Well...I ran into a problem yesterday evening. I hopped in my car, turned it on....nothing. Went in the manual and tried the whole
'hold it at start for 15 sec and then try to crank it
' and " press in the clutch half way to crank it" as the manual states...nothing worked. Let me back up a bit ----->

When it first started:

I had the same problem about a month ago when I was on my trip to Bowling Green. I had to push start my car (thank goodness its a manual )

Some people recommended that it may be my Neutral Safety switch. I drove the car the past month...no problems.

As of yesterday:

Car didnt start, so I changed out the neutral safety switch. No codes thrown when trying to start. Battery was reading 12 when I had the Gauge selt to "voltage" on the cluster.

SO THE QUESTION IS.....WHAT THE PROBLEM MAY BE? SUGGESTIONS? SOLUTIONS? When I had the battery tested in Bowling Green it read 12 on the cluster. Auto Zone tested it and said that it was still good. So with that, the battery and neutral safety swith should be good. Starter had enough juice going to it. This is driving me nuts Please PM me and thanks.

 

I seen this happen to NUMEROUS people, and I had intermittent NO CRANK issues for over a YEAR! (Yep,,,I was too bull headed to remove the starter until I was ready to do my heads and cam. ) I found a simple work around for my no start issue that I could use to get it to work and it never left be stranded but was just aggravating. If I held the ignition switch to start for an extended period of time, it would usually crank. If that didn't work, I would tap on the solenoid.

There are a bunch of things it could be. So,,,here goes;

Battery cables. MAKE SURE the battery cables are correctly tightened to the battery. 97-2003 + 11 ft/lbs

Battery connection on the starter and wires on the starter solenoid. MAKE SURE that there CLEAN AND TIGHT and not burnt!!!!! If there the slightest bit loose or dirty, it can cause this issue.

The top two things are FREE and very common!

Neutral safety switch: They get dirty and corroded inside. Sometimes pumping the clutch while keeping the key turned to the START position will allow the contacts in the switch to make contact through the crud and work. You replaced yours so, thats most likely NOT your issue.

Theft Deterrent Relay: Its in the passengers foot well on the fire wall above the BCM. That relay is in the path of the solenoid and when you pump the clutch with the key turned to the START position,,you should be able to hear that relay operate each time the clutch is pushed to the floor and released.
That is relay one of the switches in the safety/anti theft circuit and uses low current signals to operate a high current switch to pass HIGH CURRENT (60 amps max) to the starter solenoid. When the high current contacts of that TDR switch close, the solenoid operates and allows the battery to operate the starter. Change the Theft deterrent relay. Its about $12.00

Starter solenoid. Thats what was wrong with my ZO6. I could literally TAP on the solenoid and it would then work. I purchased just a new solenoid from a starter/alternator rebuild shop ($30.00 ) and installed it during my heads/cam swap. No problems since!

Starter. I know that they do go bad but, I have never actually seen a real bad one on a C5. I know that many people have replaced a starter and that cured their NO START issue but, I just wonder how many of the problems were just a bad solenoid , bad connection, bad wire, etc...

I pulled the rear cover off the back of my starter and the brushes were in excellent condition. I just used some compressed air, blew out some carbon dust and reassembled it. You can purchase individual parts inside a starter and repair exactly what is wrong with it.

So there you have the things to check that should allow you to fix what is wrong with your car.

BC