Intermittant No Start

[tomtom72]

I need all the no start experts please.....

The symptoms that were witnessed are as follows:

Key over to start position and all the DIC lights come on, but the center LCD is scrambled. The "security" light flashed, and the horn sounded with extremely low volume, so low a volume that you almost would have missed it if there wasn't total silence. No starter solenoid clicks, no starter noise of any kind.

DVOM check of the battery by the owner yielded 12.5v. Also, something else that seems very strange to me, the owner tried to hook up his float charger and the charger refused to charge the battery after the initial "no start" event?

Of course about 45 minutes later the car started like nothing was wrong.

I didn't witness the events. All this was relayed to me via phone calls. The battery is a GM/delco that is 3 yrs old. I may not have the sequencing exactly correct with the scrambled LCD display as my bro makes his own wine and the symptoms relayed to me were after the car started. The first phone call was merely a declarative "the ******* car won't start, and I can't charge the battery!" I will endeavor to obtain a more accurate account of the events. I would like to know if I am correct in wanting to start with the battery or should I start with the clutch switch or the VATS system?

TIA

Tom

[jonszr1]

i had something similar happen to me , it turned out to be a bad battery ,which i just bought 3 months ago . batt at 3 yrs old is most likely the offender . if he wants to ch the bat .i dissconnect the bat from the car and put 2 bolts in the terminals chg the bat and then hook it up . if you have a load tester ck it with that before you hook it up and ck the condition .hope this helps

[XfireZ51]

Tom,

I had similar symptoms. I replaced my starter to a used 94 and had one incident 2 months ago, and nothing ever since.

[Kevin]

clutch switch

[tomtom72]

Thanks guys, I'm grateful for the input.

I'm going to start at the battery and work my way to the other suspects.

I gotta say the battery was my first suspect, but when I found out it was only 3 yrs old I kind of crossed it off of the list. This car rarely gets used, and when it does mostly it's less than 30 mile trips......unless I get Lou to follow me around!


Tom

[LGAFF]

If you push in the clutch pedal and see a volt drop, the switch is fine. Everyone told me clutch pedal switch also and it turned out to be the starter....same symptoms as you had here.

[tomtom72]

Originally Posted by LGAFF

If you push in the clutch pedal and see a volt drop, the switch is fine. Everyone told me clutch pedal switch also and it turned out to be the starter....same symptoms as you had here.

Thanks Lee! I needed that bit of info about the testing to check the clutch switch. I do the drop measuring at the clutch switch? Forgive my ignorance as I haven't looked in the FSM yet.

[tccrab]

First thing I'd do is to clean the battery terminals.
Just a tiny bit of crud there will cause all kinds of gremlins.

Doesn't sound like it needs my "Dreaded No Start" mod just yet.


TomC
"Crabs"

[LGAFF]

Turn the ignition switch to on, push in the clutch and you should see a drop in voltage on the volt meter. If you see a drop in voltage, whent the clutch is depressed it means that the switch is working.

[louispf]

Originally Posted by tomtom72

Thanks guys, I'm grateful for the input.

I'm going to start at the battery and work my way to the other suspects.

I gotta say the battery was my first suspect, but when I found out it was only 3 yrs old I kind of crossed it off of the list. This car rarely gets used, and when it does mostly it's less than 30 mile trips......unless I get Lou to follow me around!


Tom

Tom & everyone thanks for all your help. The battery is 18 months old but unfortunately I do not get to drive the car that much. I think about 150 miles so far this year. But it does look good! Will clean up the terminals first, stick a bolt in each terminal & see if we can get some more juice in it (thanks Tom). Clean up all the rest of the starting surfaces & we'll take it from there. If it does not start after that, I've got a tow strap & Tom will tow me around.