califcamper Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 (edited) Recently signed on to forum now brother having starter problems, so he asked if I could get help., His starter had been having issues for the past year, with a hammer and a tap it and several turns of the key it would eventually start. Problem was getting worse so he decided to replace starter. Went to Autozone, and got a rebuilt starter. We replaced starter, and thought for sure we were a go, then hooked it all up, put battery cables back on then nothing no lights, no door sound no nothing. thought it must be battery. Hooked up jumper cables and a strange spark emitted from his postive side as he put the cable on (checked to be sure cables were on right and were). So disconnected jumper cables. Thought to take starter cable off of starter and did so, rehooked jumper cables to battery then opened door, sound on , and lights came on. Rehooked starter again and tried a second time, same thing almost as if we had jumper cables backwards, spark and smoke as we hooked last one up on his battery. But jumper cables were on correctly pos to pos neg to neg. Wondering if starter might be just defective? Any help appreciated and thankyou. oh btw its a 95 legacy 2.2L Edited October 12, 2011 by califcamper add on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnceggleston Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 (edited) unless you put the pos battery cable to ground and the neg to the starter, yes, the starter is bad. often times re-manned starters are troublesome. i would get a used starter, maybe. or replace the contacts for the original starter. they cost about $15.00 and are not hard to install. Edited October 12, 2011 by johnceggleston Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmdew Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 Auto or manual Trans. I think I have both starters. If you can send a picture I can match it up for sure. Larry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster2 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 You have a dead short somewhere. Hard to believe the starter could cause a dead short. Usually a bad starter simply doesn't work, and produces no other issues, not the problems you are having. Like already responded here........are you sure your battery cables are not reversed?? Any chance the battery was removed, then installed 180 degrees wrong?? I buy quite a bit from AZ. I have never had trouble with their rebuilts, but others say they do. Regardless, AZ has a great guarantee on their products, so you won't have any trouble getting a replacement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
califcamper Posted October 13, 2011 Author Share Posted October 13, 2011 You have a dead short somewhere. Hard to believe the starter could cause a dead short. Usually a bad starter simply doesn't work, and produces no other issues, not the problems you are having. Like already responded here........are you sure your battery cables are not reversed?? Any chance the battery was removed, then installed 180 degrees wrong?? I buy quite a bit from AZ. I have never had trouble with their rebuilts, but others say they do. Regardless, AZ has a great guarantee on their products, so you won't have any trouble getting a replacement. Yeah I have too, can say I have gotten some cheaper parts but never a complete defect. I checked several times to make sure we had jumper cables on correctly, because thats exactly the way it was reacting. Last time I doubled checked and when we hooked up to sub battery it sparked and then started smoking. I said lets remove cables from battery on sub and connect jumper cables to pos and neg cables (bypassing battery on subaru completely to rule out battery short). We did that making sure all was correctly hooked up, and same thing major spark as we put last cable to negative. So we pulled off immediately. I know its not the car using to jump either, because someone next to us needed a jump and it worked fine.Taking starter off and returning to autozone tomm morning (they say they can test although ofcourse they are already sayin it must be the starter cable). Everything worked fine yesterday except starter not working like it had in the past year. Will post results to maybe help someone else in future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
califcamper Posted October 13, 2011 Author Share Posted October 13, 2011 Auto or manual Trans. I think I have both starters. If you can send a picture I can match it up for sure. Larry Auto, I will pass on info, and thanks not sure what he is gonna do. And thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
califcamper Posted October 13, 2011 Author Share Posted October 13, 2011 unless you put the pos battery cable to ground and the neg to the starter, yes, the starter is bad. often times re-manned starters are troublesome. i would get a used starter, maybe. or replace the contacts for the original starter. they cost about $15.00 and are not hard to install. I think thats what were gonna find, will know tomm, and thanks I will pass on info about replacing contacts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cougar Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 The trouble with the starter most likely happened when the battery cable was connected to it and tightened down. The head of the screw stud inside the solenoid most likely got torqued to the side and contacted ground. Moving the stud back a little should clear the trouble. You can verify that by using an ohmmeter and checking the resistance between the stud and ground. It should be infinate resistance normally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster2 Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Yeah I have too, can say I have gotten some cheaper parts but never a complete defect.I checked several times to make sure we had jumper cables on correctly, because thats exactly the way it was reacting. Last time I doubled checked and when we hooked up to sub battery it sparked and then started smoking. I said lets remove cables from battery on sub and connect jumper cables to pos and neg cables (bypassing battery on subaru completely to rule out battery short). We did that making sure all was correctly hooked up, and same thing major spark as we put last cable to negative. So we pulled off immediately. I know its not the car using to jump either, because someone next to us needed a jump and it worked fine.Taking starter off and returning to autozone tomm morning (they say they can test although ofcourse they are already sayin it must be the starter cable). Everything worked fine yesterday except starter not working like it had in the past year. Will post results to maybe help someone else in future. AZ stores used to have a testing station, where starters could be hooked up to power, and tested inside the store. However, I haven't seen a testing station in some time, so they may have discontinued that service. Tell the AZ counter guy that you know what you are doing in installing a starter, and your cables and hook ups are correct, but your electrical system continues to short out. After completing that discussion, they will swap out another starter to you with no hassle. Hope a "new' starter solves your problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
califcamper Posted October 14, 2011 Author Share Posted October 14, 2011 Update, removed starter took to AZ, they did have a station to test, so he tested and nothing, then he tried again and it started smoking, concluded bad starter. We got another from a different AZ and it worked. Car is starting and running. The good news is rebuilt starters from AZ are only $80, and next time I would suggest testing before we leave store. Problem solved This site is really helpful, but its not just the site, its the people that are members. THANKS TO ALL!! (why cant chevy have a site this helpful) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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