Ok so a friends car won't start...

1996 Buick 88

New battery
New starter
New ignition switch

When you turn the key to the "on" position, all electrical comes on normally. But when you click it over to "start" nothing happens...

Any ideas?
I'm thinking maybe neutral safety switch or wiring to the starter... Can't think of anything else it could be...

 

u check both cicuits? primary and secondary? it seems like it could also be a solenoid? just ideas off the top of my head. and may be obvious but commonly missed. clean ALL your connections even grounds

 

I have gotten bad "new" starters before.

What is the voltage of the battery with the car off, on and during "starting"?
What is the voltage at the starter when cranking?

A bad relay perhaps, or a fuse.

 

Solenoid?

 

i could be wrong or spelling it wrong. but the way im seeing it, it would make sense in his a little vague conditions. if there is no crank at all, there seems to be no connecting cicuit at solnoid. (from batt to start) new starter, ign switch, batt. unless those are defective from manu., id say a connection somewhere or a faulty device. it could be differnet but from what i remember, the solenoid uses a low amp cicuit (ign switch to sol) to connect a high amp cicuit (batt to starter) do correct me if im wrong.

 

Does the car have an aftermarket alarm with starter kill?

 

All connections are clean and solid. All fuses are good...

I'm thinking she may have a bad starter... its new but its possible... I'm going over after work to see if I can get voltage readings...

Just seeing if there was something obvious I missed...

 

I've heard of some cars if they believe they have been in an impact they'll kill the FP?

 

And no alarm on the car. Good call though.

 

have you try to jump the starter to see if it engages/power up?
if so you might just have a bad starter soleniod since you replaced the starter,battery, and ignition switch

 

could be. but youre on the right track. get some voltage reading as well as voltage drop. youll be able to diagnose better. also, do you have CE codes?

 

i was thinking same thing. seems like no high amp current is flowing to starter. but he said he going to do some V tests. now im curious what the verdict is. lol

 

if possible try using the screw driver trick to bump the starter without the key or if you have the handy cool tool that you clip to the pos and neg terminals on the starter and flick the switch to bump it. Thats one way to rule out the starter or solenoid and if im not mistaken the solenoid is built into the starter.

Also is there a security light that is on or blinking when you are doing any of this? I have read that some models of that year have built in security features. Just a thought.

 

no accidents in the car, but good to know. I can hear the FP prime when i turn the ignition to the on position...


I dont have a scanner, but there are no cels or lights on that shouldnt be.
Im gonna try the screwdriver trick to see if the starter will kick over or not. If it kicks over and the voltage readings all look good, then it would have to be the solenoid... thats kinda what im hoping for... i dont want to tear the dash apart again...

ill keep you guys posted.

 

sweet! ya keep us posted.

just an FYI: although your CEL is not on, a code may still be stored in ECU memory. this happened on my roomies 96 sentra. ECU threw a code for secondary circuit. just one more thing i thought id share before like u said, ripping things apart. Good luck