Car won't start

MIKE40

MEMBER
SATURN

2002 Saturn S series with 82,000 miles. Four cylinder. The car won't start without jumping it. The problem has been sporadic for the past 5 months in which time I've replaced the battery and the alternator. I replaced the alternator after the car stalled and wouldn't start. It's my daughter's car and she said she was able to get it started once by jiggling the key in the ignition, this hasn't worked for me. When I charge the battery it always starts and will start a couple of times without charging it but then won't start. The problem is getting worse.

Thanks.

1 Reply

CHEVY22

MECHANIC
1,375 POSTS

First I would check for obvious problems alot of people miss, corroded cables, bad ground, check B+ wire at starter for corrosion, when checking the best thing to do is just pull all main cables and clean them, if this all checks out there may be a drain, check obvious first, after market electronics, something in the aux power outlet all of the time, lights staying on like brake lights or interior, if you still dont find it and it drains in a day or less and you have a volt meter you can hook it up to the battery to see if it is draining and how fast and then start pulling fuses and relays one at a time watching for a change, after you get this far let us know and we will move on from there if this doesn't work oh and the key trick may be an indication of a bad ign switch, buy my theory is to test test test I hate spending money mine or a customers on a bad diagnosis

jim