Car does not make any attempt to start or crank

BB20BASKETBALL

MEMBER
2004 BUICK REGAL
3.6L
6 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
150,000 MILES

I have dealt with this problem for about a year but it is getting much worse. About twice a week, when I turn the key to turn on the vehicle, the car does nothing and shows the "Check engine light".

From previous google searches, I thought it was the key not being read properly. I then wired in a resistor to bypass the key check on the car. However, the problem still happens.

The security light does not flash, just the "Check Engine Light". There is a click sound on the passenger side as I turn the key. I think that may be the vent relay, but I am not sure. I hooked up my bluetooth OBD2 but no codes were shown.

Any ideas are welcome! Thanks.

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7 Replies

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

We need to start with checking voltage when this happens at the starter. I assume you will not have voltage on the control wire so we need to then check the relay. It could be the relay itself or the PCM not grounding the relay so lets swap it with another and see if it starts. If not, then we need to check each terminals at the relay when cranking it.

What do you need to do to get this to start? Do you crank it again or do you have to wait?

Let us know what voltage is at the starter when cranking and we can go from there. Thanks

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Thursday, October 1st, 2020 AT 6:15 PM

BB20BASKETBALL

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Thanks for the reply. It started again and hasn't failed yet to try to grab the voltage off the starter. Here is some more information though: I could feel both the crank and ignition relays clicking when the key was in the start position. As such, my current thought is that the starter isn't working. The battery appears to be healthy. I guess we will know for sure when it fails again and I can grab the voltage off it.

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Friday, October 2nd, 2020 AT 8:33 PM

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

Sounds good. I would double check the battery based on that info. If you have not actually had it load tested I would suggest doing that as a failing battery would cause something like this.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/car-battery-load-test

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Saturday, October 3rd, 2020 AT 6:22 PM

BB20BASKETBALL

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Okay, the car is not starting again. I had the battery load tested and it had plenty of voltage and cold cranking amps ( 800). I tested the voltage at the starter source (red/orange wire) and it was 12.1V. I tested the signal, purple wire and it had no voltage when the key was in the start position. I attempted to circumvent any wiring issues by bypassing the crank relay with a wire. I still did not get any voltage at the purple wire on the starter solenoid. Finally, I tried to just put 12V on the signal of the starter solenoid and nothing happened besides some sparks.

Any ideas? Thanks for the help so far!

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Sunday, October 11th, 2020 AT 11:06 AM

KASEKENNY

MECHANIC
18,907 POSTS

Okay. We need to test for a short to ground. Unhook the purple wire at both ends and connect your meter or test light to the positive batter terminal. Then put the other on one end of the wire and see if the meter says 12 volts or the light on the test light comes on. Clearly it should not as there should be no path to ground so it should be an open circuit.

If you jumped the relay and had no power at the starter on the purple wire then we have to suspect a wiring issue. Just to double check let's confirm how you jumped the relay. What terminals did you jump and did you make sure you had voltage on that terminal before you used it to jump the terminal?

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