Noob, first post. The mirage belongs to my son, and I'm trying to teach him how to keep his car running.

Okay, like the subject line says, my son gets in his car, turns the key, and while the dash lights up we get no starter. I took the battery and starter down to have them tested, and both tested fine. The battery cables, while not new, are perfectly fine, I checked for voltage and continuity.

a little background - car is an old beater,and the previous owner apparently hated it, and didn't take care of it too well. we used some engine cleaner on it sunday, and afterward it started up fine, and he moved it out of the driveway. He got in to leave a little later on, and now it's dead.

My next guess is that it could be the neutral safety switch? If so where is this switch located? and is there a way to bypass it to test?

Any help or other ideas would be VERY much appreciated.

Thanks,
Andre

 

I think its the starter solenoid or maybe the starter is sticky.. and sometimes sticks and sometimes doesnt

 

is there another solenoid other than the one on the starter? that one tested fine.

 

No there is not. My guess is that the starter is just sticky. Causing it to be intermittent

 

it could be an engine fuse thats what was mine or maybe it is the fuel pump or fuel sensor have them check out at ur local shop..... thats what happend to mine

 

I am pretty sure you have solved your problem by now, but you can sort out the starter or not issue in a simple fashion, there is a single wire, that is the start signal wire on your starter, its not bolted to the starter but rather cliped on, you take that wire off and use a jumper wire with an aligator clip on it, and put it on the tang that the signal wire was hooked up to, then with the other end of the wire, touch the positive of your battery and see if it turns over, won't fire, but will turn over, if it does then its not your starter. While the wire is still jumped turn your key to the on position and then with the other end of the wire touch the positive again, if it runs, then start tracing your signal feed, could very well be a faulty ignition switch or if its a standard could be a bad clutch switch.

 

i'm noobie as well and don't know much about cars, but i drive a 1995 Mirage 5-speed and had a similar problem. i dont know if it is of any relevance, but i took it to a shop, and they replaced the whole distributor assembly and she runs just fine.

 

could be any number of things, but my guess if it's not the starter or starter solinoid is either the distributor, lose connection in the key cylinder, or a fried circuit/relay.

 

Do you hear a click come from inside of the console when the key is turned to the start position? Check the clutch pedal interlock switch. There is a rubber bumper on the clutch pedal that presses on the switch. If the bumper falls off, the switch won't be depressed and the starter won't run, even though everything else is fine.


Regards,

Rich