2005 Chevy cobalt shit off while driving

Asked by Dvelazquez104 Jan 17, 2019 at 09:58 AM about the 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt LS Coupe FWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Driving home yesterday, my car shut off at
red light. Would not start back up and it felt
like cables were loose. Turned the key
nothing happened. Cables were tight and
fine. Tapped on starter with hammer even
though starter is brand new. Turned the key
still did a click and all dashboard lights came
on but seemed dim. Had to have it towed
home. Tried it again once it was home,
turned key and multiple dashboard lights
flickered off and on back and forth, even the
rear view mirror lights.. pulled out the starter
but not sure if it has to be grounded or not to
check the pinion gear. It only engaged once
and we tried it like ten times.. won’t do
anything. Battery is brand new.. starter is
brand new. Does the starter need to be
grounded? Anyone have any ideas? Money
for a shop isn’t an option at the moment.. my
dad usually does all my car work so we buy
the parts if it’s soemthing we can do.

5 Answers

65,600

Battery maybe new but if terminals was loose alternator was not charging the battery so you need to have the battery charged.

1 people found this helpful.
22,660

Load test battery now to see if any cells are dead. Do a complete charge if battery is still acceptable before running car. A low battery puts too much strain on alternator sometimes ruining alternator

18,715

Scan it for trouble codes. Make sure all grounds are clean and tight. And forget about the starter. It’s used for starting the car if it shut off at a light that’s not starter related. Whatever made it stop running is also what’s preventing it from starting.

Well battery was just fine. Perfectly charged. Starter, couldn’t even get a read off of it. The guy said it’s done. So I have a 2 year warranty on it and my husband is currently taking it back to get a new one. So we do know that the starter was the reason it wasn’t turning back on. So crazy how we’ve had that starter a month and a half and it’s malfunctioned/broke already. So I’m wondering what else could have caused it.

Your Answer:

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