I hate cars

Glad it's running. I've found that keeping a good well charged battery seems to help starter life over the long haul.

pohljm

OMG its exactly what we suspected.....................thats great that it is running, but WTH. You had even previously stated that the ignition was in the run position. This completely makes me want to never help diagnose another issue ever for random posters. You didnt even personally perform the minimal tests. You would have never even had to take it to the dealer for their mis-diagnosis if you would have only known how to bump start a manual...........where has this world gone.................shoot me now!

vgorous

Hey guys. I did the same thing here and need some confirmation. Car is automatic. I've been having problems with trouble starting it before. What I had to do was I had to snap the ignition key to crank position so it would start. If I turned it like any other way I would on any car it would refuse to start(i also hear the buzzing sound by the steering wheel but from digging in the forum this is "normal").

Anyway it had finally stopped starting (probably cuz of the cold snap weather too). Battery is okay, tried jumping it too and no start. We replaced the starter. It didn't start (although it did start twice randomly). My friends uncle who's a mechanic had him run through the gears while holding the key on. I believe that's when he got it to start. He believes now that it's the neutral safety switch. Does that sound about right?

vgorous

Hey guys I should also say that I hear a clicking sound in the fuse box every time I try to crank/start the car. Is that normal? Sounds like a relay and wondering if I should start with that maybe. TIA

I also now noticed that sometimes my CEL flashes. Sometimes it doesn't. I'm starting to lean more towards the neutral safety switch as suggested and after research I've read that it will cause a CEL if it's defective (switch is aka transmission range sensor) and intermittent starts.

nfnsquared

My guess is a bad ignition switch (this assumes that the battery is good). The clicking sound in the fuse box is the starter cut relay. That sound is caused by an undervoltage being supplied to that relay. Usually the cause of under voltage is either a bad battery, bad battery connections or a bad ignition switch. Good luck!

polobunny

Get the CEL code. There's a million things it could be, and last thing you'd want is for a "simple" CEL to hide a more problematic one.

vgorous

Would trying to jump start the car eliminate the possibility of not being a bad battery or low voltage since I'm connecting another supply of power? Because I've already done that and the car refused to start before. My connections seem to be all good.

Thanks about the info on the clicking sound.

erg69

^^ not really. You should be able to take the battery to a parts store for a free load test.

vgorous

Sorry guys, but I'm in Canada and nothings ever free here

Thanks for the recommendation and info and will take it into consideration.

polobunny

What battery is it? OEM? Otherwise if it's one available at Canadian Tire you could always get them to test it hehehe

Also you can use a multimeter to test battery & alternator voltage.

vgorous

I ended up taking it to Canadian Tire! It was low on CCA but the battery hasn't really been charged and has been sitting in a cold garage for two days. Anyway I got a new battery and the car still has problems starting.

1) replaced starter
2) replaced transmission range switch
3) replaced battery
4) ignition switch next?

The car does start because it's in my garage. It's never on the first try.i am most likely to crank the car if I snap the key to crank position. For some reason though, it hates really really cold weather.

Is there a recall on the ignition switch?

vgorous

Ok a bit of an update. After a bit more troubleshooting, I have somewhat determined what the buzzing sound was every time I turn the key. People said it's normal, and there's no way it was normal. I also believed that the buzzing sound would have to be directly linked to my starting problems.

There is a relay/solenoid just by the kick panel under the steering wheel.

I kept pulling each relays out and then turned the key if the buzzing would go away. It did exactly that on the one labeled as "ST CUT".

Where is the ignition switch located?

AMTMJ

Good find! This is your starter cut relay and I would suspect it as being the culprit. The relay contact may be stuck open or there may be too much resistance on the contact to prevent good voltage or current flow. Swap it with one of your other relays that are the same part number and see if your car starts.

nfnsquared

But I already told you all this in post #85. The ignition switch is in the steering column where your key goes. Again, the ignition switch is about the only part in the chain that hasn't been ruled out. Good luck!

nfnsquared

And this is further evidence suggesting the ignition switch is the culprit....

vgorous

Thank you!

I'm assuming I have to remove the steering wheel to get the covers off to get to the ignition switch. I've disconnected the airbag last night and plugged it back in again today but noticed that I have the airbag light on. Maybe and hopefully I just didnt snap the connectors in properly, or do I need vagcom to reset the light?

nfnsquared

Sorry, I'm not SRS smart. Hopefully it's just a connection issue. I can't imagine that disconnecting/reconnecting would require a reset. Hopefully someone else can chime in on this issue.

And I can't offer much info on a DIY for replacing the switch. But you DO NOT need to remove the steering wheel in order to remove the covers. I removed the covers when doing my remote start and IIRC, it's just a couple of screws on the bottom cover.

vgorous

Ok, I looked at some broken down diagram of the steering wheel and it did looked to me like I didnt need to remove the steering wheel to remove the covers. I saw the screws but it was still difficult to remove and didnt want to break anything.

I just called canadian tire asking how much it would cost to replace the ignition switch. He said it could get very expensive and it may also require reflashing.Is this true?

I've read many times people saying here "oh it may be the ignition switch" but havent seen and DIY's or anything about what's involved to doing that.

nfnsquared

^^^ They must be mistaking the ignition switch with the ring immobilizer unit. AFAIK, this (replacing the switch) is an easy DIY and will absolutely not require any reflashing.

I think you need part #9 in this diagram. Hopefully someone else can confirm:

OEM Acura TL 2004 COMBINATION SWITCH parts

vgorous

The moment you said that I could remove the cover without removal of steering wheel really helped (although been very helpful amongst other things).

I pulled out the switch and as you can see, the contacts are pitted probably due to arcing from all these years. What I noticed was there's a bit of wiggle room from the peg to the switch so when cranking it with the key, it doesn't go into full contact position. If I do it with a screwdriver, it starts on first crank.

I'll do a DIY article once I get a replacement switch.

edit: I also wanted to point out that the airbag light went away. It was just a connection issue.

thegipper

I was about to say, if pop starting it wouldn't get it running, it's not the starter.

Lone behold the "helper" was an idiot.

My vote was going to be for a bad ground. It's amazing how a bad ground can really F things up. My grand prix had all lights and everything come on perfectly but it wouldn't turn over. Battery tested good, starter was fine. I "checked" the ground wire but really didn't inspect it properly. Once I pulled back the insulation on the ground wire, I realized it was corroded beyond belief. I also cleaned up all of the ground to the body/motor/tranny.

Car fired up immediately after that.

Glad you got it fixed, next time, have someone help you who can tie his own shoes. I would have been pissed!

S2K_MoZo

Did you have a lot of keys attached to your car key? I've heard that your ignition starts failing if your key ring has a lot of keys hanging from it and the weight on ignition switch ends up failing. Not sure if it's true but just thought that I'd ask so the rest of us can lookout for it.

Thanks.