My Acura is about ten years old, and is having trouble starting…sometimes. I just replaced the battery a month or two ago, so it’s not that. When I go to start it, sometimes it’ll give a little grumble, and then go seemingly dead, like there’s no juice. But if I keep the key turned, after a few seconds, it grumbles some more and eventually (after 10-15 seconds) gathers up the juice to actually start. The clock on my stereo has never reset, so there’s never actually any complete loss of power.
I took it into the shop (a place I’ve been going to for years that I generally trust), and of course, that day it was totally fine and refused to play along - it started up just great all day. The repair guy said they could replace the starter motor for me, but it’d be about $500, mostly labor, because they have to take out the whole intake manifold or some such to get at it.
If the starter motor is the problem, then so be it. But should I go ahead and do that, or is there anything else it could be?
I’m certainly no mechanic, just a guy that’s had a lot of older cars and dealt with a lot of issues over the years. With that said, it sounds to me like it could be any number of things. Like was said above, it could be a bad ground or dirty/loose terminals. Maybe it isn’t getting enough gas or air to start and it isn’t electrical at all. I once replaced the starter on an old Nissan truck only to find out that the flywheel was trashed and needed to be replaced, as it was missing teeth and if I caught it just right when turning the key it would start. Maybe the timing is off? I don’t know, but I wouldn’t just throw a starter at it. I’d take it to mechanics that love a good challenge and that want to figure out what is actually wrong other than mechanics that just want to throw parts at it hoping that eventually they hit the right one.
Even though it’s a pain in the ass to change, can you see the body of the starter motor when you open the hood? The symptoms you describe sound like a classic case of lazy solenoid, which can sometimes be remedied for a time by a hearty whack with a wrench.
That was my first thought too. I had this exact symptom with an old Mini I had - except on the Mini, the solenoid was dead easy to get to so I found it easier to just keep a hammer in the passenger footwell rather than fixing it properly. :o
Personally, I’d get all the battery terminals, engine ground straps and starter motor connections checked and cleaned first though, as that’s a fairly cheap and easy place to start. I’d hate for you to spend $500 on a new starter and then it turns out to be a grotty connection somewhere.
