legacycentral bbs

Hey guys

i have a 92 legacy turbo wagon, which i use primarily for work

2 weeks ago i noticed that i was having a delay when trying to start up my car... turn key --> ( delay ) --> start
At first this delay wasn't really noticable, but it started getting worse and a week later on a cold night i tried to start my car.. and it wouldn't start. I could still hear a click but the car wouldn't start.

my friend ( who's not available now ) told me to hit the starter a couple of times ... which i did and it worked to my suprise...

i drove the car for about a week after that. ( i know i shouldn't have, but i had work)

this morning i tried to start my car, and she wouldn't start.
when i turn the key everything lights up and i hear the click, but no start

do i need a new starter, i wanna be sure that it's the starter b4 i spend money on fixing it, can u guys help me diagnose the problem ?

i believe i can hear the fuel pump from the back ( well i hear something )
and lights dim when the car makes the click'n sound ... is this normal ?

Thanks for your help guys

It could be your starter, but you're gonna want to check out your charging system as well. It sounds like you know a fair bit about what you're doing in general, just not about Subarus. The clicking you're hearing --if it's coming from the back-- is your fuel pump. That should be going on while the key is in the 'acc', right before you turn it over. If you've got clicking up front as you attempt to turn it over, you're looking at possibly a dead battery. What's the condition of your battery, when was it last replaced? How about the alternator?
Good Luck, and fill us in with some more info -

thx for the repley man ~!

alright, i hear both a click'n from the front and the rear...
I'm not sure about the batery OR the alternator i just recently bought the car.
i feel really dumb saying this, but when i whacked the car the first time i didn't really know where the starter was so i just hit the alternator.

do u you think i should purchase a new battery ? the stereo works fine, and all the locks and windows still work ... though that doesn't always mean the batery is ok ..

It sounds like it might be your starter solenoid contacts, if you hear the clicking and hitting it with a hammer made it work. Do a search for "contact*" with "legacy777" as the author and hopefully you can find more info about it.

It might be worth just replacing the starter instead of trying to replace the contacts though.

Good call, V. I got 'em on IM right now, they're gonna check out the starter, and see what's up. I had 'em look into getting it rebuilt. God, I love it when I learn things and use them to help people. That's the real high, mang.

Up with hope, down with dope!

yup....starter solenoid contacts.

Get two of the "A" contacts

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks ... neOrdering

I think sticking solenoids and corroded terminals are the most common failure modes of starters. Hitting it with a hammer frees up the solenoid temporarily so it will work.

Steve

This same exact thing happened to my 91SS yesterday. I gave a neighbor a ride and on the way back noticed I was getting a bit low on gas, so I stopped at the gas station to fill up so I didn't have to get gas on the way to work in the morning. I fuel up, get in the car, and nothing...dash lights work, but nothing when I turn the key to "start"....bahhhh...

I was glad to find a solution in this thread but still had in the back of my mind "but what if it is the neutral switch instead"? Well, then I found the thread that vrg3 made reference to (http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=346, btw) and found this statement from subyluvr2212: "Your lights dimmed, so that means juice is getting to your starter. That rules out anything like an ignition switch, AT neutral safety switch, etc. etc." Since my dash lights definitely dim when I try to start the car, I guess I know what I need to replace now.

Oh and this car better not be starting a random breakdown streak...I just replaced the radiator in this thing like 2 weeks ago...

Within a couple weeks after posting the above reply, I went to Advance and bought a starter and swapped it out and it's been great since.

Well...yesterday, it did the SAME EXACT thing again (i.e. turn key and nothing but some dash light dimming)!!! I had someone turn the key while I whacked the starter with the jack handle and voila it fired right up. How did I kill a starter in 5 months!? Could I have gotten a bad starter from the parts store, or could something be killing my starter prematurely? I suspect my alternator and/or voltage regulator may need replaced (some light dimming at idle, especially when under load (headlights, A/C, etc.), and that annoying rpm-dependent squeal on the radio)...could this be negatively impacting the starter solenoid somehow?

something sort of like this happend to me.. i start the car one click the whole cars power is dead.. so i jump it and drive it around thinking i left some light on or something...

Then i checked the battery connections they were really bad looking so i cleaned them out and it worked.. give that a try.