[jcs003]

Wiring gremlins are the worst. I wish engine failures on all my friends and electrical issues on all my enemies.

 

[random84]

Wiring gremlins are the worst. I wish engine failures on all my friends and electrical issues on all my enemies.

Truth.


But yeah, check grounds to battery, engine bay fuse block and starter. Check fuses.

Replace battery anyway.

Then replace the starter (probably your culprit).

If that doesn't work - there may be fusible links but I'm not familiar.

If all of that fails, you might have to pull the radiator and put a breaker bar on the crank bolt and see if it turns by hand to make sure the motor isn't FUBAR. But this is pretty unlikely.



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[RocketSled]

It's a bad starter, or the engine has seized. Those are the only explanations that fit the symptoms. Electrical system works fine until I turn the key to crank the engine and then, everything shuts off while the key is turned to START. No clicks from the starter motor makes me lean in the direction of the starter. If the motor was seized, I should hear the starter banging against the flywheel. And I got a partial crank from it before it died completely. But jury is still out. Won't know until next week some time since I'm well past the point in my life where I'm willing to lay on the ground in sub-freezing weather to diagnose and fix my car. If it's the engine, well... maybe time for a big build to fix it.

 

[tinman]

Love the way you are squeezing those lemons into lemonade.

 

[RobF300]

A seized engine That presents warnings over time, that he drove to the store and just stopped cranking? Doesn’t sound likely

 

[RocketSled]

I agree. I think I'd have noticed if the motor was having the kind of problem that'd cause it to seize. And I got a partial crank out of it when it died. Seized probably wouldn't have turned a little before locking up (at least, not without making a loud bang, or at least a loud clunk). But the starter motor is clearly drawing power and the motor isn't turning over, so seized cannot as yet be ruled out. Low probability but not zero based on what I know at the moment.

Part of me, truth be told, kind of hopes it's seized. It didn't happen when the engine was at speed, so any damage would be minimal. Nothing, say, $10-15K of massaging wouldn't fix. Now I have 345s on the back of the car, I could do with a bit more HP.

 

[Rubber Duck]

A seized engine That presents warnings over time, that he drove to the store and just stopped cranking? Doesn’t sound likely

Which would also be a cause for high amperage draw, which can be preliminarily easily tested by turning on headlights and then attempting to start engine while seeing if headlights dim.

Also, we built many engines in our engine rebuilding facility years back.

There were very few engines that were actually seized up via heat.

Mainly the Vega engines would come in seized up from excessive heat, and we would have to drive the pistons out with a hammer and a large drift placed over the plns.

So without a loss of oil pressure or any type of knocking sound before the engine stopped I seriously doubt your engine is seized.

 

[RocketSled]

Yes. A seized motor would do that. But so would a Starter with a shorted winding. Thus, my two current theories - seized motor or a bad Starter.

 

[Rubber Duck]

Yes. A seized motor would do that. But so would a Starter with a shorted winding. Thus, my two current theories - seized motor or a bad Starter.

I believe we posted a few seconds apart above… Lol
As I stated above; I seriously doubt your engines broke.

Is your car equipped with an auto or a manual transmission?

Happy holidays!

 

[RocketSled]

Manual. But it died in a spot I couldn't push it (I've had cars in the past, I'd look for a spot I could roll out of in case the battery died while it was parked. But not this time. Nooo. The spots were there, I just didn't take any of them). Also, I couldn't figure out how to get the e-brake to release, though I subsequently realized I needed to be on the brake pedal when I pushed the button. Duh. But I'd have had to push it up hill to get it to a spot I could jump start it, so it didn't matter. I considered having my buddy push it with his Silverado, but he flatly refused to do it (he used to have a nearly identical V as me, BTW). That's a true friend if you ask me. He knew I was pissed and also that it'd damage the car and he wouldn't let me do it because he knew I'd regret it later.

Him (front) and me (rear) at the track a few years ago. The silver Corvette you can barely see behind my car is the 02 Z06 w/Vortech blower that I owned for 18 years and had just sold to a third friend.

 

[RocketSled]

The Dodge was impossible to beat. Even with the Z06. The Z cornered much better but the power of the Hellcat was too much for it whenever the track was straight. Even with the weight difference, 550HP vs. 800-and-something. There is no substitute for power I guess. The Ferrari was not that hard to keep up with, but I think that was probably because I was a better driver. The Trackhawk Jeep was a joke. No one wanted to go around the track more than once in the damn thing. The only thing it'd really be good for on a track IMO is dragging a wreck back to the pits.

 

[Vwlove56]

Could it actually be the switch? I’ve seen these go bad on other cars over the years. Verify voltage at the switch connection to the starter before turning, then verify while turning and see if there is a voltage drop. If the starter is not seeing 11.8 + then it won’t pass the solenoid to the motor. Just a suggestion…


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[jcs003]

Crank position sensor?

 

[Vwlove56]

What I’m trying to say is have the dealer check the switch before they automatically ding you for a starter you may or may not need. It’s not uncommon for them to say they replaced the starter at XX cost but actually just replaced a $10 part…


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[RocketSled]

Pretty sure it's not the switch. When I turn the key to CRANK all the lights go off because something is putting a heavy load on the battery - like a stalled starter motor or a starter motor with a shorted winding... But I kind of trust this dealership. A couple years ago, I brought the car in for a very slight rattle that I thought might be the blower figuring I'd have a fight on my hands, and they agreed and swapped in a new one no argument at all.

 

[Blown376]

Crank position sensor?

If this was the issue, it should still crank, just won't fire. If it did fire, it would run pretty rough.

 

[RocketSled]

And the answer is.... What is STARTER MOTOR, Alex.

Thanks to everyone for helping me speculate.

 

[PGA2B]

Better than sized motor (Unless you were counting on that as an excuse to rebuild the motor).

 

[RocketSled]

I was sort of thinking that way, yeah.

 

[g87castillo]

So my 2014 Coupe has been cranking "slow" for the last few months. I assumed the crappy Die Hard battery was failing, so I threw a set of jumper cables in the back and forgot about it. Haven't been driving the car a lot, anyway. Went to run an errand last night, was worried the car might not start, but it cranked twice slowly, and kicked off running as it had been doing. Took the long way to the Cigar store to give it extra time to recharge. Parked it, went in to buy my box and shoot the shit for 10 minutes. Went back out, cranked the car, I got maybe half a crank and it refused to crank further. Fuck. Got out the cables and tried to jump it. No joy. Had to have it flat bedded to the local dealership.

Weird thing was, if I connected the jumpers at the jump-point in the engine bay, I'd get sparks. But if I connected the cables to the battery in back, I wouldn't. Yet all the lighting was working and, in fact, the headlights were bright. The DIC reported 11.6V. Even with the jumper cables connected. And if I tried to crank the car, all the lighting would go dark but I didn't get any noise from the Starter, no clicks or anything. Of course I was parked where it was impossible to try and push start it so I didn't try that (MN6).

So now I'm waiting to hear back from the dealership. I'm thinking either the starter motor shit the bed or the motor is seized.

Anyone want to take a guess which?

I had a similar issue with my sedan. In my case, power steering went out intermittently and turned out it was my alternator.
Hopefully they can turn the crank and your block isn't seized and it turns out to be the alternator and or starter.