You can expect to get approximately 80,000 starts out of your car, truck, or utility vehicle’s starter. After that, it’s on the road to dying. One thing can kill your starter prematurely and that is an oil leak. If you have an oil leak above the starter, it will saturate this crucial auto part and kill it. This may lead to the signs that your starter has gone bad listed below, or Clark’s Car Care advises that the signs also occur once the starter is too old.
1. Clicking Before Starting
One of the most common signs that your starter is going bad is clicking before your automobile fires up. The starter is what is making the clicking sound and you should have it replaced at the first sign of trouble. The only thing you should hear when you fire up your automobile is your engine igniting. Clicking sounds point to a problem with the starter.
2. No Starting at All
If you ignore the clicking sounds, you will eventually end up with an automobile engine that will not start at all. This is because the starter is a tiny motor inside of your engine that gets it running. You need more than just the battery and the alternator to start your automobile. A malfunctioning starter can make it impossible to fire up your automobile.
3. The Lights Still Work
If you cannot get your vehicle started, turn on the headlights to see if they are still working. Also, take a look at your dashboard to see if the dashboard lights are working. If they are, yet you cannot get your engine to fire up, the problem is the starter and not the battery or alternator. If you had a dead battery or alternator, you wouldn’t have any vehicle lights.
4. You See Smoke
Finally, it might be tempting to continue to try to fire up your car but the only thing you will accomplish is overheating the starter’s motor. When this happens, you will not only detect hot odors coming from the engine but you might also see smoke. Don’t keep trying to start your automobile if the starter is bad. As we just mentioned, all that will happen is you will overheat the dead part.
Call Clark’s Car Care in Naperville, IL, today if you think your car’s starter is going bad. We’d be happy to inspect the part and replace it if necessary.