Car won't start after replacing battery and starter

Tiny
OHSNAPZBRAH
  • MEMBER
  • 1997 PONTIAC SUNFIRE
  • 107,000 MILES
Hello. My sunfire wouldn't start friday morning. The car turned the lights on and radio like the battery was good, but it wouldn't start when I turned the key. I got it to start after a jump, thinking nothing of it, and it started immediately 3 times afterward that day. After those 3 times, it wouldn't start again and did the same thing. I jumped it again, and again, it started. It started immediately twice the next day, saturday.

Sunday morning, my car wouldn't start again, doing the same thing it did friday morning and afternoon. After a jump, though, it still didn't start. We took the battery to Autozone and they said it was bad, so we bought and installed a new battery. Still wouldn't start, so we had a neighbor who works with cars look at it and said the starter was bad. We got a new starter as well, they connected it, and it still wouldn't start, with the car doing the same thing as earlier in the day. All the lights would come on as normal and the radio but it just wouldn't start. My neighbor says that the car is drawing power from something because the plugs that go into the battery spark a little when you first insert it into the battery. They were going to work on it more today. Any help with this is much appreciated, thanks!
Monday, September 17th, 2012 AT 3:18 PM

3 Replies

Tiny
JDL
  • MECHANIC
  • 16,098 POSTS
Are you saying the starter won't even crank? Check out the diagram. The purple wire at the starter S terminal goes hot with the key in the crank position. The other wire is hot all the time. Is this an automatic, did you try cranking in neutral?
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Monday, September 17th, 2012 AT 3:55 PM
Tiny
OHSNAPZBRAH
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
The starter doesn't sound like it's cranking, no. All the lights turn on, but I'll go to crank it and pretty much nothing, no sound or anything. It is an automatic and I have not yet tried cranking it in neutral. So by hot you mean actually physically hot? Thanks for your reply!
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Monday, September 17th, 2012 AT 4:19 PM
Tiny
JDL
  • MECHANIC
  • 16,098 POSTS
Hot means the circuit has voltage on it, use a voltage tester. Any testing at the starter, make sure the tranny is in park or neutral and the e-brake is set.
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Monday, September 17th, 2012 AT 5:07 PM

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