Not turning over, bad starter?

id check the distributor cap just to make sure its not all wet underneath. but thats probably not the problem

it's late, leave it till morning and try it again. you got water somewhere, and water eventually evaporates.

as long as the solenoid, battery connections and motor ground are clean and dry, you should be alright.

you could try jumpin the solenoid to rule out part of the starter circuit, but i think it will fix itself.
good luck.

please post again tomorrow before you replace something. look at the cause and effect - you sprayed water on the motor. while it can temporarily knock stuff out, the components are made to get wet. it is probably a bad connection - the starter failing would be a fluke. it is suscepted to water all the time.

if you get it to run, id let it idle for awhile to heat up and boil stuff off. i know you drove it after washing, but water may have made its way somewhere it shouldnt while driving.....

good luck.

that is the thing, you should not have to replace anything. you just need to find what got wet and get it dry.
jumper cables make nice temporary ground, etc for testing. i just dont want to see you dump money into parts that were ok and that dont help you get running.

good luck.

You could have always shorted something out with that little water-spray-escapade. Possibly the solenoid or starter itself, it does happen. Does the car make any other sounds while trying to start or was that one snap/pop sound the last sound it uttered?

Here's a checklist:

Check battery, terminal connections, ground, starter relay switch (also known as solenoid) and starter in that order.

A voltmeter is handy if you are familiar with how to use it to find bad connections. Measure the voltage drop across a connection: more than .5 volts across a connection indicates a problem.

1.) Will the car start if it is jumped? Then clean battery terminals and check the battery. Most auto parts stores will do a free battery check if you bring them the battery.

2.) Check the battery to engine block ground, and the ground behind the engine to the firewall.

3.) Check the cables for cracks in the insulation, and corrosion around the wire where it joins the connector. Look for swelling of the cable’s diameter which would indicate corrosion inside the cable. Bending the cable can often reveal corrosive damage inside the cable when the outside looks OK.

4.) Put the car's transmission in neutral or has someone press in on the clutch. Then pull the small push on connector (red wire) off the starter relay (Looks like it is stuck on a screw) and jump it to the terminal that is connected to the battery. If it starts, the relay is good and your problem is in the rest of the circuit.

5.) Remember to check the ignition switch, neutral safety switch on auto trans and the clutch safety switch on manual trans cars. If they are good, then the relay is bad. See http://www.autozone.com/images/cds/...23d8019595f.gif for a very good diagram of the starter & neutral safety switch wiring

6.) Jump the big terminals on the starter relay next to the battery with a screwdriver - watch out for the sparks! If the engine cranks, the starter and power wiring are good. The starter relay is also known as a starter solenoid.

7.) The starter may be hung, loosen up the bolts that hold it on, and give it a good whack with a big hammer. Tighten up the bolts and try again.

8.) Pull the starter and take it to Autozone or Pep Boys and have them test it. If the starter fails the test, then replace it. If you got this far, the starter is probably bad.

88SC_GT said:

i had the car up and got a look at the starter. it was loose as a 10 cent hooker so i tightened it down and figured that had been my problem.

still nothing.. i dont understand this, everything seems ok. it just out of nowhere stops attempting to turn over

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if you are careful, you could run a jumper cable to the cable side of starter solenoid (from the pos cable). you would be applying direct battery juice to the starter from the battery. i would be very careful, and know that you must remove the cable to disengage the starter.....

just tryin to think of ways to isolate the problem. good luck.

88SC_GT said:

got it running again. it was my starter and solenoid. solenoid must have gotten water in it, and starter went out at the same time.

70 bucks but it starts alot stronger then before, and turns over period

thanks for all the advice

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Yep, that's what it sounded like. Glad you got it going again. I'm assuming you had the stock starter, otherwise you wouldn't be as excited about how much faster/stronger it starts