Reasons why a Car Won't Start?

What time period?

If you don't need anything detailed, then you can just say it was an electrical connection.

Hondas used to have a problem with a relay under the dashboard when it got hot, so just opening the doors and letting the interior cool would often help.

Yeah, an electrical connection would work with any make. You can never tell when there'll be such a problem.

The reason I asked what time period was because in the good old days vapor lock used to be a common problem in hot weather, but that's mostly been eliminated with modern fuel injection systems.

alleycat said:

The reason I asked what time period was because in the good old days vapor lock used to be a common problem in hot weather, but that's mostly been eliminated with modern fuel injection systems.

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Vapor lock in the line from the tank can still be a problem.

Fuel pump relay fails. It's hard to diagnose, but easy to fix as you just need to swap out the relay. If it looks like the cylinder is getting a spark, but no fuel, I'll swap the relay with the wiper relay (same type on every car I've owned) and try starting.

Sapphire135 said:

I like this idea! So, if it was a fifteen year old BMW automatic and the guy said something vague like "Oh, it's your fuel pump relay. Let me swap it out for the wiper relay."

Of course, I don't know what any of this means...but if I kept it vague, would it be believable??

Thanks for the suggestions!

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More like "Hmmm.... Let me try som'thin'. Alright, try it now." rer rer rer Varoom. "You need a new relay," hands them a piece of black plastic with prongs on one end and writing on the other, "Get it 'fore it rains, wipers won't work 'til ya do."

Then I suggest you hit your local library and check out their collection of Chilton & Haynes auto repair manuals.

We had a problem with a bad connection from the battery to the terminal due to build up of debris on the terminals. (My understanding is that the debris was caused by corrossion on the terminals in the car, if I recall correctly).

The car wouldn't start, but it was an easy fix when someone who knew what they were doing looked at it. (They just disconnected the battery, cleaned the terminals, and reconnected the battery. They did it in 10 minutes in our driveway)

Had a friend who got a new battery put in and then a couple days later car wouldn't start. We opened the hood to jump it and one of the contact cables had worked its way off the contact. Just put it back and the car started.

There's also the starter motor (at least, that's what it's called in the UK). If there's something wrong with the starter motor, it's similar to having a dead battery but the electrics will usually still work. It's a fairly easy fix but the car would need a mechanic.

Dirty contacts on the distributor

Insulation gone on a wire so it is shorting out on the car body

Ignition lock with loose connection - shake the steering column in frustration and it starts.

If diesel, glow plugs gone - but not a quick fix.

If diesel, fuse to the glow plugs gone - there is a work around for that but you need to get a new one immediately.

Contribution from recent personal experience - I've a 2005 car. It has a passlock security module thinger, even though there's no embedded chip in the key. The other morning the security light came on, but wouldn't start. Battery/power was fine. The (possibly temporary?) fix is to leave the key in the "on" position for ten minutes, try to start it, turn it off, let it sit for 20 seconds, try to start it. If the passlock thing isn't blown, it can take up to three times for this to reset the security system. I love my car.

hee I was going to suggest the terminals on the battery. True story, I was on a trip to East Texas/West Louisiana and my car kept dying when I turned it off. Tried everything, we'd have to jump it, had the alternator checked out and swapped out the battery. It even died once on the side of the road (about 100 miles from home). In frustration I called everyone I knew for help, a friend was near by, stopped at Wal-Mart and picked up a terminal cleaning kit. He scrapped the corrosion off the terminal and it started right up. Talking to my dad a day or two later (after he checked the original battery and found it was good) he said, "you always travel with a bottle or two of Coke right?" I said, yeah and he went on to tell me that you can pour a little bit of the coke on your terminals, use a wire brush or a small pen knife and clean the terminals. Reconnect and it'll start. I've tried it and it works. Something in the coke eats away at the corrosion.

Bloo said:

Something in the coke eats away at the corrosion.

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Acid, Coke is very acidic.

King Neptune said:

Acid, Coke is very acidic.

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I had acid typed in and then changed my mind, just in case. I will say that I don't drink as much soda and coke as I used to after that LOL

If the vehicle is a diesel pickup (like what I drive), it may not start in weather below 30 F. Diesels can be particular in that way. In cold weather, it's ideal to plug in their block heater, so the engine stays warm (I've had my share of incidents in the past, where I was late to work, because I forgot to plug in my truck the night before). In fact, it's not uncommon for someone with a diesel to go to the movies or something on a cold night, and not be able to start up their truck in the parking lot.

My (ancient, knackered, exciting) car won't start after heavy rain, if I forget to cover it up, because some genius designer at MG put the ignition leads and coils right under the boot-lid engine vent.

If you want a super easy solution, you could have someone try to start the car in neutral, which it won't. Simply put it in park to resolve.

My car ('02 Saturn Ion) and my husband's car - same model - had a problem where they wouldn't start because the security system didn't recognize a valid key.

We would put the key in, car would turn over once and die. It was 100% dead. No revving. No choking. There was just nothing. There was absolutely nothing you could do to start that car for ten minutes. Then, after ten minutes had passed, you could try again. If it didn't start that time, you had to wait ten more minutes.

Myrealana said:

My car ('02 Saturn Ion) and my husband's car - same model - had a problem where they wouldn't start because the security system didn't recognize a valid key.

We would put the key in, car would turn over once and die. It was 100% dead. No revving. No choking. There was just nothing. There was absolutely nothing you could do to start that car for ten minutes. Then, after ten minutes had passed, you could try again. If it didn't start that time, you had to wait ten more minutes.

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One of my brothers had a car with a similar problem, but he put a jump around it. I wish I could describe it in detail, but there was a length of wire that had to be touched to the ciragette lighter for the thing to start, and sometimes one would think that cord was a loose shoelace. Eventually the car died of other reasons.