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Starter going bad?

T

todras

Pretty fly for a white guy *cowbell*
Joined
May 29, 2000
Messages
13,188
Location
Grand Rapids, MI
Went to start the car yesterday and the starter ground. Tried it again and it did the same thing. Grabbed a jack handle and pounded on it. Car started right up. Been fine.

People that know Contours know they can be finicky sometimes and a good whack can put them back in business. Just wondering if I'm on borrowed time. Car has 137k. Good thing about MTX's is that you can push start I guess.:laugh: Hopefully I won't be facing up a hill. :blackeye:
 
YOu can still bump start in reverse :). I did it off my driveway (you remember how steep) 3 times in my old black svt before i replaced the starter.

Your issue sounds like steeda's a good whack fixed it for the time being...

Buy a new one, easy fix... make your lady pay for it :laugh:
 
That sounds like a starter going bad. With my old F150 (5 speed) I had it going bad for months but kept driving it anyways :help: Just make sure you always park on a hill :laugh:
 
See how it plays out -- if it shapes up for a while, roll with it. If you're sly about it, you can get away with the jump start in 1st or reverse for quite some time. When I was living in Montana and didn't have a lot of cake, the starter in my first '94 SHO gave up. I pushed that car out of my parking spot and out into the street every morning for a week to get her started. I'm sure it was a sight.
 
Meh, the starter in my mom's 98 (now my dd) did that for about a year. It was no biggy, flexplate was in tact. Car sounded absolutely atrocious when it wouldn't start.

Alas I digress, you can probably get away with it for a while. I wouldn't do it too long. Dude, you do 3L swaps and tranny removal on a whim, why can't you just replace the darn thing.
 
Last edited:
ancientsanskrit said:
Meh, the starter in my mom's 98 (now my dd) did that for about a year. It was no biggy, flexplate was in tact. Car sounded absolutely atrocious when it wouldn't start.

Alas I digress, you can probably get away with it for a while. I wouldn't do it too long. Dude, you do 3L swaps and tranny removal on a whim, why can't you just replace the darn thing.
Click to expand...

extraneous spending is not in a non-renewing budget :blackeye:
 
Cause I'm cheap since I'm jobless. I have one on my other car I can pull off but it has 130k on it. Seems senseless to not put a new OEM one on. I don't have $160 lying around right now. LOL!
 
Ah, sorry to hear that, Todd.
Good luck w/the job search!

Move out of GR, dude. Come to AA, real-estate market here is still booming here.
 
LOL

"Move out of GR, dude. Come to AA, real-estate market here is still booming here."

I know you're talking about Ann Arbor, but it looks like you're inviting him to join Alcoholics Anonymous.

Todd, good luck on a job search. It's not fun when you're between jobs. I also think you should try swapping starters. It may be no more than a dry starter drive that needs a little grease.
 
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