car. It truly runs great. Today, I stopped at a gas station to fill up, and when I went to start again, I moved the key to ON... headlights, radio, everything worked... except when I turned it to start, there was nothing. No noise, nothing, just silence. You know how when you turn the key to ON, some of the lights on the dash come on as a test? When I turned the key to start, the Brake light came on, and would go out when I released the key back to ON. So clearly, the car knew I was putting the key to Start, as that test LED responded.

Well, after some poking around under the hood (but first, putting the car into neutral and pushing it away from the gas pump so others could fuel up... LOL), I was able to jump the starter with a screwdriver and it started up just fine. Made sure not to turn it off until I got to my final destination, some 40 or 50 miles of further fast driving away... Then... I park the car, turn it off... and just for kicks, went to start it again with the key... and it fires right up.

Any ideas? Seems like the ignition switch is fine, the starter is fine, and the battery is fine. I'm not the most mechanically inclined, but if I'm told what to look for, I can do it. This is a '92, automatic. Thanks!

[Lil-Red]

solenoide?

[sanjeet]

Lil red is most probably right and it sounds like the starter solenoid, the wire to the solenoid can become corroded over time so pull it off (the spade terminal) and make sure it is clean and contacting OK, you can hook a test light to that wire and turn on and off the ignition and you should see the light go off and on so that is a good test.

TIP: if you hear a click when you turn on the key that means the battery is flat.
TIP: sometimes the brushes can be worn down on the starter motor and you may need to service or exchange the starter motor.
TIP: the solenoid is the bit that mechanically engages the ring gear to turn the motor over and has heavy duty points, must disconnect battery before removal/service

[anthony]

Thanks very much to both of you! I will check that wire and test it out once the rainy weather clears up. I thought about a possible flat battery, but there was no click at all. Good to know for the future, however.

I'll write back once I've looked things over!

[Pu241]

You shut the car down while it was still engaged in drive.
Then tried to restart it while not in park.
For whatever reason Festiva autos don't like this.
Shut down in park and restart in park and you will never have this problem again!
FB71 can better elaborate as to why.
Wife had this same issue at a gas station no less, when she picked up the white festiva from FB71 and had a "mechanic" tell her it was a starter solenoid.
Once she understood not to shut down in anything other than park she hasn't had any more problems.
To her credit she had never driven an auto Festiva,
150K on a 5 spd but no auto experience.

[festivaWES]

I say ignition switch myself..... I'm having the same issues on my s-10 right now.

[anthony]

You shut the car down while it was still engaged in drive.
Then tried to restart it while not in park.
For whatever reason Festiva autos don't like this.
Shut down in park and restart in park and you will never have this problem again!
FB71 can better elaborate as to why.
Wife had this same issue at a gas station no less, when she picked up the white festiva from FB71 and had a "mechanic" tell her it was a starter solenoid.
Once she understood not to shut down in anything other than park she hasn't had any more problems.
To her credit she had never driven an auto Festiva,
150K on a 5 spd but no auto experience.

Hmm... a very interesting thought. I definitely did not try to restart the car while it was in drive, but maybe I had shut it off before putting it into park (by mistake). I can't say whether I did this or not, but it is certainly a possibility, as I seem to remember having done just this recently. Did you have to jump the starter to get it started again when this happened to you/your wife?

thanks!

[fastiva1988]

Solenoid... tap on it next time u have problems may just get hung up or shorted

[Fez]

I had a very similar problem on my F-150 and it turned out to be an internally corroded battery cable.

[Mike McKown]

You shut the car down while it was still engaged in drive.
Then tried to restart it while not in park.
For whatever reason Festiva autos don't like this.
Shut down in park and restart in park and you will never have this problem again!
FB71 can better elaborate as to why.
Wife had this same issue at a gas station no less, when she picked up the white festiva from FB71 and had a "mechanic" tell her it was a starter solenoid.
Once she understood not to shut down in anything other than park she hasn't had any more problems.
To her credit she had never driven an auto Festiva,
150K on a 5 spd but no auto experience.

I think this is a likely possibility. It happens to me occasionally. When mine won't start in park, I shift it into neutral and it starts. It doesn't matter if you wiggle the shifter around in park when it won't start, it just won't start. Once you start it in neutral, you're good to go.

Did I shut the engine off in park? I can't really say but I do know the shift linkage is slightly out of adjustment as sometimes, you have to overun the shift toward park and then pull back slightly to get reverse. That's an adjustment and may very well be your problem.

You can put a test light on the solenoid connection next time it won't start and see if you have juice there when a helper turns the key.