Porblems starting a 1993 Dodge Intrepid (PLEASE READ)

Hi. I have a 1993 Dodge Intrepid.

HISTORY:

Needless to say, this car has been amazing to me. The only problems
I've had are electrically based. I think I have had a few AC
problems, but that's a luxury I'm not too worried about right now. My
brother treated this car like garbage before I got it. He was almost
5000 miles past due for an oil change and went on a trip to southern
Florida (from DC) and back within two days, just to give you an
example. For the past year plus, I've been pretty good to it.



PROBLEM RIGHT NOW:

The car has always cranked a few times before turning over and
starting. At 10am I cranked, started, and drove the car. I turned it
off and then on again three times between 10 and 11:30am. I had to
return home to get something, and when I came back, the engine cranked
once, nothing for a fraction of a second, cranked again, repeat. But
then I noticed smoking coming from the hood. I lifted the hood, and
the battery terminal connector for the negative cables (there's two in
this car, I don't know if other Intrepids are like that.) was
smoldering. Obviously, after it coooled down, the connector was
completely destroyed and I went out and bought another one, replaced
it.

Now the engine will crank once and very rarely will crank again, but I
don't want to give it too much of a go, as it was hard for me to find
a connector within walking distance.

Does anyone have any suggestions/comments/concerns/etc? It's very
important that I get this car working and where I am, diagnostics is
almost $100, which doesn't include the ridiculously overpriced towing
services around here. I need somewhere by Friday (it's Tuesday now)
or else I will be arrested and fined $1000 for not appearing in court
in a trial that I have very little to do with! Please help.

 

How old is the battery? have you tried to jump it from a known good
vehicle/battery? Were there any other symptoms of the problem (alternator
idiot light?)

When you said it always cranked a few times before starting, if the cranking
was strong and continuous, then this sounds to me like an unrelated problem,
possibly due to fuel delivery (dirty fuel filter, weak fuel pump, or leaking
regulator) or maybe fouled spark plugs (when was it last tuned?) to me.

If the alternator and belt (not slipping) are good, then I'd clean up the
battery terminals with a battery/wire brush and replace the battery or at
least take it somewhere to have them check it out under load.

Good luck!

Bob

 

If the smaller of the two wires on the terminal is getting hot I would
suspect the starter (especially with only one crank per start attempt).

 

I agree...starter issue. Unless that battery cable simply had a loose
connection, drew more current through resistance from a bad connection under
load, or some such thing, and that caused the charring. That isn;t likely
though.

Try starting with the headlights ON...If they dim dramatically when cranking,
it is more and more a starter problem, drawing excessive current.

 

Hmmm - I disagree. Almost *any* problem that causes starting problems
will cause the lights to dim when attempting cranking. For example: a
bad connection or a weak battery (either due to weak battery or
alternator not charging battery) will cause the lights to dim on
cranking. I'm not saying a bad starter can't cause that too, and in
fact, the OP's problem may be a bad starter, but the lights dimming is
hardly a discriminator to narrow it down to a problem starter.

Before I went to the trouble and expense of replacing the starter, I
would whip out a mutlimeter and check for voltage drops (i.e., a bad
connection), and while you're at it, check the voltage coming out of the
battery itself while cranking and while not cranking to check battery
health and charge condition.

A current draw measurement would show if the starter was pulling too
much current, but most people don't have the equipment necessary to do
that. But I would at least rule out a bad connection before replacing
the starter using a multimeter.

I wonder if an auto parts store can do a current draw check on the
starter?

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")

 

I disagree. Here's a short list of starting problems not accompanied by
dimming lights when attempting to crank:

-Faulty battery cable-to-starter connection
-Faulty starter motor ground
-Faulty solenoid contacts in starter
-Dead segment in starter armature
-Faulty contacts in starter relay
-Faulty ignition switch contacts
-Faulty starter relay trigger ground
-Blown fusible link in starter circuit

-Stern

 

Perhaps I overstated my case. How about if I said that the more
common/likely problems that could cause the symptoms that have been
described would not be starter related? Perhaps you would agree that
lights dimming at attempted startup would indicate a bad starter with
less than a 50% probability, certainly not anywhere near 100% as was
implied?

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
address with "x")

 

Yep, I'd surely go along with that.

-Stern