Believe it or not it all comes down to sounds. If you hear a clunk noise chances are its the starter, if you get air like no noise at all its a bad connection either at the battery or at the starter. Beyond that you gotta start looking at expensive things like computer or possibly in rare cases its the fuse (which will make a fast ticking sound). To clean the connectors on the battery go to any battery shop and find the "pin or GM terminal cleaner" it looks like a drill bit with metal brushes on it. with one to go into the gm post it will make the gm posts shine like a nickel then take a set of channel locks and remove the GM lug from the connector and use it on that too it will come out a copper colour or extremely shiny silver then put it back together and use some white lithium grease on it and hook it all up and see how it works if you have to start messing with the starter your better off to take it to a mechanic because there are alot of little things that could go wrong.
No way, only if the battery fails under a load test
You have a bad alternator.
It could be your alternator is going bad
check if your battery is low than usual ..might be alternator problem
To fix the Pontiac Sunfire if it jumped time, the timing belt has to be replaced. Then the car has to have the timing set again after the belt is replaced.
Charge the battery, start the car and check the battery with a volt meter. Should have over 14 volts, if only say 12.4 to 13, then change the alt. or check the wiring.
A 1997 Pontiac Sunfire would have a voltage regulator and it would be found inside the alternator.
Connect a voltmeter across the battery terminals without engine running reading should be around 12.8 With engine running reading should be 13.8-14.2 if you are getting these numbers alternator is charging battery
What, exactly, is the problem?
I should mention that the alternator has gone bad and been replaced, so has the battery. The various dash lights will often come on and go off for no apparent reason also.
In order to wire the starter on a Pontiac Sunfire, you will need a jack, jack stand, socket set, and a torque wrench. You will need to make sure to remove the battery cables from the battery.
Hi, If you are talking about the anti theft device that locks the radio, you might have to go to the dealership to have it unlocked. That's what I did when the radio on my 2000 Sunfire stopped working after the alternator was replaced. It cost me $20.