[saxman]

So to celebrate 1 year of ownership, my car decided it'd strand me for the first time.



I've had a somewhat reoccuring problem where after driving for a bit, the car would not start immediately. Always thought it was a result of something getting hot. When it isn't starting, no power is going to the starter. It's always gone away after 2-3 minutes. Went away for a month or two, and I forgot about it. Started doing the same thing two nights ago, and now the car won't start at all.



When I turn the key to the start position, absolutely nothing happens. No attempt to start the car, no power to the starter(hooked up a test light to check), etc.



Any ideas?

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[Ryan]

Have you checked the wiring at the starter? Sounds kind of like a connection issue. I thought there was a wire going to the battery that was always hot ????

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[flash]

i'd check the main battery cables and their connections - they are known to do this - disconnect, clean, and reconnect

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[saxman]

if I was getting a bad connection, would that not cause problems with power for everything else in the car too? lights still come on fine, radio works, etc



I'll go out and give it a try shortly

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[flash]

not necessarily - it's a function of the current draw - a single strand of cable might provide enough current for the clock and such, but nowhere near enough to start the car

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[saxman]

wouldn't the starter at least be trying to start/getting power though?

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[flash]

not if there was a bad enough connection - i just had this - bad ground at the battery - merely loose - click - click - tightened it up - bingo!



used to happen when i had a disconnect gadget on the ground too - drove me nuts - lost stereo programming every time it crapped out - it just got dirty over a few months



these things are supposed to be serviced regularly

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[saxman]

So cleaned both terminals and the ground point right by the terminal... and still nothing. Have a test light hooked up the switched power starter terminal, and it gets no power when trying to start.



Does the stock alarm system have a starter kill?

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[saxman]

well, hooked up a test wire to the switched starter, and hooked that up to another starter... other starter does what it's supposed to, and the one on the car sits there. Seems I've found the problem.

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[S_Cal968]

If there's no current drop in the start position, then I'd guess there's an issue with the ignition switch.



Disregard my post... I re-read your last post - I see you found the problem.



For some reason the edit option is no longer available[?].

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[earossi]

So, sounds like you had a break in the wiring in the Bendix on the starter, right? Having said that, I just got my rebuilt starter from Sunset last night. Iit's hard to beat their deal. Porsche rebuild for $95 plus a $38 core charge. At 12 pounds, it may not pay for me to send in the core....postage could be almost that much.

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[saxman]

[quote name='earossi' post='57567' date='Aug 8 2008, 03:29 AM']So, sounds like you had a break in the wiring in the Bendix on the starter, right? Having said that, I just got my rebuilt starter from Sunset last night. Iit's hard to beat their deal. Porsche rebuild for $95 plus a $38 core charge. At 12 pounds, it may not pay for me to send in the core....postage could be almost that much.[/quote]





Seems I had an issue with the solenoid itself... I haven't messed with the old starter really to try to further diagnose the problem. The car works now, and that's all that matters.

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