Thread: Car won't start, oh joy

Sorry man. =(
I don't know what chassis-to-body ground you're talking about by the battery tray as I have no idea why the body of the car needs grounding (and technically we have uni-body cars... oh nm).

Here's the deal... There are a few engine-to-chassis grounds and I'm betting they are all bad or missing. One of them (the main one) runs from the thermostat to the chassis (then up to the battery's negative terminal, but you don't have that part anymore since you moved the battery). This is a very important ground and if missing or corroded will cause your exact symptoms. Instead of messing around with this ground (and breaking bolts in the process) the best thing to do is replicate the ground with your jumper cables for testing purposes. Take the black and red ends of the jumper cables and attach them to the engine block, preferably near the thermostat. Take the other red and black end of the jumper cable and attach them to the chassis in non-rusted, non-painted areas like bolt heads.

Where is the thermostat? It's pretty much directly under the distributor.

If you set up the jumper cables this way creating a good engine-to-chassis ground and the starter works properly, it's your engine-to-chassis grounds that are faulty/missing. If you've got the battery in your trunk chances are you might have removed the ground I'm talking about without knowing it's importance because it goes up and attaches to the negative battery terminal.

Whoops, I meant engine to body ground. It's been a long week. OK, here's what I've done since my last post. I put in my girlfriend's car's battery (1 month old), tapped the starter, and put jumper cables between the engine and body. I still just get a click. What are the chances it is not the starter? Where does the starter ground? Is it where it makes contact to the tranny (body of starter to tranny)? Is there something I'm missing? Oh, and I can hear the fuel pump going when I turn the key to on. On Monday I'm taking it to a shop unless I can figure this out, I need my car! And thanks everybody for the help!

starter.

I had the same problem a few weeks ago:

http://www.sr20forum.com/general-sr20/236453-starting-problem-car-clicks-sometimes-works-help.html

It's not the starter. Napa swapped me for a new one without charge (thanks Napa) and it still does nothing, just clicks. What else could it be? Could the alternator pulley be frozen, thus not allowing the belts to turn and therefore not allowing the engine to turn over? I am still just getting a click. I am going to recheck all of my connections again tonight, but on Monday morning it goes in to the shop.

just making sure, but have you checked the clutch safety switch to make sure it's not broken, or missing the plastic part up the pedal that pushes the plunger in?

Seriously, it happened to my car, pushed in the clutch, felt a pop, car wouldn't start. replaced the plastic piece with a bolt, and it worked fine.

Yes, and I've heard tales of this mating surface being corroded and causing this problem. =/

You might try getting two sets of jumper cables and putting them end-to-end to connect the engine directly to the negative terminal...

Yeah, I checked that. With it not pushed in, I don't get the "click" sound. When I do, I get the click. So I don't think this is the problem, unfortunately.



I'll see what I can do about that.

OK, the car just started. I have not done anything to it since I put the starter in 5 hours ago, it just all of a sudden decided it wanted to start. I took it out for 30 minutes to recharge the battery, and when I got home, it wouldn't start again. And the rapid clicking sounds from behind the dash is happening again (I can't hear if the starter is clicking or not over the racket) when I turn the key to start it. Tomorrow morning I'm going to attack the connections again. Which ones do I need to make sure I hit considering my battery is in the trunk?
1. Negative ground from battery to body
2. Where the starter power cable meets the positive battery cable in the engine bay
3. Where the starter power cable attaches to the starter.
4. What else?

If you need a new alternator to try out I can lend you a brand new one but I need it back before the swap takes place as I'm putting it on the new motor.

The engine to chassis ground(s).