How many times have you sat down wondering why your car won’t start? Very few things can be more disheartening than a vehicle that won’t start in the morning, and you parked it fine the last time you used it.
The most common culprits when a car won’t start are a faulty alternator, a dead battery, or a defective starter.
These parts all work in concert to give the car the electrical power necessary to start the car, run it, and operate such electrical features as sound systems, wipers, and power windows.
So, you need to learn the bad starter symptoms so you can identify and diagnose your car with a starter problem accurately.
In this article, we’ll look at the signs that mean a car starter is going bad, the possible causes of car starter damage, and how to fix a car with an already spoilt starter.
What is a Starter Motor?
To know all about vehicle starter problems, you need to understand what a starter Motor is and its functions in car operation.
A starter is the car part that converts the battery electrical energy to mechanical energy to rotate the crank of the internal combustion engine to get things going and to get the engine running from rest. How will the starter work?
As you turn on the car ignition, the starter solenoid gets some energy from the car battery. And it is this battery power that the solenoid passes on to the starter motor. While powering up the start motor, the solenoid also moves the starter gear into proper alignment with the flex plate.
Receiving power, the starter motor swings into action and cranks the engine, and it mixes the fuel and oxygen proportionally to allow for combustion, and so the vehicle starts to run. That is how important the starter is to mobility.
What are the Common Bad Starter Symptoms?
Starter solenoids and motors rarely fail suddenly. They fail gradually, give several indications along the way, and if you are alert you can take steps in sufficient time before they fail.
So regularly look for the following bad starter symptoms which will start you on the road toward locating the cause of starter motor trouble before the starter has completely packed up.
Weird Noise When You Are Starting the Car
The first symptom of a bad starter is peculiar noises when you turn the key or press the start button to start the car.
In the good old days, you might notice odd clicking noises. But some starters can skip the click sound all together and go right on to the more terrifying whir and grind which mean that they are pretty well broken up.
These sounds start when starter drive gear does not engage well because it is old and worn. The whirling burble or grinding is like the noise made when the ignition is turned on a second time after the car has already been started.
Freewheeling
Freewheeling is when you switch on the ignition and possibly hear a whining sound only to realize that your car hasn’t come to life. Sometimes you jumpstart your vehicle, but it doesn’t pick up. This phenomenon happens when the starter fails to mesh with the flywheel.
This is pretty serious stuff, and you could end up replacing the whole kit. Whenever this situation arises Never replace only the starter; have the vehicle inspected for the real problems that killed the starter.
The car started after several ignition attempts.
A healthy vehicle should only take one attempt at you turning the ignition before it cranks. Having to turn your ignition a few times before your vehicle powers up means your starter relay is bad.
Starter relays aren’t designed to send partial current. They either send adequate energy, or they send none at all. Damaged relays take several attempts before sending the current necessary to crank your car.
Sometimes the underlying cause of this problem can be a worn starter motor brush symptom. The brushes conduct electricity from the stationary, parts of the starter, to the rotating parts.
So damaged or worn brushes that ‘don’t do a good enough job’ of conveying adequate power can influence the starter relay action of your vehicle.
The starter remains on after igniting the vehicle.
After you’ve started the vehicle and released the key or start button of your car, the starter motor will shut off and disengage automatically.
If this doesn’t happen, and the starter motor sounds on although the car engine has started, it’s a sign of a bad starter Bendix, or that the main contacts of the solenoid are being held together in the actuated position.
You’ll have to see an expert mechanic experienced in how to unstick a starter motor because it could be damaging to your car parts.
Smoke Emission after Starting Attempts
Since so many of the car starting events rest on electrical procedures, it is susceptible of short circuit, blown fuses and other issues that arise.
When one part of the electrical system is fed with more current than it is able to consume, it will blow a fuse or burn up.
This may be due to faulty connections, or to using the car too long without resting it, you will probably smell the smoke and then see it coming from below the engine area.
Overheating and the cigarette of smoke is a dangerous sign in a car because gasoline readily explodes from a spark. Get out of the car ASAP, remove yourself to a safe distance and then contact your auto mechanic.
Starter Soaked with Oil
If, when driving, you experience any of the symptoms above, suspect that you have a starter, bad battery, or alternator problem, our first instinct is to pop the hood, And find out what’s going on.
If when you investigate and find your starter soaked in oil, don’t try to start it again until you find the source of the leak. You may have a burst pipe or hose that leaked the oil causing your starter to go haywire.
Symptoms of a Bad Starter Solenoid
We pointed out that a starter solenoid is an important part of the vehicle’s ignition and starting system. We proceeded to elucidate that the starter solenoid has 2 main functions:
- Supplying of the high current from the battery and hence acting as an on and off switch for the starter motor.
- Mechanically driving the pinion and engaging it to the flywheel rear gear of the engine by the electromagnetic induced force.
Thus the symptoms that you have a bad starter solenoid will hinge on the starter not working because the starter solenoid isn’t operating as it should.
Successive Clicks and Grinds When you turn the Ignition Key
Starter Motor Problems Clicks or grinds during cranking, and you suspect the starter solenoid is holding back because it isn’t receiving or giving enough power.
Welded or worn-out contacts at the solenoid is the most probable trouble. Loose connections or electrical defects which impair the power transmission at the starter solenoid are also possible.
Insufficient power allows the dissipated low mechanical force to crank and drive the mechanical parts of the car. So, the car makes a funny noise when you try to start it.
The Starter Keeps Rotating after Disengaging the Ignition Key or Button
This is the burned-out contact symptom. The contacts are subjected to high currents and heat from time to time and the surfaces melt and fuse together.
Left to itself, it may easily burn out the whole starter system by subjecting it to a continuous high current.
When this solenoid has been subjected to a progressive heat by virtue of the high current it transmits, the surfaces melt and mesh together. Its return spring does not have sufficient elasticity to disengage the motor from the engine.
The starter solenoid makes a clicking sound, but the starter does not rotate.
If you turn the ignition and your starter simply clicks and nothing else happens, it’s possible to have a faulty connection between your starter motor and solenoid, or perhaps just a badly corroded, dirty, or broken connection in your starter solenoid.
What Causes Starter Solenoid to Go Bad Prematurely?
The cause of your starter solenoid going bad early can be numerous. Here are a few of the better-known causes that hasten the spoilage of these solenoids:
Bad Wiring
Poor or hasty wiring is a possible culprit for starting solenoid failure. Bad wiring can lead to improper electrical transmission across the engine of your vehicle, leading to electrical shorts, or eddy currents for example.
A prime instance is okay when you mistakenly loosely connect the terminals of your vehicle’s engine parts.
Excessive Heat Production
To reiterate, too much heat generated by electric transmission gets to the solenoid and burns out the starter.
The heat melts and fuses the brushes and starter Bendix which inhibit connecting the starter to the engine for power transmission.
Moisture
When moisture penetrates your hood and reaches your starter solenoid, the electric contacts are corroded.
Continual corrosion of the contacts lessens its conductivity and the starting mechanism of your car. Eventually, you hear the clicking when you turn our ignition on but the vehicle won’t start following transmission of insufficient power.
Tightened Bolts
We generally all tighten our bolts and nuts too much, forgetting that most parts of the vehicle depend on their rotation.
Most of the time you damage both the external and the inside parts of the starter by tough tightening it with tools of high torque. This makes the parts rigid and leads to shorting or mechanical failure as the starter attempts to connect the starter motor to the engine.
How do You Fix a Bad Starter Motor?
In the situation where you find that your starter malfunctioned because of a little issue, you can fetch out your tools box and fasten the loose connections of your car.
However, there might be serious damages that will need complete replacement or the intervention of a professional mechanic to find out what is wrong with your car.
When you find that it is not your battery or your alternator that is at fault, but your starter, you will need to test how bad is the damage, before heading out to buy another for it.
To perform the simplest starter solenoid test, you will need a multimeter. While wearing your protective gloves to prevent burns on your skin, locate the starter and connect the positive multimeter terminal to the starter terminal.
In the same fashion, connect the black negative terminal from the multimeter to the negative starter terminal. Have a friend get in the car and start it, as you check for the multimeter reading, making sure that it is between 0.4V and 0.6V.
If your reading is anything apart from this range, then the solenoid of your starter is bad. Also, if your reading is far above the battery’s 12 V, then your battery also has problems
You should not worry too much if you do not have a multimeter; you can test the starter solenoid with a screwdriver instead.
You can do that by joining the two terminal posts of the starter solenoid with the screwdriver and watching if it rotates. If it does, then the solenoid contacts have failed and no longer act as a switch for the starter.
Establishing that you have a bad starter is the most time-consuming thing about solving your starter problem. You can decide to replace the malfunctioning part all by yourself.
However, it is safe practice to replace the starter completely; it will prevent you from having to deal with the problem of bad starter again.
You can get a starter online or from your nearest auto dealer and change the starter in minutes.
FAQs.
Bad starter problems plague not just new car owners, but everyone. Here are a few answers to the questions that you may have if you think you have a starter problem.
Q: What does it do to your car if the starter is bad?
After a number of symptoms including clicking or grinding, your starter will finally go out. If your starter does go out, it won’t send any power to turn your engine over.
You won’t be able to start your car. Jumping the power up with a jumper starter to power the batter also will not help you power up your baby. You can only start the car with a bad starter solenoid, but a good starter motor.
You can do this by connecting the anodes of the battery and the starter with lead wire temporarily, and rushing off to a car shop to fix your starter.
Q: How to tell if it’s Your Starter or Your Battery with a Problem
You can as well diagnose your starter problem by trying to jumpstart the vehicle. If its battery is defective, a car will switch on during a jump start. However, the car will require another jump start to power it on when it turns off.
Jumpstarting a vehicle with a faulty starter won’t turn it on, because the engine requires to crank and the fuel mentation combusts for it to have enough energy to drive off. A car can only crank with a starter motor.
Q: Will the Engine turn over if The Starter is bad?
The starter has to transmit electrical energy from the battery, and converts it into an electromagnetic energy with mechanical power to initiate the turning of the engine. Thus, a car with a faulty starter cannot turn the engine for the combustion of fuel.
Q: What does a dead starter sound like?
A dead starter will be making a clicking sound whenever you turn or press the ignition button. A similar type of clicking sound you will hear in the case of a dead battery or loose terminals.
The clicks are supposed to underscore inadequate power transmission from the battery, to the engine through the starter.
Q: How much does it cost to fix a starter?
Just like with every other part of your vehicle, to fix a starter can cost you as low as $200, to as high as $1000, especially depending on your vehicle model. You need to add the cost of the starter part, with the mechanical labor charge of your mechanic.
A new starter can go for between $100 and $450, while your mechanic may charge you for from $80, to $300.
Final Words
We’ve discussed what a starter is, how it works, and symptoms and causes of it going bad, together with how to test and repair your car if you’ve got a bad starter.
But just in case you were in a hurry to read through this article, let me summarize simply.
Starter moves the electrical energy around to turn the engine and make it combust, so the car can go wheeeee! When the car starter is going bad car won’t move at all, but will click or grind.
When it’s on the way out, it may just be the starter can move the engine around a bit, making grinding you for trying sort of sound when you start the car. As soon as you see the symptoms discussed here, get to fixing starter on your car! You will save money down the road!