Car will not start

CASSMEISTER426

MEMBER
1999 KIA

Four cylinder automatic

Hi. Recently (within the past six months or so) the car will immediately start only intermittently. Other times you will hear a click and the engine whirring, almost as though you have a drained battery, but the interior lights come on, radio comes on, etc. You have to push the gear shift around while it is in the park position and then it will start (sometimes you have to lock the wheel, and then push the shifter around in the park position a few times for it to start). It seems as though the car is not registering that it is in park, and therefore it will not start. Could it be something else entirely? If it is just a sensor issue, is the repair simple enough that we would be able to do it yourself?
Thank you.

2 Replies

MERLIN2021

MECHANIC
17,250 POSTS

Can be a weak starter drive, called the Bendix drive, if it sounds like the starter is not engaging the flywheel teeth, just spinning. The act of just turning the key on and off a few times, means you could be just catching it right to start, check the starter. This could be from a bad starter or the weak battery.

Here are two guides to help you see which the problem is:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/car-battery-load-test

and

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-replace-a-starter-motor

Please let us know what you find.

Cheers