s13 sr20det not starting not turning over

[jakez]

Info:
Bought this car a few weeks ago and it ran flawless, I know jack shit about cars so I had a friend install a boost gauge I had laying around from my srt-4. The car has a fan installed on the radiator that I have to manually turn on via a switch behind the steering wheel, my friend tee'd into those wires for the boost gauge light and for the ground he used a dashboard screw that's like to the right of your calve muscle when your foot is on the gas.

Also, for the last week or so the car has been bogging a lot when starting, no matter cold or warm, I will start the car and the rpms will bounce around like 400-500 and act like it's going to stall, and I just blip the gas a bit and it idles fine afterward. This might be a whole different problem than the starting problem? But thought I'd mention it anyway.

Problem:
After the boost gauge install the car started fine, we hung out for a few hours then went to go somewhere and the car wouldn't even turn over. So I tried clutch kick starting it and it didn't work (probably not going fast enough) but the car started up fine with the key right after trying that. Next day (today) the car starts up fine again, I goto lowes to pick up some stuff, get back to my car in the parking lot and it won't start or crank again. Had a friend come and try jumping it with cables and that's not it, so I ended up clutch kick starting it a few times the rest of the day to get around. Whenever I turn it off and then try to start it right after it sounds like the starter or something cranks half way and then gives right out and after that it doesn't even try to crank whatsoever all I hear is a click.

It's not the battery (afaik) because headlights, interior lights, etc all work fine and don't dim or anything while trying to start it. My friend says it's the ignition electrical switch because his s13 and his friends s14 both did the exact same thing and that was the problem. Anything I should try or test before I go replacing this electrical switch and other shit?

[jakez]

Well it's not the ignition electrical switch as I just tried my buddies brand new one and it didn't work..

[jakez]

The car runs and idles fine after a push start so it can't be the fuel pump or a bad spark right? When I turn the key to the on position I can hear the [fuel pump?] doing it's thing for 4-5 seconds and when I try cranking it over I hear 1 click noise from the starter area, I don't know if that's good or bad. I've tried putting the car in 5th gear with the ebrake off and rocking it back and forth to maybe 'loosen' up the starter gear, did nothing. The boost gauge wiring has also been removed to rule that out until this is fixed.

So far I have tried what I can and have read online, I have absolutely NO knowledge of working on a car and would rather not mess with things for this reason unless I am 110% sure I know what I'm doing or have very detailed (simple) instructions. I have a multimeter but no idea how to use it and I don't want to possibly fry all the wiring in the car or some crap, plus my battery is relocated to the trunk so I'm sure that makes it extra difficult to diagnose anything.

Everyone I've spoke to in person swore up and down it was the ignition electrical switch from their own experience, but that's been ruled out so I'm clueless and basically stuck with a 2700lb redtop powered paperweight in my driveway because of some stupid little problem.

[s13panic]

Sounds like it's the starter broseph. Either the solenoid or the starter itself. U could check the voltage at the starter before and during cranking if u can get a buddy to give u a hand.

[jakez]

Sounds like it's the starter broseph. Either the solenoid or the starter itself. U could check the voltage at the starter before and during cranking if u can get a buddy to give u a hand.

Yeah I hope it's that and not something more complicated or hard to get to. I'm going to have a friend show me how to use this multimeter tomorrow. I have an extra starter I grabbed from a shop that is moving and trying to get rid of junk so I'm also going to run that by autozone and have them test it..

Could someone tell me if it's a bad or good sign if the starter is clicking once while trying to crank it? When I push start the car and drive for a while and turn it off and try to start it with the key right afterward I can hear the starter or something trying to crank but it doesn't come close to starting the car and any tries after that results in nothing but silence. So it sounds to me like the starter has too much friction or something and won't turn, but what do I know lol.

[s13panic]

Yea that's usually the sign of a bad starter. Sounds like the drive is engaging, the symptoms ur describing r normal for a bad starter. I would also check the terminals connected to the starter for loose connections and corrosion.

[240ND]

on the starter theres a ground that slides on to the starter solenoid I believe. make sure that it's connected. Both my friend and I have had occasions where it will vibrate off, then you try and start it an there's nothing.

[steve shadows]

Check the coil pack harness ground first, then the starter ground. It's something in the ignition most likely start with ignition and then work backwards into the fuel system from there, gl, pm if you have more specific questions. cheers

[Toi]

Could also be as simple as a loose connection on the starter or battery :naughty:

[jakez]

Stuck between a rock and a hard place, I have a driveway that slops down toward the house, so I can't pull into the garage to check shit out or work on it, because if I don't get it fixed then I'm stuck in there lol.. I'm going to try installing a push button starter first and if that doesn't work I'll replace the starter... I'm sure this won't be my last post -_-

[bb4_96]

Just jumper the starter to see if it kicks over. If you can roll start it without the starter I would assume thats what it is.

[jakez]

Ok yes it was the starter! Great, but now I've another problem. I threw another (very used) starter in and it worked great - for about 3 days. Now it's died on me again. It almost sounds like each one keeps getting "stuck" or something because it will make a loud clicking noise when it first starts failing and after 20-30 tries it won't even make any noise anymore..

Why is my car eating starters for breakfast??? :(