2001 Saturn SC2 will not start or turn over.

[TL_Bright]

I have a 2001 Saturn SC2 that on 2 occasions would not start or turn over. The lights, radio and everything else seemed to work but the starter didn't engage when turning the key. The first time the problem occurred, the car had been parked for 3 hours. The car has never clicked when starting like many cars do when the selanoid is going bad. I had to leave the car until the next day. When I got in the car it started right up.

Two weeks later, I drove the car to work at 7:00am. When I left work at around 4:30pm, the car again didn't try to start. Lights, radio, wipers, etc worked fine but not the starter. Again I left the car until the following morning. Again, the car started right up. This time, after driving the car home without any problems, the car would again NOT start. The lights, radio, wipers, etc work fine.

Any recommendations on what could be the problem? Possibly the ignition switch in the steering column, the selanoid, starter, or some type of sensor?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Lee

[acman]

The first step when encountering no-crank or intermittent no-crank problems are the battery cables.
Remove both the negative and positive cables from the battery and check for corrosion.

[hoseppi]

+1, if the cables/connections are good, it could be a starter issue. Try tapping on the starter the next time the problem occurs. When the brushes wear out, the starters will act this way.

[TL_Bright]

Well, there was a lot of corrosion on the battery terminats. The cables connect with the screw-on type cables. The outer side of the cables looked good but when I removed the cables, the inside had a lot of corrosion. I cleaned the terminal connections well. However, the car was starting before I cleaned the terminals. When I initially got home, the starter didn't work but within 1/2 hour it would start with no problem. When it starts, the car starts with no effort at all. Starting the car has always been very easy with no drag when starting.

I guess I'll wait and see if the problem occurs again. If it does, I'll tap the starter to see if that resolves the issue.

I guess I should have checked the terminals before but as easy as the car always starts, I really didn't think anything battery related was causing the problem.

Thanks to both responders. I really appreaciate you responses.

[blackeagle1]

Sounds like mine did when the starter went out. I could usually get it to start after trying several times or waiting a few minutes between tries.

[Dr. Sprock]

i think they run the pull in coil in series with the brushes to get the motor spinning before the teeth hit the flywheel, if not, the clutch throws the pinion into the fly wheel with the teeth on both gears not meshed, then the teeth would get chipped up.

so the brushes are in series with the solenoid coil.

if the brushes are bad, you have no power to the coil.

also, let us say that you ground down your brushes so bad that the only thing left was the copper lead, which has now welded itself to ground,

you start the switch, the relay coil pulls in, the battery is shorted directly to ground thru the starter, we have a possible fire, blown fuse, cooked wiring, a litney of potential problems.

so this is kind of a self protecting circuit, if the brushes are bad, the coil will not pull in.

if the coil were connected directly to ground instead of thru the brushes, the coil would engage the plunger and battery contact for as long as you held the key on. so this is a good way of keeping people with bad starters from grinding the whole system into the ground.