PLEASE Help! URGENT!!!!

jaymac · Oct 5, 2004

Long story short, my McLaren has been in the body shop for 4 months after being hit, and FINALLY today it was ready to go. THEN, when they tried to reconnect the battery, the alarm started going off, so then he tried to start the car to turn off the alarm, but it didn't work, so he disconnected the battery ( I think at this point he said it continued to crank). As it is now, we took out the remotesrter system and checked in the ignition columnand even disconnected the ignition harness from inside the column, and even with the kill switch on and off it will still crank as soon as you touch the negative cable to the terminal. The starter solenoid is new and the car was even starting fine all the way up until yesterday. The guy took apart everything he did yesterday to check the wires and they're all ok.
Can ANYONE tell me where I should start?
Basically the owner of the shop is a d!@k, and says it's ultimately my problem, so I just want to take the car back myself and try to fix it myself.
Any help would be MORE appreciated than you would EVER know...
thanks guys,
Jeremy

Daggar · Oct 5, 2004

If it's an insurance fix then you should start by having it towed to a place than can get it fixed correctly. As soon as you start screwing with it then it DOES become your problem. Let the insurance adjuster work it out.

jaymac · Oct 5, 2004

Yeah I know, but it's just not feasible at this point, I've been sharing a car w/ my girlfriend for more than a month, I'm losing $200 a week due to missed appointments, I need my car back now . Give it to someone else and it's just more time, more money. I need to be proactive and take every measure in my power to get his done NOW.
Any mechanical/technical ideas?
thanks,
Jeremy

tmoss · Oct 5, 2004

Sounds like that new starter relay failed and is not disconnecting....

5.0 Nostalgia · Oct 5, 2004

I know exactly what's wrong with your car. The same thing happened to me. I wrote a full explanation but the site was slow and it never got posted. To make a long post short, your alarm is stuck in the on position. When this happened to me, when I tried to connect the battery and the car would etiher try to start, the alarm would go off, or the cable would spark so hot that it tried to weld the cable to the terminal. This was in the winter and the car wasn't being used. It took a while to figure it out, but basically I just played with the alarm remote until it turned off. Once you get it fixed, don't use the alarm. Better yet, disconnect it or remove it.

Let us know how it turns out. What kind of alarm is it?

Blandnuts · Oct 5, 2004

Here's a list of things to check.
1. Starter Solenoid- You said it's new but where did you purchase it from? There might be arched/hot spots on the solenoid that are sticking, which will make the car continue to start while off. When I had this problem, I would tap the solenoid and it would eventuall disengage.

2. What might cause a premature failure of the solenoid? Bad battery cables, wire leading to starter, old starter. You didn't say what year your car is but certain years (minus 93 I think) has a starter that draws a lot of power. If the cables are insufficent for the draw, the hot spots will occur.

This is where my problem was and I had an alarm as well... Hope this helps.

fred

Idwitheld-1` · Oct 5, 2004

:OT:

Can we get some pics of your "mac"?

What year?

jaymac · Mar 31, 2005

6 months later...

Thanks for the help guys - Blandnuts, you were right - the starter solenoid was sticking - it did it again a few motnhs ago too! And then again! I thinkI should just replace it. At least I know what the problem is now...
Anyway, a few McLaren pics:

jaymac · Mar 31, 2005

jaymac · Mar 31, 2005

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