Starting Issue - Electrical ?
 

Guys, I tried UTMFSE but could not find anything about this issue as most of the starting problems there relate to flooding, which is NOT my problem. Sorry if this has been answered before, if so please direct me.

Anyway - For the past several weeks, this has happened only occasionally. I go to start my car and I get nothing. No crank at all. Has happened randomly, could be on the 1st start of the day, or it also has happened after having been driven 100 miles. All accessories work fine (battery is NOT dead, in fact it's in good shape), just no attempt turn over. I try a couple more times, and after the 2nd or 3rd time, the tach spins all the way around, the DSC turns itself off (normal lights requiring steering wheel reset), and then the engine cranks & fires. At no point does the battery go dead (lights, AC, radio still work etc). Once the car starts it runs fine as if nothing ever happened. I don't get a CEL, and otherwise I have no problems at all.

So I'm inclined to believe it is some electrical problem in the starter circuit. Anyone experience this ? Any easy fixes ? I have not had time to run to the dealer yet and if possible I would rather fix it myself anyway. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,

PS - Car is an '05 manual with no major mods (at least none that would affect this).

The DSC turning off indicates a poor connection, either power or ground, at the battery.

Everything else will work ok with a bad connection, except the starter.

Take both poles off and scrub 'em up good.

Let us know if it's not that......



S

^ +1

[QUOTE=StealthTL;3570738]The DSC turning off indicates a poor connection, either power or ground, at the battery.

Everything else will work ok with a bad connection, except the starter.
/*
Take both poles off and scrub 'em up good.

Let us know if it's not that......



S[/QUOTE

^This could possibly help solve my issue I have had the same but something a little more awkward that i believe also has to do with all my gauges that are wired up. It happens randomly but my car will not crank at all i go through a few things undoing the battery which is relocated to the trunk including ground and sometimes pulling multiple fuses and it usually comes
back on when i try and crank it after the routine. Sometimes i notice when i turn on the headlights the dash flickers or the needles jump around wildly when i try and crank it. Could this not proper ground cause the car to just shut off at lets say a stop light while idling.

Well battery wasn't very dirty but I gave it a good scrubbin' anyway. Hopefully that does the trick...thanks

Not enough to just scrub the battery posts.
Hopefully you cleaned the inside of the connecting terminals as well?
Need to also check where the wires attach to the terminals.

Utmfse :)

ISWAN - This is a well known problem. There is a switch on the clutch pedal that senses if the pedal is depressed. It wont let the engine crank over if it doesnt think the clutch is pressed down.

I don't know exactly what happens but this switch can get broken or maybe just loose somehow. I had the exact same thing, it would intermittently not crank at all, and then I'd wait a second, and on the 2nd or 3rd turn of the key it would fire right up. Mine was replaced under warranty, the service report said "starting issue - clutch switch replaced". This was before I knew anythin about the car myself, so it's probably a really easy thing to fix yourself.

Search on here for "clutch" "switch" and you'll get some more info.

^...............ya know what? I completely forgot about that! So it's a possibility for sure.