issue = car will not start. happened out of no where, the car has been fine up until tonight




a few things i observed and attempted to remedy my probs:

• all interior lights turned off, my initial thought is a dead battery or my negative terminal came loss again
• disconnect and reconnect neg terminal, for a moment interior lights do come on and so does the stereo ... but all things turn off once i try to start up car
• swapped out battery for a brand new optima yellowtop ... car still does not start
• one thing i found that was "odd", when disconnecting and reconnecting the negative terminal ... the interior lights do come back on, and i have the ability to listen to the radio and roll my windows up and down
• BUT ... as soon as i attempt to start up the car, all interior lights and sterero turns off ... we're back to step 1 ...
• even the brand new optima battery has the same results where all interior lighting and stereo goes off when trying to start up the car
• checked the fuses in the fuse box near the battery, all fuses seem to be fine

any ideas? before i resort to "i need a new starter" im hoping theres a simple solution that i left out. thanks in advance CL

 

i took a quick glance at these 2 threads:

"Changed out my starter today"
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/per...ter-today.html

"Need part # for starter contacts"
https://www.clublexus.com/forums/per...-contacts.html


(my issue seems to be diff compared to the common symptoms, that or the answer was in those 2 threads and i totally missed it )

 

It could be your starter relay. Go under the hood and check that out.
Read this thread, it sounds like your problem.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/per...itch-help.html

Good luck.

 

Have u had the alternator checked yet?

 

UPDATE, a super helpful local suggested that i "wiggle" the neg and/or pos cables as someone else starts up the car ... WORKED like a charm!

looks like my issue is related to a bad ground or bad battery cables? ill try to isolate the problem this weekend and report back w/ my findings

 

That's what I was thinking was a bad ground, especially when you said it would start after you wiggle the negative battery terminal. Check all the grounds on the motor and frame. You might have to run a separate 4gauge wire to a ground on the frame to get you by. Just a thought.

 

^^^ any pics or a helpful link i can read up on that?

 

fuses look fine, thanks for the suggestion!


so i replaced the neg cable w/ 4 gauge wire and re routed the ground w/ a seperate 10 gauge wire, and all seems to be well ... *knocks on wood*