like the title says. I try to start the car it wouldnt, as if its almost outta battery. Radio and all electronics come on fine. A few tries dont cut it. A few minutes later it would start fine. I tried even disconnecting tne battery and putting it back. No bueno

This happened to me twice, once a couple weeks ago and now.

I apologize if this has been posted before but using the forum on the cell phone sucks. My main suspect is tne starter, second is the connections between battery and alternator or battery and starter.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance

 

terminals is my first guess. corrosion travels up cables sometimes past the unseen terminals.


second try tapping starter while starting or direct 12v connection to starter.... im pretty sure step one will get you taken care of though.

 

Check your starter. Click click click start sounds like your starter my friend.

 

Starter wants to go out, if ur problem isn't the battery or cables

 

Thanks for the prompt responses.

This problem and the click click click only happens when it doesnt want to start. Other than that starts fine. Now that I think about it, last time it didnt even click as if Im completely out of battery, electronics were working fine. Oddly my battery cover has been missing for god knows how long until i found out a few days ago and got one.

Only time battery were touched is a few months ago when alternator went out and I kept charging at autozone. Could this be related to the problem? Ill go test the battery soon as I get to the car in a couple of hours.

Last thing on mind is something I noticed after changing the alternator. When I start the car I keep hearing soft click sounds from under the hood. I never figured out from where though, but it has been going on for quite a bit and car was gravy. Meh thought I'd mention.

Kal

 

Test the battery, battery cables, and the alternator. If the tests return positive results, it's most likely starter failure. MAKE SURE that everything is fine electronically, though, before you replace the starter. It'd be a LOT of work to go through just to find out that the starter isn't actually the problem.

 

Contacts on the starter are cheap but a pain in the *** for you on a 400. As luna said get everything else straight first. Good luck.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately I couldnt get to it today and its raining. We'll see tomorrow or this weekend. Much appreciated

 

def id say starter, the tapping method should prove to be useful if it doesnt start. haha

 

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/per...not-271-a.html

 

^^ Thank you.

Still rainy, not doing anything today either. Crossing my fingers for a good change in this crazy VA weather (It was sunny yesterday... pff)

As for the tapping method, I'm not sure it will be an accurate diagnosis in my case as it starts fine after a few mins without clicking. Is there a way to know that it decided to start because I tapped it and not because it felt like it?

 

if you hear a click and nothing happens, and you try again and it fires up, its your starter contacts going out.
basically your plunger is bottoming out (the click sound) before it touches the contacts (because they are worn) so the starter never engages.
obviously sometimes it may barely touch and your car starts cause the starter turns on, but as the contacts wear more and more you will not be able to start at all.
Since you have an sc400, you are in for a lengthy repair, just to be able to access the starter to change the contacts requires dismantling of alot of stuff.

 

Damn, you even referenced my thread, forgot about it.

 

Your thread helped me solve my problem.

 

Glad it helped you.

I went 1JZ about 10 months after that but it worked great every single day after that fix, from 110+ summer to freezing winter trip through Northern IL in Jan.