evansc300

Hey guys, so for the last week I have been searching on the forums (including this one) and all over AllData for the possible cause of my problem. Here's the low-down...After school last week I started the car and drove to work and everything was 100% fine no issues at all driving there. I parked it and went to work and when I came back to the car to leave I went to start it I got this horrible grinding sound coming from the starter. Now beware this car is lowered but I inspected the harness and it was not even touched nor damaged and then I relocated it. Still no start and still a grinding sound. I then tried to turn the crank clockwise by hand with a breaker bar and I couldn't even get it to turn with my foot kicking it which scared me but I jsut assumed I wasn't strong enough to over come the compression. So I bought a Re-manufactured starter from Napa and it looked super solid. I installed it and the sound went from cranking and grinding to clicking with no crank at all. I assumed my old crap battery was dead because I live in Arizona so I went ahead and replaced it and still no luck. When I go to start it the relay clicks and the lights shut off. For a second I thought it would be the Crank position sensor but the car would still at least try to crank if it was that. So now I am stuck with no car and no transportation and I am lost. As of now I am going to inspect the wires going to the starter but I don't see why they would all of the sudden just take a crap on me and leave me stranded. Any help is appreciated!

gerrb

iTrader: (34)

It will be nice to say what car you have . I assume this is an SC300 ?

Unbolt the two starter bolts .. lay it on a piece of wood and try starting it just to see if starter and its corresponding wiring is good .. if yes , then you know the problem is the starter gear isn't rotating your flexplate / flywheel.

by doing that , you strike two birds in one shot ... checking the starter and wiring associated with it . Suggested this first since you said you can't rotate your crankshaft

evansc300

Well, I posted in the 1992-2000 sc300 forum and my username is evansc300 but yeah its a 1992 sc300. The starter looks brand spanking new and you think that it would be an issue with the new starter? I can feel the teeth engaging but the dash electrics just die out and the car cuts its electricity off when I try to crank it. Anyone have an idea what this could be?

gerrb

iTrader: (34)

Both SC400 which has the 1UZFE and the SC300 which has the 2JZGE are on ONE FORUM . There is no separate forum for the SC400 or the SC300 so it could have been an SC400 . Not because your username has SC300 , every one should assume you only have an SC300. There are a number of people here who both have an SC300 and SC400. Or some who has an SC3 as part of their username but do not have anymore an SC300 .

Not because a part is brand new , it cannot be defective . Have you ever heard of factory defects ? If you tried discerning well my advice and why I did so , rather than being a smart aleck first , it would have allowed you to validate if you have a healthy electrical system. How so ? If starter runs without being connected to the flywheel / flex plate and your electrical system doesn't flicker on and off as you have mentioned , then your problem is not electrical in nature. You would have isolated the starter and electrical system being the cause of your problem.

Now , you also said that you couldn't turn the crank shaft manually coupled with a starter ( which is presumed to be good since you tested it before hand) not able to rotate engine will somehow tell you that your problem can possibly be mechanical in nature .. But the problem is you first thought of being a smart aleck instead of trying to understand what I was trying to say. What was suggested would have helped you isolate the problem .

When you are trying to ask for help on a forum , being a smart as* isn't the wisest thing to do !

freakness

Dude,


When you checked for error codes, what did the engine computer say?



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evansc300

It said nothing, I only have a code 27 because of my catless midpipe but nothing else.

evansc300

Sorry about it, I've been out of a car for a week now and its just been nothing but annoying so I've been a little pissed off. It's a 92 SC300. So far I can't rotate the crank even by trying to rotate it with a breaker bar and my foot, BUT the weird thing is that one or two times I repeatedly made the starter click and I heard it move the crank like what I would assume was about 10 degrees. Also before I changed the starter (when it was making a grinding sound) It would crank a small amount but grind and the crankshaft would move 10 degrees at a time as well. I just don't see why it would fail mechanically all of the sudden with no reason or warning when everything in the car was good and it was running fine.

salimshah

With the trans decoupled [auto:P/N, manual:N], one should be able to turn the main pulley with a long ratchet drive, let alone a breaker bar and foot power. I have grown up with diesel cars and they have a high compression and a nasty kickback, but they can also be turned with a breaker bar. Starter can develop more power by gearing but if the crank shaft is immovable, you will mess up the starter.

What is causing the seizure of crank shaft is the question.

Salim

gerrb

iTrader: (34)

Hope that engine hasn't hydrolocked . OP, was there any chance that engine ingested water through the air filter / intake the last time you used it. The symptoms you mentioned with the old and new starter seem the same so that means it is the crankshaft that is seized. Something is preventing it from turning. There should be no reason why the starter would not rotate that crankshaft while it is in Park.

evansc300

Sorry for the super late response everyone, turns out the reman starter I bought wasn't the greatest and I had to try starting it for 4 days in a row for it to finally make a good enough connection to rotate the crank. Starts and runs fine now, I think the starter was fighting me trying to rotate the crank by hand and that's why I wasn't able to. Soon after I went ahead and pulled the ECU and replaced all of the leaking capacitors with some good Low ESR Nippon Denso ones and the car has been awesome since then. My only issue now is my low idle. I'm going to check a few things this week being the TPS adjustment, IACV, and I have weird feeling that my EGR vacuum lines were put on wrong or the valve itself is faulty because I removed the Intake Y-Pipe and had to disconnect the EGR but didn't have a big enough wrench so I removed the two small 13mm bolts where the EGR pipe meets the valve and just pushed it out of the way. It seems like the EGR is just staying open at idle because the car runs and drives perfect but at idle it is at about 300-350 rpm's and not smooth. Even sputters every once in a while which is odd. Any advice would be appreciated thanks!