No Starter, No Chase

[Bill Tabor]

Looks like right now I am DOA for tomorrow's chase. Earlier today I went out to start my Tahoe in the driveway and nada, zilch, zip. After checking a few things I'm pretty sure it's the starter. I bought a starter relay at the auto parts store for $8.99 on the chance that could be it but no luck. I didn't think that would be it. My guess is it is finally time for the starter to be replaced and I think this is the original one and the vehicle has approaching 200K on it now.

I'm pretty sure I replaced one of these myself years ago when I was a teen on an old truck I had but I don't think I am too inclined right now to do it myself. Probably would take me too long anyway. I climbed under the vehicle and found it. It is somewhat out in the open. However now the parts stores are closed. Little chance of me making KS/NE.

Any of you folks knowledgeable about starters? Will rapping on it with a hammer help? It was somewhat intermittent. It seems it would hang once every few months or so, but then seemed fine. Appears the battery is charged, all lights come on etc, but when I turn the key I just get a 'click'. Any ideas here?

 

[David Drummond]

If it's just a single click, sounds like the bendex is engaging but the starter if frozen up (hopefully not the motor, but you prob would have known something was wrong if that was the case before you parked it). It's really not any more difficult to change than it was years ago on older trucks. Chevy starter technology hasn't really advanced much at all.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

I'm in a similar situation.

I SOL on tomorrow's chase. I have two bad tires on my Expedition that I'm getting fixed next week, I can't go far out of town... looks like my chase partners are staying out west tonight and not coming back.. so I'm stuck here. Sucks. MDT risk on a Saturday in Kansas and can't chase.

 

[Wesley Luginbyhl]

Sometime with starters, they will "start" to go out before they actually go. Hit the starter with a hammer and then try and crank it, it may not be completely gone yet. My old car did it once and the starter never stuck again, it was really weird. If it does work keep that hammer in the car just in case.

 

[David Drummond]

Thats true, not sure I would want to take the chance it might choose that moment out in front of a storm to not start up again (of course you could leave it running).

 

[SteveCarter]

I can relate. Can't go either. Last week in Oklahoma, my car just died, and I coasted to the side of the road. It's a 2004 Intrepid..106K miles. Bought it new..low maintanance until now, but have to figure out what's wrong with it before I go again. It started right back up, and didn't do it again until just outside of Memphis. The last time was on I-85 in Atlanta...will NEVER do THAT again. Try coasting across 7 lanes of traffic going 80mph. I stayed in the "slow" lanes the rest of the way back to South Carolina. When the starter went out on my truck, all I got was the single click, so it really sounds like the starter to me, but I'm no mechanic. Good luck.

 

[Josh Richardson]

Hey Bill, if you can take the starter off you should be able to have it tested at a local auto parts store. Most of them have the testers for it. At any rate a starter for most cars is almost right on top and literally like a 5 minute job to change it.

 

[Bill Tabor]

Hey guys, thanks for the words of wisdom. Sounds like a few others have it tough too. Feels a little better knowing I'm not the only one this happens to. One of you mentioned the engine just cutting out when going 80mph. This has happened to me also on a chase - actually twice. One of the days was the big popular Happy, Tx tornado. That was the target but I never made it that day. There was also another day in the Panhandle. In one case a hole had burned through the distributor, on the other the fuel pump just went out. Not a heck of a lot you can do when that stuff happens. I suppose if you brought a lot of replacement parts and tools you might have some chance.

You guys mention the hammer. Seems I've heard something similar. I guess I should have tried it. The vehicle is at the shop right now, and I think the mechanic has it working. It was turning over when it arrived. I'm thinking it got jarred a bit on the tow truck ride over which got it working again. It's been weird like that. This has only happened about 3 times over the last year, but it always immediately starts after I open the hood and push around on battery terminals and stuff like that.

Currently the mechanic doesn't think it's the starter. He thinks it's bad battery connector terminals or something like that. I don't get it. It has a brand new Interstate battery I put in about a month ago. I tightened those terminals real tight and also bought a new post connector for one of them. The guy said something like it also appeared the battery cable was fused. If that's true then maybe he means the pos and neg are meeting somewhere along the line and shorting. Crazy stuff.

I would have really needed to leave last night to make western KS near the warm front that likely has the best chance. Looks like this is a potential really big day from what I was seeing last night. Maybe some of the dryline has a shot. If I can I may shoot north as far as I can get possibly for a consolation storm.

For the rest of you guys that are still chasing....Rock On Dudes and best of luck out there! Shoot lots of pics and video! Guess there's always Saturday for me which also appears to have good potential.