'92 A4. 90K miles.

Turn key in lock and the starter attempts to start. I mean it sounds like the engine makes maybe a half of a revolution and then stops. Normal dash lights light up during the crank attempt.

Has never failed to start before.

Turn key off, and try again, and it fires right up.

Search reveals to clean the key with alcohol, clean the battery posts. Gonna do those 2 items.

From there, any other thoughts?

Thanks boyz and gurls!

 

Very likely a bad starter/solinoid.

 

or starter relay

 

Today I hop in the Vette this morning and it takes 5 or 6 attempts to start before contact is made and it fires up.

Sound is now more like a solid "CLICK".

Again....normal dash lights, and the starter itself, when it finally engages sounds as strong as ever.

Cleaning the key didnt help. Battery terminals are tight. Haven't cleaned them yet....gotta buy the brush.

Does any of this info help diagnose the problem further?

Suggetions?

Thanks Bros!

 

I vote solenoid. Over the years The General had lots of good ideas. The starter solenoid wasn't one of them. The copper contacts have to transfer bunches of current and,over time, become so burned they can't pass the required current. The click is the solenoid throwing the bendix into the ring gear, but there is no current being passed to the starter windings. The solenoid can be replaced but the better course of action is to replace the starter. I have been driving Chebbies for a long time and have given up on the OEM starter. I replaced mine with a mini gear reduction starter. More costly but no more starter woes.

 

I had the same problem. Mine was the silonoid switch. Try checking that.

 

Or battery. Whats the volt gage doing during the start up attempt?

 

Have had this same problem with many other Chevrolet vehicles in the past (not the Vette yet <knocking on wood >)...

 

I agree with Muffin, if you can keep hitting the starter and hear it click and finally the starter motor cranks, you are beating away the burned copper contacts that switch current to the starter motor at the end of the starter solenoid stroke and finally it makes a good enough connection to pass enough current to operate the starter motor. I had this happen to me a year ago, it would start after 20 pulses on the ign switch. I changed my starter, but it is possible to replace the copper contacts as starters last a long time. It isn't hard to remove the starter and if you have an auto electrical shop nearby, they can replace the contacts for a lot less than buying a starter, even a rebuilt.

 

Gents and Lady:

I sure thank you for your replies and wisdom.

I believe I may have been given a reprieve from the Corvette Gods, and have solved the problem.

I have those hideous side terminals on my battery and wasn't sure how to go about cleaning them.

Didn't have the little brush tool, and didn't feel like going to get one at 8.00 in the evening, after a 12 hour day. Felt that terminal fouling was a slim chance at best as the cause of my woes.

Decided that since I didn't have anything better to do, I'd go ahead and take the terminals off and clean them as best I could with materials at hand.

Took 'em off and ran some sandpaper around all of the involved parts, reaching what I could. They looked fine to me. Didn't feel like I did a very good job, but it was what I could get done tonight.

Put them back together, and DAMNED if she didn't fire up first time, just like normal!!!

Took her for a short drive to replenish the battery and parked her in her berth in the garage.

Let her cool down for 45 minutes and went out to see if she would fire up again.....

BINGO. Hot, straight and normal, just like always!!!!

Pray for me y'all.....gonna drive her to work tomorrow.....and I'm taking my tool kit, just in case.

I'll let ya know how it goes.

 

Dern!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's BACK!!!!!!!!!!!


Back to looking for more solutions.

GOLDCYLON: Battery voltage drops to 12.1 V during the attempt to start, according to dash guage.

JFB: I've changed a few starters in my time but it's been a while

Can you give me any guidance as to where the contacts are located, and what they look like?

ALL: Is it easy/cost effective to change out just the solonoid, or should I just do the entire starter? The starter itself sounds fine when it does finally engage. Hate to replace a part that doesn't need to be replaced.

Thanks for your continued help!

 

Your going to probably have to drop the starter to put the new solenoid on right? I would just replace both for peace of mind. Just remember both parts have the same wear time. That Battery voltage is fine, Only other battery issue would be an internal short but its sounding at this point like the suspect part is the solenoid and/or starter

 

The man needs a multimeter or a good test station. It could be either or.

 

I've got a multi meter. What do I test?

Also, in calling around for prices on solenoids and starters, I'm told that there IS NO SEPARATE SOLONIOD on the '92.

Starter and solonoid are a single unit.

When I get the chance to get under the car, I might be able to see what they mean.

Best price on a Re-man starter is $165....New is $350.

 

You could be having VATS problems too. Unplug the clutch safety switch (gear selector sw at base of gear shift if auto) and jump the socket. Measure the voltage on the jumper when you hit crank on the ign sw. If you have 12v and no cranking, you have a bad starter, if no 12v, VATS is suspect. You can jump 12v to the jumper and the starter should crank. If no 12v, then remove the kick panel above drivers feet and find the 2 wires from the steering column that plugs into a 2 pin connector and unplug. Insert key in ign and measure the resistance across the 2 wires from the steering column. It should measure the same as your pellet and if more than 4% difference or over 13k ohms, you need a new ign lock which will have new contacts that make connection to the pellet. I am not sure this works with 92's , but you can bypass VATS until you can schedule the ign lock replacement by connecting a 1/4 watt 5% resistor across the 2 wires from the wiring harness (goes to VATS module). You can use a resistor from Radio Shack but its value must be within about 4% of your pellet resistance.
Don't permanently bypass VATS because 99% of thefts are done by bashing the column and jumping the ignition.

 

WOW ! JBF lost me in the first couple of sentences. He apparently really knows his stuff.

I have a suggestion that has already been mentioned but maybe you didn't go quite far enough. I've never had a '92 but I did have a '96 Vette and a '97 Buick. I never had a problem with the '96 but the Buick had the standard side post cables and I had similar symtoms. This all happened 2 years ago when I was going thru a major bout with cancer so I didn't feel like doing any wrench turning. One day the Buick did just as you described and I knew the battery was good so I called and had the car towed to the dealership. The lady servicewriter said they knew just what the problem was as they were common with the 3.8 liter Buick engines. She said the intake manifold was leaking coolant into the cylinders and the engine was hydrolocking and that was why the starter wouldn't turn the engine over. I consider myself a fairly good mechanic and told her I was certain that it was an electrical issue but just didn't feel like troubleshooting it due to my health. She assured me she was correct with her diagnosis and about $1000.00 later they had the car running again so we went and picked it up and drove home about 15 miles. The car sat in the garage for a couple of days and we drove it to Walmart. When we went to leave Walmart it pulled its same old trick of not starting. Back to the dealer on a flatbed and they put the same technician of the job. Within a couple minutes he wiggled the positive battery cable and the car started right up. He tightened the cable a little and said that should fix the problem.
I drove home and the next day I had the same problem again but luckily I was in the A/C comfort of my basement garage. I pulled the positive cable off and carefully slit the red plastic cover and pulled it down from the cable ends. I was then able to pull the two cable spade ends apart and wire brushed them as they were covered with corrosion between the spade ends. Please note that the corrosion was only within the red covered cable end. I then used 220 grit sandpaper to sand the spade ends and then reassembled the cable end cover and reattached the cable. I never had that problem again. I am convinced that this same problem is experienced by many on this forum.
The cleaning you did was just enough to temporarily stop your problem. I believe you can solve your problem for FREE by doing the job I have described. It only takes a few minutes to do it!

Good Luck with solving your problem!

Please let me know if my diagnosis was correct.

 

Once again... I think the problen is solved.....and I have MUCH more confidence this time!!!!!!

It appears JFB is correct about the copper "contacts" needing to be replaced. Without your reference to "contacts" here, I'd have spent a PILE more $$$$ thank you!!!

I had about given up on diagnosing the critter and had resigned myself to replacing the starter myself (solonoid by itself NOT AN OPTION), or taking it to the dealership.

Best price on a Reman starter was $165, 3 days out.

Dealership quoted me $350 for the new starter alone, not including labor.

Wuz gonna try R/R the cables tonight at the starter, hoping to improve connection and solve the problem. Confidence low on this remedy.

Went in to our local KNECHT'S AUTO PARTS store on an unrelated matter on the way home from school. I had called them and several other parts suppliers earlier in the day for price/availability on the starter/solonoid.

They were the ONLY folks who told me that there was a separate solonoid available for about $13.

Dealt with the parts I went in for on my Blazer, and then asked again about the solonoid issue and reminded the counter person that I was the guy she had talked to about the Corvette starter earlier in the day.

We hummed and hawed our way through her parts books, and I had my FSM to show her for comparison when another employee....Ken.... walks by and says "What's up"?

Counter girl explains my situation to Ken and he looks at me and says....."No separate solonoid....but they have contacts that can be replaced. That's your problem. They're $1.99 each and you need 2."

He said: "Take your starter out, bring it here and I'll show you how to replace the "Contacts".

I said: "I'll be back in an hour with the starter!!!!"

Brought it in an hour later, and Ken and an older Gent who was working on installing new counters, took my starter away from me and REBUILT IT, INSTALLING THE NEW CONTACTS WHILE I WATCHED!!!!!!!


I looked at the old contacts that came out of the starter and remarked that they SEEMED like they might be faulty, and the older Gent said "That's your problem, right there."

I took the starter home, crawled under the Corvette and hooked up the 2 wires, installed the 2 bolts, connected the battery neg. cable and fired that sucker UP!!!!!!!!!!!!

I believe it's a TOTAL fix.....for $3.98!!!!!!!!!

HATS OFFF TO KNECHT'S IN ALBANY, OR.

I had one of the local Pizza houses deliver them a large Pepperoni.

THEY ROCK!

 

Another satisfied customer!