Hello, I have a 2012 kia forte koup with 68000 miles. New shortblock engine, New battery, and tested(good) starter and alternator. I've had it towed to dealership 2x with no start in the morning...first they said bad cable connection. Second time they said no issue car starts fine. Here we are 2 weeks later and a new battery, it has started again! The car will not start in the morning, but in the afternoon it starts right up. No codes are showing either....they've checked ground wires, fuses, what else could it be?
When it doesn't start, does it crank? Have they looked at the ignition switch ?
Yes they checked ignition switch and that is good as well....Im running out of ideas of things to check.lol. thank you for all advice
You have an intermittent NO CRANK. Hopefully somebody already replaced the starter relay. If they didn't, then do that. They're cheap enough.
You can't think "what else can this be?" There's too much stuff in the starter circuit.
You have to determine "what part of the starter circuit isn't this?" Whatever part of the circuit that's left is the problem.
This question can be answered at your Starter Relay socket.
There's 2 sides to the starter circuit. The "Control Side" and the "Load Side" and you can bisect the starter circuit at the starter relay socket.
In your case the computer controls the power and ground on the control side of the starter relay.
So looking at a relay which works the same as yours, you see the coil of wire. Ideally, when you turn your key to START the computer energizes the low amperage relay coil (Control Side) turning it into an electromagnet and it pulls the contacts together on the high amperage "Load Side" (Normally Open Contact) which provides power to your starter solenoid and the starter turns.
Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to determine "what isn't" being provided at the relay during a morning No Start.
Is it on the "Control Side" of the circuit (is the computer energizing the coil in the starter relay?) or the "Load Side" of the circuit (is battery voltage being supplied to the relay and is it reaching the "S" terminal on the starter solenoid when the relay's coil is energized?)
So you want to prepare yourself for the next time a morning NO CRANK happens.
1st, look on the cover of your engine compartment fuse box and identify the location of the starter relay.
Ask your wife for an old bottle of her nail polish and put an "S" on the relay.
Then read the map on the relay. It will look something like this:
The pins on bottom should also be numbered. (if they aren't just do a search for your starter relay. The images of the aftermarkets will have the pin map on them.
Use the nail polish to put a dot next to the relay socket terminals that match relay pins 30 and 87.
Now prepare a piece of wire to "jump" relay sockets 30 and 87
Your jumper wire will look something like this:
Try it in the afternoon when the car cranks. Leave the KEY OFF and jump the 30 and 87 starter relay sockets. The starter should spin.
Then in the morning when it doesn't crank, grab your jumper wire. You marked the starter relay with an "S". Pull it out. You marked starter relay sockets 30 and 87 with a dot. Jump them.
If the car cranks then the issue is on the "Control" side of the starter circuit. (Ignition switch, Transmission range switch ((neutral safety switch)), Computer (probably not because it's intermittent) BUT ground wires to the computer. If you look down on the front sides of your shock towers you'll see several body grounds attached. The computer uses some of those.
Once again I've gone into one of my long-winded replies in an attempt to clarify which probably only served to confuse.
So in 1 sentence:
If you jump starter relay sockets 30 and 87 during a morning NO CRANK, does the starter crank?
Thank you, very informative! The starter relay has not been replaced. Even tho the starter volts are reading good during testing at dealership. My new mechanic is going to revisit the starter issue as you said. Thank you for all of the information!
Last question....could a bad fuel pump cause the nostart in the morning...but start in afternoon?
Not if this is a "NO CRANK" issue.
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You replied to Scotty, "When we try to start, it makes no sound at all"
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So that's a NO CRANK issue
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Even if the fuel pump wasn't working, the starter would still crank when you turn the key to START
Thank you....my mechanic is going to start with the starter relay and go from there. Again, the car didn't start at 6am while still dark outside, but 9am it started with the sun out
Generally that would indicate a moisture concern getting into an electrical component. Mornings there is a lot more moisture in the air while in the afternoon it dries out. As asked above we must know what it exhibits a crank or no crank to help begin to isolate components
We live in CA and its not very cold yet in the mornings...however it seems once the sun comes out the car starts. The mechanic has as well checked ignition switch and that is good as well. How would we go about checking moisture control? Or solving the problem...thanks for all advice
Yes it could be lots of things but when it doesn't start do my video fixing a car that cranks but doesn't start up Scotty
When we try to start, it makes no sound at all...all lights, radio, ac everything works but no crank at key turn