hey guys, l need your help, my 850 sometimes wont crank at all.the dash lights comes on and l try to start it but wont crank.
l checked fuel pressure and its 40 and thats good, what else should l check for? l know if it cranks but wont start, that shows a problem with the relay but with this it doesnt crank. what could be the problem

 

Possibly starter motor solenoid? Next time it does that try getting someone to tap gently on the starter to see if it frees up.

 

Not cranking meas it's dead. Most of the time you can hear a click but the starter doesn't turn. Starters do fail intermittantly. Some people actually jump the starter to see if it spins. It would be a good idea to make sure your battery post are clean, etc.

 

can a weak battery kill the starter? l have been having problems with my battery as it runs low and have to jump start it sometimes.my inside lights flicker whilst the car is idling.

 

Could be the battery, could be the alternator not making enough voltage to charge the battery (kinda sounds like it), could be a bad connection somewhere. It is certainly possible that your battery has just enough amperage capacity to turn on the lights but not enough to even engage the solenoid where you hear that "click" sound most people describe with a low battery.

Have you tried jumping it this time? Have a friend with a volt meter who knows how to diagnose this?

 

Sounds like an alternator problem. The best way to tell is to get the car running, turn on all the lights (head lights), start another accessory like fan or stereo and see if the head lights dim a little. It's normal for them to dim for a second and get back to bright, but if they dim a little and stay dim it's likely that your alternator is bad.

Things run primarily off a charged battery. So when you drive real short trimps your battery doesn't have a chance to charge. I was drivng around with a weak battery for 8 months and knew it. I would NOT run anything unless the car was running. When I turned the car off, I wouldn't let the dome lights stay on for longer than a minute or two. I barely had enough juice to start the car. It had a cell or two bad. Then one day I swapped stereo's and let it play for about 10 minutes (may have been 20) and that did it. No start. Had to put the battery on a charger for a few hours to get it back to where it would start the car. Got a used battery from the jy a week or so later. A $235 Volvo battery.

I doubt a bad battery could mess up a starter. Just be to weak to start it. I have a Scan Gauge II so I can monitor battery volts at all stages and see what's going on before, during, and after start. Static my bad battery was putting out 10.3 volts, during start it would drop down to 7.6 volts (and still start) and during operation it would read between 12.3 to 13.2 volts. When the volts dropped to 7.3 the car would not start. These smarter newer cars shut things down and off when battery volts drop and if it drops below a certain level it simply will not engauge the starter.

A lady called me a couple of months ago because one of the auto places told her that her alternator was bad. Turns out that her battery was simply run down and needed a good charge. She drained the battery, got a jump, drove 5 miles to work, worked all day, got off and tried to start the car and it would not start. She got a jump and went straight to the local auto place where they checked her battery, said it was good, then blamed the alternator. She was looking to pay $625 to have her alternator replaced. I told her to take the battery out and leave it at the auto place to charge, which she did. Hasn't had a problem since. When you get a jump, it will take about 3 hours of constant driving to fully charge the battery. A 10 minute trip will only give you enough charge to start the car right back up with 10 minutes. After that you're toast.

Also, when jumping, you are not suppose to go battery to battery. You should have both cables hooked up to the good car/battery and on the bad car you should have red to + and neg to a good engine ground, not the battery -. Then leave them hooked up for 3 to 5 minutes before trying to start the dead car. So, if you have a weak battery, take it out, clean the post and cables, take the battery somewhere to be charged for 2+ hours or over night, then install it and start the abusive battery cycle over.

 

Any auto parts store can charge your battery for free and will only take an hour or so to do one from complete dead to fully charged. They can also test it to be sure it's good. They can also test the alternator in or out of the car and the starter once you pull it.

 

l did the alternator test and its fine. the lights doesnt dim when l turn on the fan. this doesnt happen offen.its only happened to me twice. but l guess its going to get worst if l dont figure out whats causing this problem.is there a relay for the starter that l could look for?thanks

 

It's really not enough to put a volt meter on the battery to check volts, it needs to be tested under load. Mine would drop 3 volts under a load.

 

The starter takes the most Amp's over any other electric part in your car....even if your radio etc works, a bad cable...ie: corrosion under the lining of the cable can keep the battery from fully charging and, or delivering enough amps to activate the solenoid or turn the starter motor. So check your cables before you think you need a new battery.

I know I'm new here, but have lots of DIY experience on my own cars. My other pride and joy is my 1970 Datsun 510 wagon, what can I say I'm a wagon guy!

 

thanks guys for ur input.l got a new battery running in my car now and starts good now.hopefully this doesnt happen again.

 

Seeing how batteries last about 3-1/2 years when treated well, we'll see you then.

 

Think of battery usage this way. Most of the circuits in a car are 15 or 20 amps. (most) In comparison the starter will normally draw 200 to 300 on the average engine and more 300-400+ on a very cold winter morning with thick oil and a new engine. It's the reason diesels have two batteries. The rest of the vehicle can easily get away with one but due to the compression a diesel runs at it needs a lot of amps out of both batteries to crank. Smart diesel owners replace the two 12 volt batteries with two 6 volt batteries and run them in series. That way they charge more evenly and you draw power more evenly.

Everything else might be working ok but you can still have a resistance problem in the starter circuit ie: loose or corroded connections. It could also be something inside the starter itself, bearings, brushes or just excess wear.