Car Starting Problems

Ether your key switch has a short or if you have ever tried to hotwire the car the hot wire may be touching metal if it is unplug it

is it carburated or throttle body injected?

try putting a little gas in the carburetor or throttle body or if you have no gas try starting fluid but if you have gas in a jug use that because starting fluid is hard on the pistons and valves.

and see if itll start

LOW VOLTAGE, BAD BATTERY, OR BATTERY CABLE BAD OR LOOSE / DIRTY CABLE CONNECTION, CLEAN ALL EVEN THE GROUND TO MOTOR CONNECTION, MOTOR NOT LOCKED UP RIGHT? YOU DID CHANGE SOLNOID WHEN YOU CHANGED THE STARTER...? LAST NEW STARTER IS BAD..

You may not have hurt anything. The starter will spin as long as the cable is sending power to it. The ignition switch needs to be turned on to make this work. Touch the jumper cable to the starter connection. The starter will spin and start the engine, assuming that there are no engine problems. This is a dangerous move, because if the car moves or it is in drive, then the car will drive over you.

What is inside a battery ? Rocky_B - See my entry here for more things you might want to check: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_could_be_wrong_if_the_battery_light_stays_on_and_the_battery_still_runs_down_on_a_1996_windstar_after_installing_a_new_battery_and_alternator

If yours is one of the many engines that use the distributor drive shaft to also run the oil pump, it might just be an oil pump problem. Has the oil pump been replaced? Is it an oversize/high pressure oil pump? Has the oil pressure relief valve been modified? Also, check the distributor for excessive end-play. If the shaft rides up or for any other reason causes excessive torque on the shaft, that too could be causing the shaft to fail. Those shafts are deliberately small so that THEY will break and not damage your camshaft gear. Either way, it's either a binding or sloppy distributor or something that is causing the oil pump to work too hard.

haha immobaliser might be on lol

It could be a couple of things that would make your car do that.... firstly, did you have this problem prior to installing all those ignition items? If you didn't have that problem, I would think it would be the coil. Did you also replace the spark plugs? It's also important to use factory MB parts for these specific applications. A lot of after market parts really don't measure up to factory specs. Yes, they're much cheaper, but a lot of times they won't work properly.

My best guess would have to be the fuel system. It could be:

Frequency Valve

Fuel Pressure Regulator

Oxygen Sensor

Thermo Time Switch

Warm Up Regulator

Those listed items are what it could be with the amount of information you provided.

Fuel pump? Pound on the fuel tank pretty firm with your fist 5 times or so and see if it starts

More than likely, your sterring wheel is turned hard to the left or right.....or middle, actually....anytime you turn hard against the wheel after you have shut off your engine, you are pushing against the unassisted (by power) steering, this means that you will encounter resistance, and when you do turn your key all the way to the off position, and then let go of the steering wheel, there will be considerable pressure against the ignition assembly....It can be all but impossible to start the car until you turn the wheel to ease pressure on the lockset........i cant tell you how many times i have seen this, and panicked people who cannot start their car.....i lean in to the vehicle, pull the wheel to one side or the other and magically they can turn the key......

Of course, you could have a really badly eroded key, but not likely in a 2004.......

we can assume you are not using the key to your Briggs & stratton to start you car, right......

sounds like your in the market for a starter.

it's ripe.

That's about the time you want to start checking out the timing belt. Run a compression test and see what you're getting. If compression is low, you've probably slipped a tooth on the timing belt. The backfiring isn't good.

Remove starter and bench test it for operation and current draw

Possible PRNDL switch mounted inside the transmission next to the valve body..

not easy to change......

You could try turning your steering wheel both directions to release pressure then turn.

This is probably 100% because the teeth on your flywheel are worn out from trying to start it with a bad starter too many times. I had this same problem, changed my starter, it worked like twice then started grinding again. Took it out and look at the flywheel and it was toast. Changed the flywheel the worked fine. Had to replace the started again 8 months later because, well, thanks O'Reilly!

Replacement of a flywheel can run you from $500 to $1000+ for a mechanic. Its about $180 for materials (w/ clutch replacement as well, I mean since you're RIGHT THERE). Need a second person though because taking that tranny out is a beeyotch. If your car is new, it won't be SOO bad. The bolts on my truck were rusted so it took about three days.

Probably a leaky FPR diaphragm or bad MAP sensor reading.

If bad FPR diaphragm replace the fuel pressure regulator. This will also fix the misfiring, excessive fuel consumption, catalytic converter burning up, and rapid engine wear.

If MAP sensor, replace sensor and/or hose to sensor. May also fix: check engine light on, hesitation on acceleration.

Does the engine crank ? If not , does the underhood light come on when you open the hood or the door chime sound if the keys are in the ignition with the drivers door open ? If you don't get any lights / door chime etc. it could be a bad battery cable connection or a dead battery If the engine cranks and does not start , it's either not getting fuel or spark

Have starter load tested. it's your solinoid Older Chevy's are known for this problem. it is because the starter and selonoid are so close to the exhaust that they get hot. this causes more resistence in the selonoid so it just needs to cool down. Try some heat shielding to prevent the problem.

If the starter/solenoid does not fix the issue...you should also check the ignition module and the cap/rotor. Had the exact same issue. The module will over heat when you have a bad rotor or cap. When it's cold it will start right up, but if you ran the car to the store and tried to restart, it wouldn't start for at least 10 minutes. Then it would start fine. Turned out the rotor was bad, which was causing excessive voltage requirements which overheated the ignition module. Changed them, and, voila, problem gone.

Starter solenoid sticking. Replace the solenoid if it is external. If it is internal, then just replace thee starter. It will cost a little more but you will have a new starter and solenoid.

"TURNING OVER AN ENGINE" REFERS TO ROTATING THE CRANKSHAFT, USUALLY BY MEANS OF THE STARTER MOTOR AND THE RING GEAR, IF IT WAS AN OLDER ENGINE YOU COULD USE THE CRANK HANDLE THOUGH THESE WENT OUT OF FASHION DUE TO HIGHER CRANKING SPEED BEING REQUIRED TO START AN ENGINE. PUSHING THE VEHICLE (IF IT WAS MANUAL) WHILE IN GEAR WOULD ALSO TURN THE ENGINE OVER BUT MAKE SURE THE IGNITION WAS SWITCHED OFF UNLESS YOU WANT IT TO START.

you'll get more results if you spell "Jetta" right.

starter, starter relay, battery, high resistance in batter/starter cabels just a few things that will cause this.