Hello,
Any ideas? The engine does not crank. The battery+alternator+belts were replaced last year. I don't believe these are the cause.
I did try a sparky-mc-sparkster test > I pulled the R6 starter relay and put a jumper between the power leads, nothing, tried it with the ignition off, tried it with the ignition on, tried by turning the 'turn/start' on ignition.
All of the dash lights come on, half turn off when I turn/start the ignition - I believe this is normal (?)

 

I've been looking around...
Would the camshaft position sensor cause this? I imagine if one is bad you should replace both? Would this error show up on DTC Reader? Sadly, since the car is dead I can't drive it to a place to read any codes
Also, I've tried putting the car in Neutral but still no start/no crank.

 

Usually it�s a no start only. It would crank but never go.

 

You sure the battery is charged? Dimming of the instrumentation and a no-click no-start usually means a REALLY dead battery.

 

Thanks for the verification, I was thinking that after I posted (endless crank).

 

Ya know, I should get off my butt and check the obvious. I'll grab some jumper cables and test it tomorrow. Thanks!

 

A common culprit for parasitic draw on the battery is the head unit CD disc changer, however the battery will die on it's own after about 8 weeks without being started.

 

Nope, I tried a jump start and a let-it-charge-for-a-bit attempt. No joy.

According to my son, it was working fine, he drove it home and parked it, then it would not start the next day. Of course the car is not in a particularly easy place to work on and being so low to the ground to begin with, it's hard to climb under it. I would like to test the starter somehow. Does anyone know if the lead from the starter relay goes straight to the starter?

My next test, which I forgot on the starter relay test is to take my multimeter and measure against the trip/relay side of the relay socket and again across the current/feed side of the relay socket. I expect to measure 12V across the current/feed sides of the relay socket and a similar 12v (?) across the trip/relay side of the socket. <<<Sanity check here, any other expectations?

 

Check the NATS indicator light on the left side of the dash, is it solid red when you try to crank the engine? If so plug in an OBD2 scanner and see if there's any codes. If the BCM forgot the key RFID code then it may have triggered the immobilizer, after like 5 failed start attempts the engine won't even crank once the immobilizer is fully turned on. Once it's immobilizer is locked it will be code P1610 and the start relay will no longer close.

Test for battery voltage WHILE CRANKING. If it doesn't fluctuate then there is no draw, might just be as simple as the start relay went bad. Do the HEADLIGHTS turn on high and low? This will verify the headlight relays both work and you can swap one of them with the starter relay and the other with the ignition relay just to verify they have known working relays. I'm guessing this is NOT the case since you said the dash lights dimmed when turning the key to START.

Also, have you checked the fusible link? You may have blown out fuse M in the fusible link which powers the starter.

There is also a clutch PNP interlock on both the 6MT and 5AT. These would prevent the starter from engaging as well.



I'd start with these steps before bench testing the starter since all this stuff is easily accessible from the top of the car.

Ask your son EXACTLY what he remembers about it not starting, did the engine crank but just not catch? If it didn't crank did it at least make a CLICK as the starter tried to engage?

Sounds like right now it won't even click and try to engage the starter gear yes?

 

Blah, necro-posting, out of country, out of state, a million things, hauled the car over to my house, now it's time to get back to this.

I did swap the fuse and test it, no go. Initially my concern was that the starter was a 30A and the headlight was a 20A (or something like that). Either way, I figured a quick test to hear the starter start would be OK, no go though. No click of the starter engaging.

Since then the battery has died. I did charge the battery up but now as soon as I apply the power cables the lights+horn start going off. Using the key does nothing to stop this. Of note, I only have the physical key. There is no FOB or smart key. Does the car time out if there is no smart key? I'll hook up a code reader to see if the immobilizer has kicked in.