No Crank No Start. Help Diagnosing?

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Protege5
2002 P5 5 Speed. My battery is fully charged, the positive and negative terminals seem tight, no clicking coming from the driver side fuse box when I try to start it, the keyfob works, the lights turn on. The instrument cluster all lights up in the on position. I can hear the fan blower relay switching in the passenger side dash when I try to start it. The starter hasn't been acting up prior. No start occurred suddenly. Haven't tried bump starting since I'm on a hill with a dead end and no street parking is available to push it aside to if the bump start fails.

I am starting with trying to bypass the clutch interlock switch with a wire lead, but am having difficulty determining which switch this one is. I see two switches. After searching the forum, I assume the switch with the grey/black body on the clutch pedal side is the cruise control switch. Where I am confused is regarding the white switch that is mounted on the firewall side. Is this the clutch interlock switch? I've seen it referenced by various names and not sure of it's purpose or if this is the switch I am interested in.

I haven't yet delved into the fuse/relay box or tried to do the starter solenoid screwdriver trick.

Anyone have any help on this?
 
You are absolutely sure the battery is good? Maybe try jump starting first, your battery may not have the sufficient amperage anymore.
 
Damn you were right. Bump starting worked. It also started after a jump. Maybe it's the battery or alternator huh?
 
Damn you were right. Bump starting worked. It also started after a jump. Maybe it's the battery or alternator huh?

Most likely the battery, do you know the age of the battery? you can take the battery and have it load tested at Autozone to find out the condition of the battery.


If you have a multimeter/voltmeter you can check if the alternator is working.

You should have around 14.3 volts at the battery posts with the engine running.
 
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I had the exact same issue with my P5, on Monday. I called a friend who knows a whole lot more about cars than me and he got Tim st start by wiggleing the wire that connects to the starter while I turned the key. Then we took it back to his garage and tightened all the connections. It hasn’t given me any issues since, but I don’t drive everyday. He thought it might be an issue with the starter, but we haven’t had much free time to investigate.
 
Remove the battery terminals and check for corrosion between the terminal and the battery post. mix some backing soda and water real good and pour it all over, let it foam and fizz and go crazy. After a few minutes, rinse it off with a hose real good and blow it dry with compressed air. clean it up real good with a wire brush both on the inside of the terminal and the battery post. may help to get some of that battery terminal spray once you're done as well.

Same thing happened to me out of nowhere. I didn't see any corrosion or furry growth but once i took the battery terminal off and looked inside, realized there wasn't much actual connection being made due to the corrosion between the terminal and the post.

Its worth a try anyway, never hurts to try the fast easy free fixes before digging in and diagnosing or replacing stuff :)
 
similar issue resolved

my first guess would be a worn out ignition switch. you can get one for about $40 on rockauto.com and install it (very carefully), and send it back if it doesn't fix the problem. I had a similar issue, but different in that it was a crank/no-start, rather than a no-crank/no-start. replaced battery, coil packs, plugs, wires, a VERY corroded grounding wire from the negative terminal to the frame. would often start on it's own, then kill itself in the first few seconds, then crank/no-start for a while. I was thinking maybe a fuel system issue, bc when i jumped the fuel pump relay port i could get the fuel pump to run, but not with the key. also, if the fuel pump was faulty, then it would show signs while running of lack of fuel delivery...but it was normally fine once i got it running. Moving on.

Then I was thinking maybe the ignition switch was sending inconsistent signals to the computer to run or not run the fuel pump pre-start. So I bought the ignition switch. Was going to replace, but after a mechanic mentioned that it could possibly be a coolant temp sensor sending false temp readings to the computer pre-start, I pulled and cleaned that off from black as F to shiny gold and new with a wire wheel on the end of a drill...started every time. has ever since. crazy, but hey, got my money back for the ignition switch.
(braindead
 
.. , but after a mechanic mentioned that it could possibly be a coolant temp sensor sending false temp readings to the computer pre-start, I pulled and cleaned that off from black as F to shiny gold and new with a wire wheel on the end of a drill...started every time. has ever since. crazy,...
(braindead

Well that's good to know !!

But what bugs me is,.....

Why should a dirty thermometer shutdown an engine ??

Your temp sensor wasn't sending "false" information, it should have only been "inaccurate" information ,...

The layer of dirt should only delay the transfer of temperature information,... it's an insulator !???

I wonder how many cars ended up in the scrap yard only because there was dirt on their thermometer ??!?!

Do you think if our car could throw this code it wouldn't have died ???




We don't have a circuit performance code for the ECT for our car.



It's too bad that our car is running off Windows 95...
 
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