MtnRDX

So I am having an issue with random non-start. It tries to crank over like the battery is weak. Then stops.

This happened in a walmart parking lot so I ran in and got the only 35 battery they had which is 490cca.

It fired right up and has been fine. But then I checked the old battery with a meter and it was 12.4v. So today I hauled it in to autozone and had it tested. It was not great but not shot. Went to leave and it did not start right there in the parking lot. So I had the guy come out and check the new battery. He hooked up and said it seemed good, he wanted to do a full test so go try to crank it. It did drag some but started right up. Battery checks out alternator checks out.

So what the heck? I just drove it home and it started right back up. But now I don't trust it at all.

Bad battery connection? Bad other connection? Bad starter wire? Bad starter relay? Bad starter? Bad something in key switch?

Glad there is a forum so I can ask the masses and see if anyone else has had this issue, and if there's something that is commonly the issue.

First occurrence was 8/11 and today the second occurrence with new battery is 8/28.
I thought it was going to be the alternator but it wasn't.

Chopperpilot

I’d look at starter replacement in the future . How old is the starter ? I’ve replaced mine around 130k and my son’s 08 around 120k . Both had the very same symptoms you’ve described too .

Whacking a sluggish starter with hammer or a sand wedge works too .

MtnRDX

Well, glad I asked then. With 2 with the same scenario like that I might just go ahead and order a starter. I honestly would not have thought of it being the starter either. I have never had one go bad in that way with other vehicles. I've had them do nothing at all, make noise but not turn over, turn over and make noise, turn over too slow to start the engine. But never had one seem like a dead battery and not roll over. So thanks for the reply.

I don't know how old the starter is. I bought it used. As I was going over it today, it looks like it was replaced before I bought it because the boot on the end of the wire is not pushed down in place.

Is there a resistance test or anything in any of the manuals I can run with a multimeter to access the health of the starter?

I went over things today, took the battery back out and stuff because looking around I could see where stuff had ran down from back last thanksgiving when I found a bunch of green corrosion under the red plastic positive battery cover. It kept getting it under there so I got mad and removed the red plastic piece and cleaned all that up. I found some green on a wire that seems to run from the chassis to the transmission cover underneath the battery and cleaned that up. And I saw some more green on the braid of the positive wires on the battery connection right up next to the wire jacketing. So I incrementally cut back the jacketing until I got beyond it and cleaned that up.

I pretty much was thinking that probably was all nothing. But when I put everything back and cranked the car back up, I had not heard the radio play so nice in a really long time. For long before this issue sometimes I could crank up and there was so much static I'd just turn it down and later it would clear up. At first I thought it was cold weather related. But a while after I realized that I could cycled the key back off sometimes and crank back up and it sounded way better. So I thought it was a gremlin of some sort or some issue with the key switch.

2007TechRDX

I highly doubt that it's what is happening with your car, but mine has random non-starts and it is because it is not recognizing sometimes that I have the vehicle in park. It's a problem with the shift cable or the transmission range sensor. Much of the time I have to push the shift lever forward and turn the key at the same time to get it to start. Initially I thought it was a battery or starter issue. Again, probably not the issue with yours, but nice to rule it out. Good luck!

MtnRDX

OK so I have a question for you... Does it do nothing at all when you turn the key? Or does it go to turn over and drag, act up etc.

I ask because I've changed the transmission range sensor. Not because of non-starts but because I kept getting the ding and flashing D light when I shifted to fast. And also because I can see runoff from a previous corrosion cleaning of the positive battery cable on the range sensor connector. The worst part of the range sensor job is literally the two bolts on the underside that hold the battery support in place. I thought ehh that just looks like the white baking soda. I'm not taking those two bolts out to get down in there.... lol.

MtnRDX

Bumping this back up.

My wife who is not in it every time it cranks had said it still didn't sound the same as before even after I had replaced the battery. I didn't really put much into that until after I had done all the above cleaning of connections, corrosion removal etc and she said it sounded better like before when starting, and I detected a difference too. So I missed the slow degradation because I'm in it literally every time it starts.

That aside though, I still didn't have much confidence it's all good because I had no issues starting for 17 days after swapping the battery.

That said, I have a new question. Has anyone ever had the ignition switch portion of the key switch to go bad? Is it common?

I ask because I jumped in tonight to run fill up for taking the kids to school tomorrow. First turn of the key lights came on and noting happened when rolled on over into the start position. I tumbled the key switch back and on the second attempt it fired right up totally normal.

I haven't ordered any parts because it's been zero glitch for a week. Now I'm not confident what I should order and replace first. I hate these intermittent problems where I'm not confident what the root cause is. Stressful. I don't want to end up in a jam of it just not starting at all when I go to take the kids to school or when I go to pick them up, and I am not going to be able to avoid not shutting it off after it starts until I get back home forever either.

Given this new info... still think it is the starter itself? Or that part on the ignition switch?

MtnRDX

LOL... Gotta hate this car electrically speaking.

Fired up and got the kids to school in the morning. Then about noon I had to run a family member something. Got in it and soon as I turned the key the wipers wiped the windshield despite being off. I just shook my head. Got back in time for the car to have a 30 minute break before we ran to pick up the kids from school. When I cranked it over and it cranked I thought I detected a little slow drag at the end and my wife piped up and said I hear it again, so she can note the difference in sound a bit better than me.

Nowhere near me has the starter nor the starter switch. So I am just going to have to order them both and wait for them to come in. I think what I am going to do is when stuff comes in I will take the starter off and take it in to the parts store to be tested to see if it is actually bad. That way I don't have to take it all apart and put it back twice. And it will hopefully give me piece of mind I'm ruling the starter out or resolving the issue. The starter switch, I don't know. Maybe someone can help me with a service manual or post the test for it. I would think look in the plastic housing for wear visually, then test with a multi-meter.

I really want to know I got to the root cause.

MtnRDX

OK so I have a new question on the starter itself.
Did these come stock/OEM with Mitsuba 5L starters?
SM-71006
mfg by CME assemblied in USA

I ask because when I first eyeballed the starter, I noticed that the rubber boot was pushed back off the nut on the starter cable and I had never touched any of that. So I partially assumed the starter had been changed before I bought it. Then today when I went to remove the starter to take it to be tested, as soon as I went to turn that nut on the starter cable, everything turned like nothing. The whole thing spun around with very little force. The plastic part was just broken so it all just twisted out of the rubber boot. The whole post piece and the nut was on the cable. Luckily I was able to shake the nut loose from the cable end with an impact while holding the part that should have been down inside the starter with an adustable wrench. Ugg...

So I assume that in itself was the issue, and so the starter was the issue... well there is no testing it now, lol. I also don't know if someone before me over tightened that nut and broke the plastic changing the starter out, or if someone before me just pushed that boot back and cranked on it to make sure the connection was tight. Or if possibly something internal was able to make it's way loose and fly up to break that? No idea.

I put the new starter on and it spins to motor over noticeably faster. So I guess time will tell if that was really the issue 100%. I have the starter switch for the ignition on hand too.

I'm not fully convinced despite it all because I still have the random issue of radio static sometimes when I roll the switch from off to on. I can tumble it back off and back on a time or two and then it will be crystal clear. So I am unsure if that is something in the switch, or the head unit or amp.