Occasional no crank - solenoid or starter

[BJM]

For the first time ever, my car decided not to start. There was no warning, the previous starts were absolutely normal. When I tried to crank there was no click from the solenoid at all. I had it towed home. I hit the starter and solenoid with a hammer and it started fine. After several normal starts, it did it again. Hitting it fixed it again for several starts and then it died again.

I can get a solenoid for $30 or a starter with solenoid for $125. Can I be sure that the solenoid is to blame?

 

[TurboTR]

I had the same problem. Then just decided to take advantage of it and finally bought a lightweight starter for it lol

TurboTR

 

[Evans Ward]

Was the motor cold or hot when the no start happened? It can be remotely possible that neither the starter or solenoid is at fault. Ask me how I know? I replaced the starter w/solenoid and my car still has that problem only when warmed up so I'm now chasing a heat soak problem somewhere.

 

[TurboBuckeye]

Gotta love the BFH



You might want to check for loose/corroded connections before spending any money. If you haven't already done so

 

[BJM]

Originally posted by Evans Ward
Was the motor cold or hot when the no start happened? It can be remotely possible that neither the starter or solenoid is at fault. Ask me how I know? I replaced the starter w/solenoid and my car still has that problem only when warmed up so I'm now chasing a heat soak problem somewhere.

I don't think its heat soak because even when the car sat for about an hour it still wouldn't start, after I towed it home it still wouldn't start. Hitting it fixed it. Then it started several times fine and then refused to start even though it had not gotten very warmed up again.

 

[Evans Ward]

Sounds like starter and or solenoid then. Take the starter out and take it to a speciality starter/ alt/ battery store and let them load test it on the machine/ bench. Hope your starter removal procedure goes better than mine. I found that the x-over pipe had to be removed as well as the hard trans lines at trans body. More of a pain than I wanted or expected!

 

[BJM]

I got it out after about 15 minutes, I must be lucky. There is no corrosion on the wires or connections at all. My car is good that way. I did the current draw test on the solenoid and it tested fine. The pull in winding is grounded through the motor windings and maybe the brushes are starting to go. The hold in winding is grounded at the solenoid. I figure the motor and solenoid together are the problem so I have picked up a new one.

 

[BJM]

New one is in, only took 20 minutes. My crossover pipe must be out of the way compared to some. The new starter must crank at least twice as fast as the old one. I never realized the old one was so slow! I could swear the idle is better too after having cleaned the connections on the starter. So far so good.