Working on my wife"s CRV. When you turn the key to start it there is power but when you try to start it just clicks basically like a bad connection. Well I started playing around trying to figure this out and I had a test light connected to the negative side and the probe was just stuck into the hood release mechanism. I noticed when I would turn the key and it would click and lose power the test light would come on and stay on. My thoughts were that I had something shorting out and causing current to flow through the frame. After pulling some fuses to see what would cause the light to go out I found that it was a combination of two things, the interior lights and backup lights. This vehicle has a car starter and I traced back one wire to the backup lights and didn't find a problem. Also when I disconnect the negative side of the battery and reconnect I get power back and test light goes out. I would also get power back on when I closed the rear door hard or shook the CRV. Anyway I'm lost and don't know where to look anymore. Anyone with any advice?
Wait, the probe would light up going from negative to hood latch, sounds like a crap ground or starter shorted. If all the stock grounds are on then I would give the starter some love taps while the wife holds the key in the crank position. If it starts 100% the starter is your problem. The click and electrical noise, is it the starter solenoid click or something else
Well I didn't get back to this post until now but good call because I got the starter out. (What a pain!) Anyway tried bypassing the signal wire while still in the truck and it wouldn't turn over. Pulled it and bench tested and it worked. Put it back in and tried straight from the battery and it worked but turned the engine over very slow. Going to get it load tested tomorrow.
Well now I'm lost. Took it in to get it load tested and it came back good. Put it back in the car and when I hooked it up to the cars electrical it turned over a couple times and then it just clicked again. Tried hooking it up straight to a battery and it turns the engine over real slow. Anyone have any ideas? Should I trust the load test at the parts store? A new starter is $300 and I don't want to waste the money if that's not the problem.
i had this problem in my 96 surf (4runner) twin battery's, replaced both battery's and click still would not start replaced starter and away she went. my advice would be to get a sparky to check your battery if good then pull starter and get that checked before spending any money
It's not the battery, I tried two different ones that I know are good. Both measure 12.6. I'm wondering if it's the starter?
check your connections, its probably a bad ground. when try to start the car does everything else lose power ?
I don't know, but here's what I did to my toyota. Got new starter still didn't workd. New battery still didn't works. New battery power cable still didn't work. Run another power to a relay to the starter still didn't work. Finally cleaned the - battery cable, scrape some paint off the firewall where the ground bolts bolt on and no more click click or nock when I try to start Been starting fine ever since. Yours might be different. Might be helpful to have the repair manuel on hand too.
Bingo! When I was playing around with the new starter I grabbed the ground where it goes to the engine. It felt loose so I pulled on it and it came right out of the connection. Cleaned it up and soldered it and it's all good. Thx for all the help guys!
