What else should i check?

[vacustode03]

I just bought a 92 festiva, 5 speed, the guy I bought it from said it ran fine aside from needing a starter, but it came with a used one. So it wasn't running. After I got it home, I replaced the starter and it will now click but wont turn over. I put new plugs in it but no difference. I thought maybe the replacement starter isn't working the greatest so I went to oreilly's and got a remanufactured one. Now im sure its not the starter. Im getting spark from end of plug wires and also getting spark from coil wire. Its clicking but wont turn over. I've also tried spraying gas in the throttle body but still wouldn't turn over. I made sure the firing order was right. It sat for bout a month not running so battery is dead but I've been using jumper cables to get it to click. I've read on a few posts that a leak in the airbox or throttle body spacer could keep it from turning over but im out of ideas! Any ideas what to try?

[MTBOX]

What else should I check.

Is your motor seized?

[zoom zoom]

Battery, put a multimeter on it if u got one and make sure your getting at least 11 volts, 12.36 or 12.37 is fully charged I think, but 11 volts will work, 10 might too but if it hasn't started for awhile you need juice. Don't jump it, you lose too many amperers thru the jumper cables.

[2xclutchin]

x2 on the is it siezed. I'd try turn it over by hand to see, I can't imagine these motors are to hard to turn over by hand.

[91mcnasty]

I bet with a good charge or new battery it would fire up. Alot of times it takes a LONG time with jumper cables if the battery is completely dead.

[crazyrog17]

It's a 5 speed so try leaving it in fifth gear and pushing it to make sure the engine isn't seized.

[zoom zoom]

Btw, welcome to the site! You should put your location in your profile, never know if you could be a members neighbor, someone might be able to give you a hand with it!

[vacustode03]

Hopefully, it's not seized, the guy I got it from said he was driving it a month ago. Even said he got an alignment on it. I have a good judge of character and I believe he was being honest.

[MTBOX]

I would just put in a known good battery.

[zoom zoom]

Your not getting enough juice I've had that problem a couple times in the last year..also, if you take your battery to autozone or advance to get it charged for free, ignore them if they say your battery is dead because it won't fully charge, they're trying to make a sale. 2 of my batteries have been "dead" but still work fine, it's not dead until it won't hold a charge! (Dies after sitting a few hours)

[Damkid]

Make sure you have a clean connection at the starter terminals and battery, if the wires/terminals themselves have corrosion it'll cause the "click" but not be able give enough juice to actually crank it over

If your worried about if it's seized or not, get a socket (21mm I believe) on the centre crank pulley bolt to turn over the motor by hand as a "just in case"

[91_festy_Gl]

I just bought a 92 festiva, 5 speed, the guy I bought it from said it ran fine aside from needing a starter, but it came with a used one. So it wasn't running. After I got it home, I replaced the starter and it will now click but wont turn over. I put new plugs in it but no difference. I thought maybe the replacement starter isn't working the greatest so I went to oreilly's and got a remanufactured one. Now im sure its not the starter. Im getting spark from end of plug wires and also getting spark from coil wire. Its clicking but wont turn over. I've also tried spraying gas in the throttle body but still wouldn't turn over. I made sure the firing order was right. It sat for bout a month not running so battery is dead but I've been using jumper cables to get it to click. I've read on a few posts that a leak in the airbox or throttle body spacer could keep it from turning over but im out of ideas! Any ideas what to try?

If your getting fire from the plug wires then the engine is ROTATING like its suppost to. This means the engine isnt seized. Sounds to me like the timing has jumped or the disty is 180 degrees off. Is it backfiring at all?

If your getting fire then the engine is turning over, either that or im confused?

[vacustode03]

Hopefully its just a battery, i can get the battery charged, you guys are scaring me about the motor being seized. Like i said, i hope its not and i believe its not but if the newly charged battery doesnt do the trick, i might have to be done with it and that sucks because i havent even got to experience the greatness of the festiva. i hope its just the battery. I even wonder if i could take the battery out of my fiancee's 2002 ford focus just to see if i could get it to turn over?

[zoom zoom]

Do it, as long as the power and ground cables will stretch to the terminals on the battery it should work fine. The good thing about aspires (and probably festys) is that the cables will stretch a pretty decent distance, my mazda 626 cables only go where the stock battery terminals were so I have to watch what battery I buy for it. What your looking for is cold cranking amps (CCA)..the more the better.


Also, if that works to start the car, unhook the battery while it's running, and hook your old battery up and let it run for a bit. That way it will charge the old battery by itself. I'm sure someone might have something to say about this procedure, but I've done it quite a few times in my life and never blown a gasket or shocked myself in the process.

[Movin]

Dont worry about stuff, pick one of the ways suggested to
bar the engine over. If you don't have an assistant make
a mark on a pulley so you will know if the engine actually
turned over.Or leave your phone on video looking at
the engine.