2005 Cadillac STS will not start

Asked by migration_dmarrujo Jun 09, 2014 at 04:19 PM about the 2005 Cadillac STS

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

My car was not starting at least once every other week...then once a week and the only way to start it would be by removing the starter relay and using a paper clip. Although I had half of a tank of gas my car would say Low Range. Now it will not start. All lights turn on in the inside but the engine will not start.  I tried to jump the battery and it didn't work. I can't think of anything else to do? I would like to avoid from taking it to a mechanic and save some money if I can. Does anyone have any other suggestions? Thank you

2 Answers

300

Probably old but have to know if you hear the click of a relay on the starter, you must examine the braided copper cable between the solenoid and the starter. Clean 2 contacts of starter small and big (some have a clip on small wire, wiggle that only. If big and small wire at end of starter you need to touch a booster cable live from battery to both contacts at the same time or join a thick wire to touch both at same time, if you touch only one, you will get the engagement of the solenoid, or the whir of the starter (assuming you have a ground to the motor as the starter is grounded by the casing and retaining bolts as the motor is grounded usually by a cable or thick braided wire clipped around the motor mount or from battery to engine, and you need a good ground from body to engine or battery, easy to run a wire to negative. May want to run a thinner negative line from the battery to a good volt on the motor with clean contact points. I can do all this in 10 mins with proper tools and a few parts. If you hook up red booster cable to battery, turn key on, then you can touch both contacts on starter at same time be careful not to touch ground anywhere- can be tricky, more work to run a thick wire to the big starter post with good tight connection. Issue could be security related like an old key or ignition part that won’t read the key chip, should see flashing lock symbol on dash when turning key, that requires special tool typically or pins in the obdii crosses on a Toyota, maybe others. Don’t give up. Sounds like starter, relay or wire issue. Could say more but bad connection to battery is 80% cranking power loss as well as bad connections to starter. Some vehicles have a big fuse on the live wire at bottom of radiator, google that...

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