NAH801

Sorry for the lengthy post!

Guys, I’m about at my wits end with this car lol. 2006 Z06. I just got done doing a pull to the top of 3rd gear and the engine stalled on deceleration and wouldn’t turn back on. No loud boom or anything. No smoke, no oil spill, no coolant. Car was even in gear and coasted just fine. I didn’t even realize it had stalled for a couple seconds till I looked down and saw all my gauges at 0. Got the car towed to my buddies garage.

Fast forward after a few hours of testing and brainstorming the battery, alternator, and starter have all checked out as good. I even had the alternator looked at for a bad diode and it passed. The engine turns over by hand and the starter will turn it as well.

The issue is when I try to start the car the starter engages but won’t turn the engine till a second or two after you press the button and then it turns it once or twice very very slowly, like the battery is dead (it’s good though). Obviously the car won’t start. I noticed a broken plug on the solenoid that prevents the male plug from the chassis from clipping on properly but I can’t imagine that’d cause the engine to stall while driving? All the fuses checked out good and from what I can see the grounds are good too.

I ordered a new solenoid but I fear even when it gets here it won’t fix the issue. Anyone have any ideas as to what’s going on? Again, sorry for the lengthy post.

Landru

Thinking out loud -- if there were a major interruption w/ juice it might result in a total shutdown, no?

See what the new solenoid does, or doesn't.
Take it from there if required. G/L

stefuel

Not enough info to sort this out. Does sound like a electrical issue. got to start from scratch. Battery>battery connections>starter>starter connections>ground from the battery to the chassis and engine.
When you turn the car on does the dash look normal? Where are you located???

phipp85

NAH801

NAH801

stefuel

You say it cranks over like it's got a dead battery but it's good.
How did you conclude the battery is good? Have the battery load tested.
A battery can show normal voltage with no load on it but put a load on it and it craps out. If your battery allows you to remove the caps to check the fluid, look at the fluid while someone pushes the start button. Look to see if a cell is bubbling. That would be a bad cell. Bad connections at the starter can cause all kinds of problems because that's where the rest of the car gets it's power from. Make sure all the wires on the large post of the starter are clean and tight. You should not be able to wiggle those wires at all

NAH801

stefuel

Does everything else work when you turn it on? Do the lights dim down to almost nothing when you press the start button? If everything you said is really good and the motor spins over normally by hand then you have a bad connection somewhere or a bad starter. Start double checking all grounds next. Any place on positive or negative cables that have a bad connection that is trying to pass high amps will get warm or hot when you press the start button.

Position the car on ramps or something that allows safe access to the starter solenoid. Try to start the car. Then quickly go to the starter and put your hand on the head of the solenoid where the wires attach and see if it's hot. Just make damn sure the car is secure and can't roll or fall on you. A bad connection there can cause all kinds of problems.
Sure you don't have one but it would be interesting to clamp a amp probe on the positive cable and see exactly how many amps is being drawn from the battery when you press start. Wish you were close.

sdgearhe

put a volt meter across battery on 20 v scale and push start. watch drop on meter, down to upper 9v or lower 10v probably OK way less battery is bad.

stefuel

He says it has been load tested by 3 people

sdgearhe

so check it or not I don't care

NAH801

NAH801

stefuel

You pulled the starter out and had it tested???

sdgearhe

can you push start the car? just wondering if engine runs or not?

NAH801

NAH801

stefuel

The positive wire from the battery goes directly to the large post on the starter and is live all the time. From there smaller gauge wire off that same post feeds the rest of the car. To bypass everything else in the car and simply make the starter spin the engine, all that is needed is to jump from the large post to the small post on the starter. That will make the solenoid click and engage the starter motor. If it still spins slow, double check battery connections AND find the other end of the black negative cable and check that connection to the chassis and engine ground. If the battery, starter and cables are correct and the motor spins freely by hand as you say, it should crank normally with the starter. Now none of this (short of bad grounds) explains why it just died and at the same time won't crank over but a bad battery would explain it. So without being there, I'll go out on a limb and tell you to at least try another battery.

sdgearhe

all was well when it died. You just made a hard pull I hope I am wrong but I'm thinking engine, maybe timing jumped. Try pulling plugs and see if engine will crank with no compression. I hope I am wrong!