...well, I went out to my car and tried to start it. Get the single click. At first, thought it was my battery, so I tried to use my portable jump box. Nada.

Took the battery out and brought it to Walmart. They tested it and said it needed to charge. Then while it was charging, the machine conked out and said the battery was no good. So I got a free replacement battery after 1 1/2 years.

Went back home, put the new battery in, tried to start. Single click. Nada. Cables check out ok, no corrosion or loose. I put a voltmeter on the new battery and noticed that it immediately drops .4V from 12.4V or 12.5V right away when I put the key into accessories. I think the battery they gave me was no good, but I think I'm starting to see my starter go (if not gone already) as it requires more amps/volts to get the car running.

About 3 weeks ago, the same single click happened, but a giant AAA tow truck driver hooked up his industrial grade jump cables and the car cranked fine and didn't give any further problems.

Need some input from the experts. Any ideas?

 

Mine gives me the single click sometimes as well. When I am out on the road, I unhook my battery, even though it is a yellow top optima. When I re-hook my battery, I find that sometimes I have the move the positive cable around a little and it starts right up. Gotta find that "sweet spot". You may have some corrosion on the inside of the battery cable terminal which need to be scraped in order tomaintain good contact.

 

u need to go have it tested by a shop that has a tester that tests amp draw from the battery during cranking....have ur alt,starter and batttery tested....good luck

 

all i got for you is good luck, and lets keep as many LS on the road as possible

 

Yep I had that problem before. Unhooked the Battery and totally cleaned the both terminals on both the battery and cables using a wire brush. Never had the problem since.

 

man starter was a B1t<# to get out!! also if u do have to replace the starter in your driveway...please remember to replace all gaskets!! manifold gaskets, rear coolant bypass (sunuvab..), and have a bottle of rtv silicone gasket maker for tb, and iacv.

 

How many miles on the car? Original starter? Alternator?

When I had the battery go south, it clicked and like yours, the tow driver jumped it without issue. Battery later died and the following week, the alt died as well. Battery was in warranty period so no big deal. The alternator hurt.
My starter went at 86K somewhere. The alternator at 115K.

 

i recommend something called....right stuff http://www.permatex.com/products/Aut...sket_Maker.htm
this is the best for making gaskets

 

haha i picked up this one from autozone..works good though.
http://www.permatex.com/products/Aut...one_Gasket.htm

 

185K. The alternator was replaced just 2K ago. Power steering pump was changed out also. Everything was working fine.

I don't think my car would last 3 weeks on just 1 jump from a tow truck driver.

I just might have to tow it to my friend's house and let him figure it out. He's good at that.

 

So I had it towed 72 miles to my friends house. We spent nearly 4 hours trying to carefully take off the components to reach the starter. Due to 185K miles and constant engine heat, most of the plastic connectors broke. The fuel injector rings were also worn, and turned to dust. And that nice little valley in the intake plenum is filled with lots of...potting material. LOTS of carbon build-up on the intake plenum. Being cleaned with intake cleaner and liberal brushing.

We dry-fired the starter and found that the cylinder froze; the actual bearing wore out. $65 for a rebuilt starter (yup, we got it cheap but done by a cool rebuilder we're friends with) and it's going back together tomorrow. I wish I had some extra funds to do my major tune-up now with most of the stuff torn out. I also wish I had an EGR delete kit because all that crap is annoying and in the way.

I am happy I did it, because I knew that starter was also zapping my battery for extra amps to get my car started.

TY CL for all of your past posts and rants about my starter problem.

 

the plenum and fuel rail should have came off in one piece, no need to replace the injector orings if u didnt seperate the 2....o well ... how much was the o-ring kit? they are like 90.00 from the dealer

 

Yes, for the most part the plenum will come off in one piece, the fuel rail needed to be separated because it was in the way.

I bought a full injector seal kit for $5.00 each (x8), it comes with all seals for top and bottom.

 

I ran into a CEL after putting everything back together. Error Code 71. We took everything apart again, checked the EGR valve, which was plugged up because we took the liberty of scrubbing my intake plenum (and throttle body) clean of the carbon buildup. Some of the buildup got caught in the valve, so we took care of it.

After doing some searching on CL, I found that there was a tiny filter in the EGR Vacuum Modulator. It was dirty as hell. Surprisingly, it looks very similar to a round cosmetic cotton that my gf uses for her makeup. When I compared the two side by side, they look the same with the different layers (but the pad is denser than the filter obviously). I took off the modulator, made sure all the valves were cleaned and operating, then put the pad in place of the filter. I reset the ECU, and the light went out. Anyone else find a source or something to closely replace the OEM filter?

 

I just bathed it in soapy water,rinsed well and dried with a hair dryer