So first off hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas Eve! Just in times for the holidays, seems like something has gone wrong. So long story short, I took my car into a reputable detail shop to get some paint correction done & I also opted for the detail bay cleaning package. Now before I dropped it off, my car turned on and off flawlessly. Got it back 2 days later and when I tried to turn on the car, I got one single click. All the electrical would turn on but it wouldnt turn over. I tried it again and it worked so didnt think anything of it. Now heres where its a little weird and scary to me. When I drove home from the shop, I started to smell a vague burnt smell coming into the cabin. Didnt smell like coolant, smelled more like when you havent turned on your heater or oven in a long time. Kinda toasty I guess. I was thinking it may be because they cleaned the engine bay, maybe some residues or something may be wearing off or something but then I remembered they only use hot steam to clean it. I parked it in the garage and even my wife could smell the burnt smell. I left it parked for a couple hours, turn it back on and drove it around the neighborhood, and the smell seemed to go away. Slept easy that night. Brings me to yesterday. I turned the car on again, but it didnt want to turn over the 1st time. It did the second time, turned the AC on full just to make sure I didnt smell anything this time. Drove it back home in the drive way. Left it there for like 30 minutes. Tried to turn it back on, same thing happened like 5 times in a row. I would turn the car on, all electricals worked fine, no security light flashing, no codes on. I would hear one single click, but it wouldnt start. It eventually turned back on and at one point yesterday, I think I could smell the burnt again but Idk if being paranoid now. It sounds like a bad starter to me, but I am also going to check the grounds too. I replaced the battery and ignition switch less than a year ago so Im crossing those off the list. Does this sound like a coincidental timing or doing yall think the cleaning of the engine bay 'moved/messed' something around? Any help would be appreciated thank you!!

 

I think they could have very well had doors open or what have you and ran the battery down, without being on a charger(just jumping it) it may have never gotten the full charge. The steam clean could also not helped matters, the first thing is charge the battery full and have it checked.(does not matter how new it is, running the batt down can shorten life a lot) I would check stater and all connections, maybe see if you can see any burnt or overheated wires !! Good Luck Sir !!

 

8vette7 beat me to the punch but is saying the same !!

 

Ok thanks for the replies guys! So in the mean time I put the car on the charger/tender...I will check the voltage later on today as well as make sure all the connections are good. I was hoping that smell was from them cleaning the bay. They did say however that they don't use any fluids or chemicals, they just use the steam to clean all the gunk out. Would this still cause that smell? I'm hoping for the best but I want to make sure it's nothing serious. Thank you again, all the help is always appreciative and why I love this forum.

 

The smell may be from dirt washing down to the exhaust.
When I rebuilt my engine I had cleaned everything. On first start up there was a smell and some smoke. The smell was similar to what you are describing and went away after the car warmed up one time.

The smells you should be concerned about would be burning wire insulation or fluid (pretty nasty).

 

One click is an indication that the solenoid is bad. Rapid clicking is an indicator of a discharged battery—maybe dead (bad), maybe just discharged. Since you got the single click, sounds to me like your starter needs replacing.

 

That's what I'm hoping all it was!

 

Drove it a little bit yesterday, no issues. But that was my initial thought, that a single click & nothing else is usually an indication of a bad starter. Is a bad starter an intermittent kinda problem or once its bad does it stay bad for good? And are there any potential dangers to the vehicle driving around (besides being stranded) with a bad/going bad starter? Thanks again and merry Christmas to all!