Replaced Starter- Worked 3 times- Failed again.

[Jo Jo]

Hey..

TLDR: Only made a click sound when trying to turn on.. replaced the starter. Worked 3 times. Back to not working just click* sound once.

2013 Corolla LE 76K on engine.

Car was running fine with no noticeable issue.

Went to turn it on- Click just one click- no engine turning.

lights/radio/dash all work.

Didn’t think it was but pull the battery
(9 month old battery) , cleaned up whatever corrosion was on cables, take the battery to be checked- “it’s in perfect condition”

purchased a refurbished starter from AZone’

came home replaced it.

Car turned right on- alright great, drove it for 2 minutes and parked it.
left it parked for a day.
Leave the house today, turns on just fine, I drive 15 minutes. Park for an hour, Turns right on again for the third time.

drive 15 minutes back home.
Parked- Come back out 30 minutes later and the same
CLICK

FML!

I tried putting the car into Neutral- and turning it on, Click
Tried putting it in Drive- Nothing.
Try again in Park Click
(Does that rule out the Neutral Safety Switch, since the starter clicked in park and neutral but not in drive?)

Tried to hit the starter with a hammer as best I could with the 2 inches to play in there, while having someone try and turn it on. Nothing but click

I need help!

Why would taking the starter out and putting a new one in work a few times and then fail again?

Topic

[Jo Jo]

Doh!

Problem solved! PALM FACE

When I replaced the starter, I loosened the Positive terminals battery clamp- realized I was loosening the wrong nut and went ahead and took off the one from the actual battery post.

When I put everything back together… of course..
I didn’t tighten the clamp back up..

so I had a nice tight connection around my post.. but the cable that bolts into the clamp was loose.

there was some corrosion under it as well.. but not enough to make it fail, I don’t think so at least.

I scraped it clean, tightened everything back up.

Opened the fuse box and gave all my fuses a push for good measure.

Engine Fired right up.

[Author]

Replies