Now we want to test the starter motor to ensure it's OK (I think it will be and you'll find the problem is the solenoid). Judging by the 'clicking' sound, I don't think this is your problem either.ģ. If you don't get 12V here you've got an intermittent connectivity problem and need to trace your wiring back to your ignition switch and from there to the battery and try to find a poor connection or potential short. (Always put the car in neutral and the parking brake on etc.). Get someone to turn the key to ON and check for 12V at the ignition cable. Disconnect the ignition cable from the solenoid (this is the heavier cable) and put a multimeter from it to ground (somewhere metal on the chassis). Locate your starter motor and the solenoid (the solenoid will be wired to the starter motor - the circuit is basically battery, ignition key switch, solenoid and starter motor). The light-dimming check should help you out on this one, however, we'll make doubly sure. Check that you're getting power from the ignition switch to the solenoid. However, as it seems to start fine sometimes, I'm going to assume this is not the problemĢ. Check your battery voltage with a multimeter - you should have 12.5V or so across the terminals - any less than about 11.8 and you should think about a new battery whilst you're at it. Now - to diagnose your problem and fix it:ġ. When you try to start it and achieve little more than a clicking noise, you'll notice the headlights aren't dimming because the starter motor isn't drawing an additional load from the battery. When it starts sucessfully, your headlights should dim briefly. This sounds like a pretty common problem with a lot of cars - my guess is that your solenoid for your starter motor or maybe even the starter motor itself is faulty.Ī simple test to verify that you have a starter motor/solenoid problem is to turn on your headlights before attempting to start your car. SOURCE: my mazda mx5 starts sometimes and then it doesnt
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