New Caprice - Discussion forums

Title for the sake of future googles.

Car ran great for the 1st few weeks I had it. One day after a short drive(15mins) I shut it off. Went to start it 10 minutes later and got a click from the trunk. No start. Figured it a fluke and tried again. Same thing, a click from behind me. As I released the key the engine began to crank a few rotations but didn’t start. Next try, fired up and I decided to leave it running for the rest of my errands.

Some time and trips go by without incident but with much burning rubber.

Fast forward to 2 weeks ago today, want to take my junk yard trips in the car to verify fitment on a thing or two, turn the key and click. Several times. Lose all hope. Get the fully charged jump pack out, hook up to driver side battery, no change with the single click noise in trunk. No cranking. I head to junk yards in the Hyundai.

Battery is at 12.3v today after sitting uncharged 2+ weeks. I replace the starter(AC Delco $107+ tax/shipping on Rockauto) figured it was worth it after seeing the original is rusty in places/corroded on the aluminum bits/has some fresh hammer marks from me trying what I know about a car that won’t start.

Turn the key. Click from the trunk. No crank, no start.

I have seen people mention fuses and relays, and should have started there. Lesson learned. I have not seen where the fuses and relays are located, or if I should be looking for a certain voltage/resistance or just an obviously blown fuse. I have a volt meter but no obd2 scan tools or access.

I did notice the DIC showed stabilitrak for a moment one time when trying to start, but it flashed and was gone. Didn’t notice security or other messages but they could have happened.

Somebody save me. Electrical is not my best friend.

I had a similar problem with my 14 after painting the engine compartment, was acting same way with a poor ground. A quick diagnostic you can do is if you have a jumper cable long enough is go one end to the battery negative and the other to the engine block. If it starts up easy you got a poor ground somewhere along the way.

pull the trunk carpet on the driver side , and youll find relays and fuses , getting a wiring diagram would help

and if you think you are in over your head , take it to a shop

I don’t think I’m in over my head yet lol. I don’t think I have a cable long enough to make that connection either though. I’ll go open the trunk and see what I can see.

It’s tough to look for stuff on this site. I keep getting side tracked with completely irrelevant reading material. Irrelevant to this issue, I mean. So much good stuff

A few pics in no order of the electronic stuff I found. There was a blown 10 amp fuse under hood. IGN/ISRVM in spot F38. No change after replacing it. All the relays that seem related to the problem were swapped with others that matched. No change.

Out back a small fuse panel on driver side, all the fuses are good. On passenger side there are some larger fuses. I’ve lost daylight though.

Pics are all sideways for some reason it seems. Cool cool cool

Driver side battery, positive terminal, there’s a big weird fuse I’ve not seen before. The parts I can see are in tact but I’ll have to pull the cable off and try to see it better.

I will look for a wiring diagram tonight. Any idea what the click is from the trunk?

I am guessing that the clicking you hear in the trunk is the solenoid for the passenger side battery. You should be able to unplug the blue colored connector on the solenoid to verify that is the clicking sound, which is the normal operation of auxiliary battery system. The solenoid is energized when the key is in the”run” position, which allows the battery to get charged while the car is running.

One thing you don’t want to do is hit the starter motor with a metallic tool. It can shatter the permanent magnets if it hits the right spot with enough force.

David

Sanford wrote: ↑Wed Sep 16, 2020 6:22 am I am guessing that the clicking you hear in the trunk is the solenoid for the passenger side battery. You should be able to unplug the blue colored connector on the solenoid to verify that is the clicking sound, which is the normal operation of auxiliary battery system. The solenoid is energized when the key is in the”run” position, which allows the battery to get charged while the car is running.

One thing you don’t want to do is hit the starter motor with a metallic tool. It can shatter the permanent magnets if it hits the right spot with enough force.

David

Fortunately one of the bolts falling out of the new starter on install hit me harder in the face than I could actually get a good whack on the old starter.

Makes sense about that solenoid clicking. I saw it once in all the threads here that have the word starter, that the auxiliary battery doesn’t help with cranking.

What does not make sense is $400 for the factory service manual. I’ll spend some time poking around for/cleaning grounds today I guess.

ask/pm smwalker if he can get you the starter diagram for your car and motor

if you have used a OE shop manual , you would understand the price to get the OE manual , what haynes has for manuals are maybe 1/8 of the factory one , lol

you might could try a library too