subject: Things That Might Cause Your Car Not To Start [print this page] Everybody has been in this position before where you get into your dear car, turn the keys, wait for the roaring sound of your engine, but nothing comes to life. When this happens it can be very frustrating not knowing what is causing it. There are some steps you can follow to diagnose exactly the root cause of your problem. This article tries to give you some of those steps that you can try when this happens to you and an explanation of how you can fix things if possible.
Your first suspect will be the battery. For the battery to be able to start your car it must be charged to a certain level. You can check your battery in two ways. First method is by your naked eye. Put the key in your ignition switch and turn it to on position, then start the head lights. If they are of normal brightness, then your battery is probably charged. Otherwise, you might want to consider changing the battery. The other method is a little more scientific. Use a voltmeter and attach its leads to the terminals of your battery and see what it reads. If it reads something between 11.8V and 12.5V then your battery is not the cause of your headache. if it is less than 11.8, then you have found the bug. It will not read above 12.5 because this is what a fully charged battery will read. If your battery is OK, then move to the next step.
Your next suspect will be the ignition switch. You will want to make sure that the ignition switch is properly delivering power to the solenoid. If the head lights don't start when you turn the key, it absolutely means that your ignition switch is defective. If they do light up when you turn the key, it doesn't yet mean that the ignition switch is working. To make sure, you will need to get under the hood. Find the wire that comes from the switch and disconnect it from the solenoid. If your car is a full injection car, you will find two spade connectors. One is heavier than the other which is the switch wire you are looking for. After you disconnect it, attach a voltmeter to it. After that, ask a friend to try and start the car. At this point, look for a 12V read on your voltmeter. If the voltmeter does not show 12 volts, then your ignitions switch is not deliver power appropriately to the solenoid. This can be caused by a defective ignition switch or by bad wiring. Make sure that there is no corrosion or breaks in the wire between the battery and the switch or the starter. If you do have a power at the wire then your ignition switch is free from charges and you need to search for another suspect.
