Starting Issues....perfect storm.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 174
Likes: 0
From: Orlando FL
Starting Issues....perfect storm.
Just wanted to relay my experiences and say thanks to Bill Curlee for his great advice!
Last week my car began to have trouble starting. Did all the basic stuff with the key pellet and rubbing alcohol, and it would start right up.
Then the plastic piece housing the holds the resistor readers in the ignition switch CRUMBLED! Oh great. Luckily this happened in my driveway. Went to radio shack, bought a bundle of resistors ( not accurate BTW) and measured my key at 1875 ohms. After about an hour of measuring and soldering I was able to get a value of 1862. Close enough. Tore the dash apart, found the cable that went to the now destroyed reader and cut it. Soldered and heat-shrink tubed my "bypass" and the PCM was happy. Installed an inline kill switch (hidden) while at it to keep some theft-proofing in it. Started right up!
Next day began to put the dash back together. Turns out a couple pieces I had were actually supposed to be one piece, not three! I guess I was a bit over eager to take it apart. (Thank you Corvette Recycler's BTW). Got every thing looking good. Went to start it. Nothing. Now I am in a bit of panic mode. Thinking "Great, got take this GD dash back apart. Checked the DIC, NO CODES. PCM Happy. Checked engine grounds and the front right one was TERRIBLE. Cleaned it up. VROOOM!
Awesome right? Not so fast.
Next AM. Nothing. No Codes, good battery, WTH???
Broomstick tap on the starter solenoid and back in business. Holy Crap. What next?
So now I am having to tap tap tap the solenoid every AM. Works just fine after work. But keeping a broomstick in my car for now.
If you are still reading this, thanks. Here is the actual question.
How difficult will it be to drop the starter and rebuild that solenoid. The starter is fine, I suspect that the solenoid is not retracting all the way after some starts. Take it out from the bottom I assume, headers or any other part I need to look out for. Or at this point should I just put a new starter in.
Thanks,
Vato
Last week my car began to have trouble starting. Did all the basic stuff with the key pellet and rubbing alcohol, and it would start right up.
Then the plastic piece housing the holds the resistor readers in the ignition switch CRUMBLED! Oh great. Luckily this happened in my driveway. Went to radio shack, bought a bundle of resistors ( not accurate BTW) and measured my key at 1875 ohms. After about an hour of measuring and soldering I was able to get a value of 1862. Close enough. Tore the dash apart, found the cable that went to the now destroyed reader and cut it. Soldered and heat-shrink tubed my "bypass" and the PCM was happy. Installed an inline kill switch (hidden) while at it to keep some theft-proofing in it. Started right up!
Next day began to put the dash back together. Turns out a couple pieces I had were actually supposed to be one piece, not three! I guess I was a bit over eager to take it apart. (Thank you Corvette Recycler's BTW). Got every thing looking good. Went to start it. Nothing. Now I am in a bit of panic mode. Thinking "Great, got take this GD dash back apart. Checked the DIC, NO CODES. PCM Happy. Checked engine grounds and the front right one was TERRIBLE. Cleaned it up. VROOOM!
Awesome right? Not so fast.
Next AM. Nothing. No Codes, good battery, WTH???
Broomstick tap on the starter solenoid and back in business. Holy Crap. What next?
So now I am having to tap tap tap the solenoid every AM. Works just fine after work. But keeping a broomstick in my car for now.
If you are still reading this, thanks. Here is the actual question.
How difficult will it be to drop the starter and rebuild that solenoid. The starter is fine, I suspect that the solenoid is not retracting all the way after some starts. Take it out from the bottom I assume, headers or any other part I need to look out for. Or at this point should I just put a new starter in.
Thanks,
Vato
Last edited by Vato; Oct 25, 2013 at 04:27 PM.
Instructor
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 129
Likes: 83
From: White Lake, Michigan
2025 C8 Stingray of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
I had the same problem you did, the car wouldn't start like 1 out of 20 times, tap the solenoid and it was good to go. I just got a new solenoid off eBay for $25, and replaced. Haven't had a problem in 3-4 months.
Took my brother and I about 30 mins to do. Just dropped the exhaust back to the cat back (just the mid-pipe, I don't have headers), dropped the starter and replaced the solenoid. Not a bad job at all, and not a problem since.
Took my brother and I about 30 mins to do. Just dropped the exhaust back to the cat back (just the mid-pipe, I don't have headers), dropped the starter and replaced the solenoid. Not a bad job at all, and not a problem since.
Last edited by bpenn8966; Oct 25, 2013 at 10:27 AM.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 174
Likes: 0
From: Orlando FL
I had the same problem you did, the car wouldn't start like 1 out of 20 times, tap the solenoid and it was good to go. I just got a new solenoid off eBay for $25, and replaced. Haven't had a problem in 3-4 months.
Took my brother and I about 30 mins to do. Just dropped the exhaust back to the cat back (just the mid-pipe, I don't have headers), dropped the starter and replaced the solenoid. Not a bad job at all, and not a problem since.
Took my brother and I about 30 mins to do. Just dropped the exhaust back to the cat back (just the mid-pipe, I don't have headers), dropped the starter and replaced the solenoid. Not a bad job at all, and not a problem since.
Jackstands or just ramps??
