I posted yesterday with an issue with a weak start, but it was starting fine the last 2 times i needed it last night. This morning, go to start it and sounds like the battery is dead, after the second turn of the key, it wound down to almost nothing and I just heard the starter clicking. Radio, lights, everything were as bright as normal, but tried to get a jump anyways. Nothing changed with the jump, so i gave a few whacks at the starter while my bro turned her over, still nothing.

Starter is just over a year old, battery is only a couple months old. What acts like a dead battery but can't be jumped? riddle of the day! lol

Thanks

 

You're using cheap jumper cables. I see it all the time. They might look like thick cables but really there is probably only an 8ga wire inside. I only use good quality cables made from 4ga wire. Also, have the car that's doing the boost running and make sure the cables are making a good connection.

Also be sure your battery terminals are clean and tight.

 

I doubt it is the cables, as I have jumped many large vehicles with it, and the vehicle jumping me this time was an xj with plenty of juice. I have a red top optima I bought just recently.

Can coolant leaking from my heater control valve kill my solenoid? Research tells me it might be the solenoid and I will test that once I am out of work, but I know my starter is soaked in coolant.

 

yes, that adds a lot to the story. A coolant soaked started will be a problem. It caused the starter in my Audi to die. Slow cranking though could just mean that the coolant has caused the connections on the strater to corrode. Start with cleaning up the connection and see if that helps. If not, fix that coolant leaking problem and then replace the starter.

 

I would also be willing to bet some ground connections are corroded.

 

Does a bad solenoid act like a dying/dead battery when starting up, even though lights and everything else is ok? I thought i would get no turn over at all if it was bad.

 

A solenoid is just a switch, usually it either works or doesn't. Sometimes they buzz. But the starter gets it's power from the battery and it's ground from its mounting bolts. So if its cranking slowly then the voltage source is low, sometimes caused by corrosion creating resistance on either the power wires or the grounds. Checking all the connections between the battery and starter would be a good place to start, as well as the grounds from the motor to the chassis and battery.

 

The ground on the back of the block was coated with grime and oil, so i cleaned that up. The solenoid was also covered, but I cleaned it up real nice. Double checked my battery was still ok and gave her a go, and nothing but the click. Once my bro wakes up ill try jumping the starter to see if that works. Is there a way to jump it alone?

 

It was a bad starter, when they tested it they were confused why the plunger was fully extending, but the starter still wasn't spinning (I think that is how they said it?). They ran the test 5 times and could only think that maybe the wire from the solenoid into the starter was damaged on the inside of the housing???

New starter in place, and starts fine.

Thanks for the help!

 

for future referance, put a screw driver between the to points on the starter and use it to connect them while key is in on position. i had a bad connection at my old battery and that was how i figured it wasnt the starter. it would work perfectly if i jumped the starter itself.

 

Yeah I forgot to include that i tried that. It would spark and click once, so i knew I had a good connection, so it had to be the starter.