Help, my engine won’t start!
An engine needs four things to start: adequate cranking speed, good compression, enough ignition voltage, and fuel. If you have an engine that won’t start, it will boil down to those four areas.
If your engine won’t crank, then it probably is your starter or battery.
In nothing happens when you turn your key, try starting with another battery or a charger. If the engine cranks normally and comes to life, you probably have a dead battery or some charging problem that has let the battery run down. If the battery accepts a charge and tests fine, look at the output of the charging system.
However, if the engine doesn’t crank or cranks slowly when you attempt to jump start the engine and you have made sure the battery is fully charged, then the next area to look at is the starter circuit.
TIP: A quick method for diagnosing cranking problems is to switch on the headlights and see what happens when you attempt to start the engine. If the headlights go out, you could have a poor battery cable connection.
If the headlights continue to shine brightly when you try to start the engine and still nothing happens, voltage is not reaching the starter. You could have a bad ignition switch or a faulty starter relay or solenoid, or a bad fuse. If the starter or solenoid clicks but nothing else happens when you try starting, there may not be enough amps to spin the starter. Or the starter may be bad. The problem could also be a poor battery cable, solenoid, or ground connection, or high resistance in the solenoid itself.
When the engine cranks normally but won’t start, you need to check ignition, fuel, and compression.
If you see a good spark after cranking the engine, you could have a bad fuel pump, or there may be obstructions in the fuel line, or the fuel may be bad or contaminated with water or overloaded with alcohol. The issue could also be a compression problem caused by things like a broken timing belt or a blown head gasket.
If you have any problems related to your starter or alternator, give us a call at 660-893-5599 or find us on the web at http://www.jhengine.com. We test, repair, rebuild, and replace these items when they are faulty.