Car barely starting

[vSolara]

As of today, my car is barely starting. Usually the started makes a high pitch rapid clicking until the engine turns over (even if its cold out and it takes a second to start, its still rapid). However today the starter is making a lower sounding pitch that is less rapid. As it does that I notice the lights on the dashboard dimming a lot. Its having so much trouble getting started. No trouble lights on the dashboard, battery could be old (it's a toyota battery, so who knows it might be original). It has 90000k miles.

This may be unrelated but the last week I've noticed a very high pitched noise coming from the left side of the engine when the car is IDLE (like below 1K rpm), which disapears when I accelerate. Possibly that's related?

Thank you.

[wkbrdr91]

Im not a mechanic or anything, but I just replaced my 2006 Solara battery last weekend, and shes only got 20,200 miles on her, so it could be your battery, most places will check your battery for free to see if you need a new one or not, i would start with that.

and the squealing could be a belt, im not sure where the belt on your car is located, i know mines on the right side of my car, most are in the front though.

[QuickSEV6]

Check your battery and tighten or replace your belt.

If you are at 90,000 and belt and battery are original, they should be replaced - also, you may want to get your timing belt and waterpump replaced

[99BlackSandv6]

I think it's definitely your battery going bad, get it checked for free at a parts store and replaced if it checks out poor.

As for the high-pitched noise, I have noticed a similar noise with my car. It goes away when the engine is at more than, I'd guess 15% throttle, and I don't really notice it at idle. So it might not be the same thing. For that I suspect the transmission, or even the intake. I haven't heard it in warmer weather. I'm not sure if we are hearing the same noise though.

Remember the belts are on the right side of the car, the intake and transmission are on the left.

Good Luck!

[solara90]

what could be causing it is the belt. It most likely slipping which causes alternator to not put out its optimum output. Which then causes battery not to be properly recharged by the alternator.

Quick test you can do with a DMM is check the voltage of the battery(or a hydrometer if you have a non maintenance free battery), also start the motor, and you should have roughly 14.6v at the battery with the motor revved up to 2k

if both of them check out it would be a good idea to bring your battery into your local parts store to have it load tested which will give the best determination of the condition of your battery.



True story on that. I did an alternator output test on my sisters car. Same symptoms slow cranking, she went out and bought a new battery and put it in. Well a few days later that battery took a dump. So i i now figured it was an alternator problem. So i tested it and it was putting out 56amps which is very below spec which is 80A. She has a saturn with one of them alternators which is behind the motor basically. So about 2hrs later i get the new one in and test it. Still around 55A. So at this point i think i have another defective alternator. Them i start to look at her serpentine belt. Its got frayed edges, glazed, cracks. Throw a new belt on it and bam up to 80A. So i figure well then the old one must still be good. Sure enough i put it back on and its putting out 80A. So i wasted about 5 hours doing something i could of taken care of in about 30min. End of rant.

[Mole]

It has 90000k miles.



Thank you.

weee doggie...

90000000 miles... where have you been driving ?

you're lucky the car is still in 1 piece!

[vSolara]

Thanks to everyone who replied! As for the car not starting, I replaced the battery and the car starts wonderfully now. Hopefully Interstate batteries are good, because thats what they put in.

And for the noise, I havent heard it as of lately. But if it continues, I'll check out the belts.

[solara90]

my car is starting to slow crank in the real cold weather. My battery is 5 years old and i had subs for one of them years. I'm planning on getting a new one before i get stranded somewhere.

[Chinky420]

gibson99 hit me with a useful tidbit of info for this time of year:

when the weather changes to get colder, old batteries have a tendency to kick the bucket.


when the cold snap hit TX (for like a week), my car wouldn't start (i thought it was a starter issue), i replaced the starter contacts (just to be sure) and the battery, and haven't had a problem since

but just last week, my buddies rx300 also had the rapid fire prob, and i was able to diagnose almost immediately as battery over the starter (as the weather was pretty cold again).

not to say that the starter is never the problem, but when the weather changes and suddenly you can't start your car again, it's best to start with the battery.

[solara90]

pfft cold snap, thats our heat wave. You should hear what my car sounds like when you try to start it in -15 degree weather

gibson99 hit me with a useful tidbit of info for this time of year:

when the weather changes to get colder, old batteries have a tendency to kick the bucket.


when the cold snap hit TX (for like a week), my car wouldn't start (i thought it was a starter issue), i replaced the starter contacts (just to be sure) and the battery, and haven't had a problem since

but just last week, my buddies rx300 also had the rapid fire prob, and i was able to diagnose almost immediately as battery over the starter (as the weather was pretty cold again).

not to say that the starter is never the problem, but when the weather changes and suddenly you can't start your car again, it's best to start with the battery.

[1gSE]

pfft cold snap, thats our heat wave. You should hear what my car sounds like when you try to start it in -15 degree weather

My car starts just fine in that weather...except sunday when it warmed up to -14...and the -35 windchill

[sahuddleston]

go with optima batteries...worth the $ especially if you live in a colder climate state.