ok my girls 98 cavy jsut decided not to start. All it does is when i turn the key all lights and gauges light up but when i trunk the key the car jsut clicks and all the ligths in the cluster and the gas gauge flicker. anyideas? i belive it might be the starter as i just replaced the alt and bat few months ago. maybe spark plugs? PLEASE NEED IT FOR SCHOOL TOMORROW. thanks guys

 

try jump starting or charging the battery.

Or does it have a volt meter? do the lights dim? I would try jumpstarting before jumping into a new starter.

 

Could be a bad starter. Unless you've got a garage to work in, you won't get it replaced by tomorrow.

 

thats what im doing, called AAA. i mean i have full power lights arnt duim or anything until i turn the key and car just clicks and everything turns dim

oh i know that if its the starter, just wondering if anyone had ideas. how hard is it to replace a starter?

 

x2 on the jump start. You can go from there, do the easy things first.

 

Sounds like the battery doesnt have enough amps to turn the starter. I highly doubt the starter is the problem. Take the battery out, take it to an Advanced Auto or Auto Zone and have them bench check it for you. It could appear to have 12 volts, but when under load it drops to 2 or 3, which isnt enough to turn the starter. I wouldnt waste time jumping it, it's probably a dead cell, which means it wont hold a charge, which means it's just going to go dead on you again.

 

Oh definitely eliminate a bad battery before you go changing out starters. In my lifetime I've bought two brand new bad batteries, and had to take them back.

Changing a starter is easy, but it's usually labor intensive and takes awhile underneath your jacked up car. Plus your arms feel like jello holding up a 25 pound starter with one arm while bolting it in with the other.

 

yea problm no car = cant go anywhere AAA is on the way and they said they will try and jump start it. but bowtie i hope your right . if it was the starter wouldnt it not click at all?

 

It's what the starter on my cavvy did when it went bad.
I put in a remanufactured one and the brushes wouldn't spin right.
3rd time was a charm....but I was pissed by then

 

I manage a collision center in Texas and would be willing to bet from your description that the battery has died. I would do that first.

 

battery's dead. i see it all day. just get a battery sge'll be perfect

 

even tho the battery seems to make everything light up (dome CEL all the lights in the cluster) its dead enough to prevent the car from kciking over? if it was the starter it wouldnt click right?

 

are your headlights on? are they dimm at all? im betting a low voltage battery also...

 

I will bet you as much money as you would like to that it is your battery. It doesn't take much power run the lights on the dash. Just go to napa or sears and buy a new battery. My '06 SS/SC did it 2 weeks after I got it. Like someone said above the battery just doesn't have enough juice to turn over the starter.

 

well he just poped a portable jumper cable on it, it struggled and finally kicked over let it run for 5 mins, turn off and started right up again. so thanks guys this place gets better and better :cssnet:

 

the battery has enough power to power the lights and crap. when you turn it, the lights flicker. this is the result of a dead battery.

 

Like I said before, I would definitely get it bench checked. Unless of course she goofed or something and left a light on or something causing the battery to go dead, otherwise I would make sure the cell is good so it doesnt leave you/her stranded.

 

Same exact thing happened to me. Jumped it once and it was fine for the next few years up until I traded it in.

 

if your girl didnt leave anything on inside the car, it might be a paracitic draw situation and that could be a problem. on a cavy youll need a gm style parasitic draw battery cable and some spare time.

 

my cavy did this, I had to jump it about 10 times this year, after letting it sit for 2 months...The stereo has to much electornics to sit and not dribble power, so it dies, well it did it enough that jumping it didn't do any good anymore, it would die sitting over night, so we checked and the alternator went bad, got that fixed, but I guess when it died, it took the battery too, I replaced that today and we will see how it goes.

My guess is your battery won't hold a charge, you'll go to start it tomorrow and it will do the same thing again.

Or maybe your lucky and left something on, check the trunk light (mine stopped turning off and killed the battery, and so did the glove box light...)damn mercury switches.

 

starter.

if battery dies nothing happens when u turn the key. when starter goes you get the good ol' "click click click" when you turn the key.

 

sounds like a starter...but it could be the battery. get it checked out. most auto parts stores can check the battery/alternator while it is still on the car. you will have to take to the starter out to check it but most auto parts stores can check those once you get it out.

usually clicking tells me starter though. good luck

 

Remember that if you try and start your car with a Battery that is under voltage, it "can" mess up your starter. So a bad battery can cause other problems.
I would get all those parts checked on your next free day.
Like someone said, Autozone(or any parts store) will do a free check on your battery and Alternator, You can take the starter off and they will check it too.
You don't want to end up like me stranded 35 miles from home in a car that wont start.

 

The battery will cause the starter to click if there is a little bit of voltage there but not enough to spin the starter to move the flywheel. If it had enough voltage and the starter was bad the lights wouldnt flicker when he engaged the starter. He's saying that the lights are flickering which in terms to me would me not enought voltage from the battery. When my battery went dead in my cavalier from listening to the radio while detailing it. there was enough there to just make it click the starter then nothing. pulled out the batt charger let it charge back up for a couple hours on a low charge and no problems since.

 

If your battery gets a dead cell it can still produce the 12 volts it needs to light everything up and even work the starter solenoid. But with the dead cell in it, it will not produce enough amperage to turn the actual starter motor over. That's where the "click, click" comes from. Click, solenoid extends the bendix out to connect to the flywheel but no amperage to wheel r over.