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Fisch's Swift gti won't start- sometimes


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Hey guys, it ain't a Datsun, but you guys are a lot smarter than me, Maybe you can advise? It is weird, sometimes my 1989 suzuki starts, sometimes it doesn't.

 

Car started just fine today, I ran three of four errands, at the last stop I got back in tried to start it, and there would be a little click, but wouldn't turn over at all. Starter won't fire up. Tried numerous times and it would not start. So I had some guys push me and popped the clutch and it started and got me home with no problem. Here is the weird thing, back home in the driveway, after shutting it down, I turned the key and she started back up for me with no problem. Now an hour later I go out there and still got it to start no problem twice in a row. As if there were never a problem.

 

This has happened in the past, but in a minor form, every once in a while I will turn the key and get one little click, but no start. But 99% of the time if I try again, it fires right up. Not today.

 

ALSO I don't know if this is somehow related, but it was a REALLY hot day today, and the fan came on the radiator when I was parking. When I shut down the car in the store parking lot, the electric fan turned off as soon as I shut off the key. Shouldn't it have kept running? I know I hear alot of car fans that do. The only difference I can think of when I got it home was the fan was no longer running when I shut it down, and now it starts fine. Could they be related?

 

Oh and prior to this, a couple months ago I put in a brand new battery, and cleaned all the grounds I could see and checked that the leads were groovy.

 

Any thoughts you have are much appreciated!

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The whole starter? Or just the little magnetic switch cylinder attached to it? And why would it sometimes start again with another try even if I didn't move the car?

 

Heck I'd be happy if it was just a starter and not some short hiding somewhere!

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Just started reading up on starter flat spots Aaron. Wow that does sound like the issue! I am actually kinda relieved if that is it! Much better than an electrical mystery.

 

Big thanks to you and Zuum!

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Well it is interesting, I asked some Swift guys on another forum and they say it is the crappy switch in the steering column. And that it happens to almost all swifts. The good news it that they've come up with a $4 fix, using a 10 gauge wire (stock is 16), and a headlight relay. I am still trying to understand what they did, but I can't hurt to try before I buy a $140 starter that might not be the problem. I could replace the switch, but a new one is over $200!

 

Suzuki dudes say:

"It is the short harness going to the key. The switch is worn. The contacts wear down and get fouled. There ends up being a resistance from the fricking switch due to crappy design + too much use. I dissassembled the back of the starter switch which is likely a big part of the problem. You can notice the big notches in what you would not want notches in.

 

The fix, use a relay. The resistance will still be there occasionally and thus there will still be lower voltage to that wire occasionally. However, the hope is that the 6-7 volts that the relay sees when the switch is f-ing up that it will be enough to click it over to the big wire you've attached to your relay straight to the battery for a full 12 volts. After all, it is easier to move a small dinky relay than it is to move the solenoid for the starter. This is part band-aid, part good to do regardless. The good is that the bigger wire should now supply full voltage to the starter switch under cranking at all times.

 

The relay allows you to run larger gauge wire right off the battery while just using that crappy little wire to switch the relay. I used 10 gauge within a few feet from the battery. The 10 gauge should be over-kill for a solenoid and it is far better than the 16 gauge wire that comes from I'm not sure where."

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