What To Do When Your Car Won’t Start

It has happened to all of us, to the best of us, even. There comes a time when you insert your key into the ignition and the car simply refuses to start. Alternatively, it might seem like it’s about to start, but instead it just produces a soft purring sound, instead of the uproar you need to hear before you head off on the road. So, what can you do if you find yourself ‘trapped’ in such a scenario? Your best bet is not to panic. Before you start bracing yourself for expensive car repairs, do some investigating on your own. Track back the potential source of the problem—start at the battery. Once you’ve made sure the electric part of the vehicle’s mechanism is functioning correctly, work your way up. There’s a good chance you can figure out the reason behind the non-starting problem yourself.

Electrical Problems

The first operation on your impromptu car repairs list should be to see if your car features a fuse connected to the ignition system. If it does and you find it’s burned out, replace it and you’re done. More likely, though, your battery has become dirty or corroded due to excessive use. Clean the battery posts and then try starting your car again. If it refuses to comply, it might just be that your car has a dead battery. This is actually the number one cause behind a car that simply will not start. If your battery has died, you will need to jump-start it, or even replace it. If the battery is not the issue, you should definitely move on to verify the state of your ignition switch. If you try to turn the key in the ignition halfway but no lights on the dashboard are turned on, it means you have a bad ignition switch. Other possible causes include a bad starter connection, broken ignition coils, broken or shorting coil wires, or, less frequently, a faulty distributor cap.

The Fueling System

If both the ignition starter and the car’s battery appear to be in good working order, then your no-start problem is coming from somewhere else. A place called your fuel injection system. First off, make sure all the electrical connections inside your fuel injection system are in good working order. They link with the air intake side as well as with the cylinder heads. If this does not verify, then you might just have a problem with your fuel pump and relay mechanism. To check for this, test the plus side of the fuel pump with a circuit tester. If this seems to be working right, try the minus side. If this still does not apply, the issue might just be caused by an outworn fuel filter. Investigate this aspect and decide whether or not the time has come to replace your fuel filter (an operation you should perform every 12,000 miles anyway).

Do also check for a loose starter, bad injectors, a faulty cold start valve, a chipped flywheel or ring gear or a bad main computer. At this point, if you haven’t gotten to the source of the problem, your best bet would be to consider paying for professional car repairs.