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My cavalier has been having an intermittent no crank for about two years. All symptoms following..
when the car get hot after being driven long distance it often won’t start until it cools down completely. However this isn’t consistent meaning sometimes the car won’t start after being driven only a short distance as well
was able to determine that both posts to the starter do have 12v while cranking when the symptoms were present. Immediately after determining this with a multimeter, I connected the red lead from multimeter to the third post from the starter to the solenoid and the car did start.. leading me to think bad ground somewhere but I’m not entertain sure?
i wasn’t able to determine if the starter housing itself was grounded or possibly had voltage present indicating bad ground due to the fact the car starter as stated above but I will attempt to do so next chance I get.
the car did once stall at a stop light recently and die, had to re start the car.
recently I learned my relay to the Radiator fan was bad. Wasn’t telling the fan to turn on high speed when needed. Replaced the relay. A week or so After replacing the relay and now the dash board headlight indicator flashes when the car is driving. If I turn the headlights on the dashboard flashing goes away. When the headlights are off the flickering is fairly consistent but random
I’ve been told it needs a new starter but the prob has been going on so long I’m doubtful and suspect a bad ground?? Or does this sound like I need a new starter? I’ve wasted money at shops more than once now would be awesome to figure this out
the multi meter black lead being connected to ground , and once I connected the red lead to the third post of starter seems to say bad ground does it not? Since I basically grounded that third post manually and then cranked the car and it started after that ?
i have not been able to locate a wiring diagram to help me diagnose all the ground locations.
thank you ! Love the channel
Last edit: 2 years 10 months ago by Raven44. Reason: Additional statement no wiring diamgram
Thank you for your reply, I am aware of the procedures to test a bad ground that you have stated above already however
The problem is, I don’t often have a second person with me when the car does NOT crank over. So consequently I have only had one chance to diagnose with a second person to crank the vehicle present.
As stated above when I did have this opportunity, the car started before I was able to determine if the stater housing had high voltage present.
I’m really looking for input on what it means due to the fact that the car started (as stated in first post) when the red lead was connected to the post (ground wire post???) Coming from the starter motor to the starter solenoid itself. This is the post that has a wire coming from the starter motor going to the solenoid...
I am assuming that by doing so I basically grounded the circuit. Meaning if I’m correct that there is something preventing grounding at the location of the post from starter to solenoid?
I’m guessing if a run a wire from the neg battery terminal and connect it to that same post the car won’t have these problems anymore.....
Buuut, I need a real fix. And that is locating the real problem not some half ass job. I’m very inexperienced in wiring and car work but it seems to be cheaper to do it myself rather than pay part swapping idiots to do nothing that can’t even diagnose properly! Thanks again for the reply
Ok I will be hoping to get under the car again while the symptoms are present and determine if it had bad ground or not.
As far as the blinking dash light goes any suggestions where to start would be awesome. It’s a new problem that hasn’t happened up until we changed the relay for the radiator fan (it’s been bad this whole time...) so now that it’s fully functional we have a new dash board headlight indicator light flashing
Wiring diagram would be awesome also to help me think through this or even some place that I can easily find the wiring diagram myself would be appreciated
Thank you I’ll check back in once I’ve determined if it was bad ground or not. The meter was in voltage mode since I was measuring for voltage definitely didn’t change it to amp mode
Stalk switch input to BCM, then BCM to IPC via Class 2 message and that turns on the little light. I wonder what the data pid says while you're driving. If it's not being commanded to flicker like that then suspect faulty IPC.
