Car won't start. Checked everything I can think of. I have power at the top post of the solenoid. Is it safe to jump the connection to the lower post to see if starter engages? Don't know if these old school tests are safe on the c6.

 

What test have you done? The most common problem is the battery. Power at the top does not mean it has enough power to start it. Only a load test of the battery will tell you that. How old is the battery?

 

Battery is about 3 weeks old. I checked all fuses. Charged battery and tried jumping. No error codes. Car is in park, brake pressed. Also disconnected battery for an hour.

I have at least 12.5 volts. When run button pressed volts drop to 12 volts but not under when measured with multimeter.

 

I understand your frustration as I have read your other post. The fact is the only way to tell if a battery is good is with a load tester. Even new batteries can be bad. Most auto parts stores will check it free of charge.

 

I'll get the battery tested after work tomorrow. What about testing the starter manually jumping the posts on the solenoid. Anyone safely do this on a vette?

 

You can also use a remote starter button to check the starter. A search will show how to hook up the remote button at the engine fuse box. I don't think jumping the solenoid will hurt a thing with the car off and in park or neutral.

 

try push start

 

not with an A6

 

But if the starter is not being engaged, which it is not, the load on the battery will not be significant so this is not a fair test of the battery. You can absolutely jump across the solenoid to test the motor and I'll bet it turns just fine. Most times here, it is not the actual motor itself. Not that it couldn't be, but it is not even close to the top of the list of possibilities. Computer gremlins and connections in the underhood fuse block, relays etc are much more likely. Also, I'm assuming you mean that the car won't turn over, not that it is turning over but not starting.

 

Correct, it is not cranking at all. This goes back to a problem I had last week so I'll recap the whole thing (was using phone yesterday and typing is slow).

Last weekend I swapped transmissions since mine was slipping from age (150K miles) and I recently supercharged it. I picked up a low mileage a6 tranny from a 2007. I put the car on jack stands. Dropped the rear, differential and then the tranny. I did not mess with the torque tube. I opened the tranny and swapped TCM's since the vin is programmed into them. So in went the new tranny with my old TCM. Bolted everything up and the car wouldn't start. I got the check engine symbol and nothing else for 5 seconds. Couldn't even scan the ECM. Turns out I didn't have a good seal on the ECM plug and oil got to the connector pins. Since oil doesn't conduct electricity I wasn't concerned with frying anything. The ECM couldn't talk to the TCM so that was freaking out the ECM.

So this weekend I dropped the trans pan and pulled the TCM and cleaned the plug with electrical contact cleaner. Reinstalled and got the proper seal. Now when I try to start I get all my regular dash lights and gauges working properly but it doesn't crank. I can scan but there are no codes. I can hear a click but can't tell if it is the solenoid or just a relay. I checked all the fuses (visual) and swapped relays. My battery is about 3 weeks old but I charged it and tried jumping it but it won't start. With the jump I was at 14volts. I did not get a load test done yet. I visually checked the starter and all the connections look good. I cleaned my battery terminals and recharged it again, disconnected from car and still won't start.

I even turned off the car with it in drive to see if it would produce an error and it did. I slow shifted into park and when I did the dic message went out (telling my to put it in park). I reseated the blue connectors in the passenger footwell and checked the fuses there as well.

So that's where I'm at. I agree with everyone that it should be the battery but if the load test comes out ok where do I go from here?

I'm not getting anything unusual on the dash. The passlock light is not staying on just the check engine symbol is on but since it isn't running it should be on.

 

Don't laugh, but is the battery connection tight?

Those ends tend to expand and not make good contact.

 

Battery connection is tight. Over the past week I've had it disconnected so many times.

 

Try starting it in neutral instead of park just to see what happens.

 

I did try starting it in neutral and got the same thing. Sometimes I sure do miss working on my dad's oldsmobile. No computers, no fuel injections, just the smell of fuel from incorrect jetting and simple electronics

 

One more thing to try. With the car in drive try rocking the car backward and forward a few times. Maybe that will move the flywheel if its binding on the starter. Other than that I got nothing.

 

Thanks, I'll try that too.

 

Did you try jumping the starter solenoid yet? If jumping gets the starter to spin than the problem is elsewhere of course.

 

I did try jumping it but I didn't give it very long. It didn't start.

 

What happens if you use the TCM that came with the transmission?

 

If I use the TCM that came with the transmission it is my understanding that the car won't be able to shift into gear and I'll have to tow it to a dealer to get the vin programmed. As for seeing if it will start it with the new TCM, I haven't tried it since my old TCM was fine and as of today, there are no codes. If the TCM was jacked I would be getting a bunch of codes for it.