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Mercie J Auto Care Crew August 2024 2

My Car is Not Starting, What is the Problem?

My Car is Not Starting What is the Problem

The question that is posted frequently is, “My car's not starting, so what's the problem?” Welcome to Mercie J where compassion and craftsmanship come together. I'm Rick Smith.

So when it comes to a car that's not starting we first of all, have to determine whether it's a cranks but not start or a no crank. Okay, so the differences, for example, some of my grandkids can start my lawn mower, some can't. And that's because some of them can crank it over fast enough by pulling the handle, others cannot.

So if we're not turning the engine over fast enough, if we’re not cranking it, then we need to make sure that the battery is healthy. We need to make sure that the starter is healthy. We need to make sure all the connections are good. And if all those things are healthy, we need to make sure that the starter is receiving the request to start, so we have either an ignition key or a button, and there may be computers and things involved in order to get that into cranking.

So if it's cranking, but not starting, that would be like me trying to start my lawn mower, but is it out of fuel or what's going on, why is it spinning over fast enough but not starting? So we need basically 3 things.

So the first thing we need is, we need an engine that's healthy, that can breathe and needs to be able to suck air in, compress that, and then spit it out the exhaust. And when it's compressing that air, it's also mixed with fuel. So as far as sucking it in, maybe we have a rodent that built a nest in the air cleaner.

As far as going out the back, maybe we have a plugged catalytic converter or something. But then in the middle, we have things like piston rings and camshafts and valves and all those have to be functioning properly in order to have the right amount of compression.

The next thing we need is we need to get some fuel in there. So first of all is a fuel pump running? A lot of times if you train yourself you can listen to hear it run even if you turn it on at first, it'll usually run for a couple seconds.

So if our fuel pumps are working good and we're pumping fuel up to the engine, now we have to be able to inject it in there. So we have a computer that controls the injectors, we have wiring and relays and a number of things so we have to get that fuel injected into the cylinder.

And then next, if we have that all compressed nicely and we have fuel in there, we need to be able to ignite it, and that's what our spark plug does. So we have ignition coils and wiring and once again, computer controls that can determine when and how and how strong that spark is.

So there's a lot of testing involved so it's hard for me to answer that question directly, but I hope this has been helpful for you to understand a little bit more of what is required, in order for your engine to start.

Thanks for watching and until next time, safe travels and blessings to you.



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Thank you for visiting Mercie J Auto Care in Mesa serving: Mesa, Gilbert, & Apache Junction, AZ where we love our customers and their kids!  Expect Hot Wheels Racing, Great Customer Service & Excellent Mechanics who know how to fix anything that comes through these bay doors!   Our goal is to have everyone of EVERY age to leave happy!

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