carterb Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 Within the space of a couple weeks I suddenly find myself in possession of two vehicles with barely functional starters. My daughter's 98 neon has a very slow turning starter for months that now sometimes doesn't turn at all. I don't think it is the battery because a charge or a jump doesn't really change the behavior. Could be a bad connection but thought I'd throw it out there for comment. Seems like in the past when a starter has died on me - it just died - period. It didn't kind-of/mostly/sometimes work. I bought a replacement starter but don't want to take the time to swap it in if it might be something else. My 72 bluebird now does the same - very lazy starter that works great for improving prayer life. This started a couple weeks ago and is getting progressively worse. Again, I don't think it is the battery. Is it typical for a starter to die a slow death like this or do they usually work 100% or zero%? --carter Quote Link to comment
flatcat19 Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 The wire to the starter solenoid on the neon is known to break/have a bad connection. I have replaced 3 neon/caliber starters is as many months...and I work at a Toyota dealer. Quote Link to comment
uberkevin Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 In the subaru not that long ago I drove to the store to get some chaser, came back out and the damn thing didn't work. But I think it was doing the same thing starting slow or not start. I even remember getting to the store, parked and shut off the car and started it back up just to see if it had went hahaha nope so I shut it off and went in to buy my shit and came back out and sure enough... no go.. had to push the bitch.. Quote Link to comment
shacks510 Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 My old gear reduction starter slowly died. It got to the point where it would struggle to turn a few times until the engine could get enough momentum to fire up. I changed it before it completely stopped working. Quote Link to comment
Lockleaf Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 Working in the parts industry, I have often seen lazy starters. Even when mounted in my bench tester, they are slow to crank. While I don't have a full grasp of the electrical scenario creating it, I do know starters can fail as you are describing. Quote Link to comment
thisismatt Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 Try jumping the positive battery to the starter lug with a heavy jumper cable and see if it improves. This will tell you if the wiring is to blame or the starter itself. Quote Link to comment
DanielC Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 Most starter problems are caused by poor wiring. A quick way to test poor wiring is a voltage drop test. Here is how to check it. Take a voltmeter, put the positive lead on the center of the positive battery terminal. Put the negative lead on the bolt that connects the positive battery cable to the starter solenoid, crank the engine. The reading should be less than .5 volts, when cranking. .2 volts is better. With the negative side, put the positive voltmeter lead on the metal case of the starter, put the negative lead on the center of the negative battery terminal. Crank the engine, again this should be less that .5 volts, .2 volts is better. 1 Quote Link to comment
Trophy24 Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Science works best Quote Link to comment
racerx Posted July 21, 2016 Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 Can't you get it checked out at Oreilys or autozone or other auto stores that can check. Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted July 21, 2016 Author Report Share Posted July 21, 2016 Can't you get it checked out at Oreilys or autozone or other auto stores that can check. Yes, after I pull it - certainly. I'm hoping to avoid that step if there is a big chance it is something besides the starter itself. Thanks for all the comments and input above. I will try to make time to look at both vehicles this weekend. --carter Quote Link to comment
carterb Posted August 1, 2016 Author Report Share Posted August 1, 2016 Finally had a couple hours in the garage. The Neon wiring had some corrosion so I cleaned that up first and tried to see if it made a difference. It did not. So I went ahead and swapped the starter and the new one spins nice and fast as you would expect (hope). Bluebird next weekend maybe. --carter Quote Link to comment
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