This has been an intermittent issue for months. Maybe once a month I'll attempt to start the car and get nothing at all(no turnover). Immediately I would try again and it has been starting fine on the second try.

Today however it was different. I tried for 5 mins to get it get it to turn over and nothing. Finally I tried it and it started up fine and made it home. Lights, air, radio all were fine. The battery terminals look fine. I'm thinking I am going to end up stranded if I don't get this fixed.

Any thoughts?
Anything common I should check first?

Many thanks

Rick

What do you mean the battery terminals look fine? Did you physically take them apart and check them out?

Also check chassis ground, and connections at the starter/solenoid.....

Do you have a black pellet on your ignition key or "PK3" stamped?

When the car won't crank, release the key to the on position, and see if the SECURITY light in your dash is out, or on....

check the fuel pressure, alot of times when the fpr goes it acts like that. the fpr is what keeps the fuel pressure while sitting, so fit the gauge, hit the key a few times then see if the pressure holds. should for quite a while. sometimes does this when the pump is going too if the pressure is getting low.

Also remove your MAF Sensor and be sure the little cover/tip that goes over the thermistors is on there firmly, I had an issue with my 96' PA where occasionally it would not start, turned out the tip has two small dots that hold the tip on, and somehow my tip had come off and spun around a bit causing the dots to wear off, and that would let the tip occasionally block the bore in the throttle body, so the car would not start because the MAF was not letting any air flow over the thermistors.

Maybe once a month I'll attempt to start the car and get nothing at all(no turnover). Immediately I would try again and it has been starting fine on the second try.

Today however it was different. I tried for 5 mins to get it get it to turn over and nothing. Finally I tried it and it started up fine and made it home. Lights, air, radio all were fine.




That has nothing to do with fuel pressure, MAF sensors, f/p regulators, etc.

It may have nothing to do with it, but have you ever had the tip of a MAF break off and spin in the TB bore?
My car would start most of the time, occasionally it would not, it slowly got worse, I am guessing as those little ****/dots or whatever you call them wore down, then the tip began to spin more until it got stuck sideways, then my car would not start anymore, I see what they typed, I can read without it being in bold...

Wow, William and a personal message from JW......

My reason for the post was, I thought we were going off on a tangent......The poster is the guy who is writing the repair order....we have nothing to go on but what the symptom is, that he posts....I put it in bold, because sometimes, even moi, sometimes you read a post quickly, and you miss the point.....

He states his car randomly does not turn over......to me, that means it does not crank at all.....If it doesn't crank, what would the first thing you do? Check fuel pressure? Disconnect the MAF?

Now if he meant that, the car cranked, but didn't start, then I am way off base...

My intention was not to put you guys down, but to get you back on track.....If I ruffled a few feathers, which apparently I seem to have done, then I apologize.....

If thats what the OP meant than you are right, nothing to do with the other things william And I suggested. OP-

when you put "got nothing" its pretty open for interpretation. if you mean the starter doesnt crank, then you should check the things gus mentioned

Ahh ok, I should not have taken what you put in bold as an attitude, I did not understand about what the OP said about it "got nothing", now I see they meant it was not turning over, I was up 27hrs yesterday and my brain was out of gas, sorry about the misunderstanding, and thanks for trying to help others.

You are right, he should check the things you suggested, and report back with his findings.

Sorry for the confusion guys. Yes dead. No starter engaging, no click of solenoid, no turnover, no nothing. The radio and ac turned off while attempting to turn the key into the start position, and returned to normal once in the run position. So at least that is happening.


Thank you all for the interest

1. Battery terminals were cleaned and tightened recently due to needing a battery.

2. The chassis ground I did not check, I will check, clean, and ensure a good contact. I assume you mean the mating point from the main neg cable to the frame?

3. Yes there is a chip in the key.

4. The security light has a mind of it'* own and has been that way for a couple years, may be related may not......It seems simply intermittent.

I'll check the starter/solenoid connections after tomorrow (my last day of work since this happened)

Many thanks

Rick