# Starter going bad?



## MikeT (Dec 26, 2014)

I have had my 06 for a month now and i really havent had any serious issues, however from day one i felt like upon start up, any start up hot or cold, the starter sounds like its dragging ( slow crank ) but it fires right away. After reading about battery maintinance i put the battery on a battery tender, checked the battery voltage hot and cold, checked the output of the alt, and all is withen acceptable range. The car is outside and covered and hooked to the battery tender 24-7 when not in use, it has been very cold in the north east and upon start up on the colder mornings i hear what sounds like the solonoid clicking in and out ( as in a dead battery ) just before it fires. and it has not failed to fire off. having it on a float charge the battery is maintained at peak voltage so i am certain its not the battery. Is it possiable the starter is on its last legs.


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## Lemans guy (Oct 14, 2014)

Sounds like the starter solenoid could be going. Also make sure you "load test" the battery. It is the only sure way to tell it is still good. Any local service station will have a tester that hooks to the battery and one other amp clamp to the alternator. A two minute cranking test will " load test" and give you the real story. If you have already checked all that and grounds are tight, I would change that starter solenoid or complete starter.


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## MikeT (Dec 26, 2014)

Thanks for the response, i did a load test and the draw is withen normal range, battery is good, what is the chance of the starter relay going bad and that is causing the clicking.


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## Lemans guy (Oct 14, 2014)

sure, checking or changing the relay is easy enough , swap with a known good one or even jumper the circuit to see if is starting..... sometimes the AC relay is the same right next to it, not sure on that model. But you can sometimes try the AC relay, but look at the relay diagram to make sure it is the same. Right on top of relay is the circuit


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## MikeT (Dec 26, 2014)

I had not started the car for the last 5 days, kept the battery tender connected, it fired right up with that little clicking sound, Im going to swap a relay like you suggested and see whats up, thanks again for responding.


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## brrmich (Sep 6, 2010)

Found something interesting over the weekend. '06 GTO has starting issues in cold weather. Parasitic drain is what I am finding. Does not happen all the time. Trusty multimeter told me the BCM was drawing .15amps. Found that if I manually hold down the hood adjar switch when doors are locked that amp draw dropped to .05amps. Noticed that the bumper that pushes down on the hood adjar plunger has a hole in it.. plunger fits perfect in this hole and when the bumper is cold (hard as a rock) the plunger finds its way into this hole and never get depressed thus the BCM keeps drawing .15amps. I put a piece of tape over the hole and now the current draw is .05amps. We shall see if this "solves" the parasitic drain. This also could have been the cause of my mysterious hood adjar alarm issues in the rain. The plunger is not concentric to the hole in the bumper so its possible that in the warm summer months the tacky rubber bumper slightly catches the plunger and the alarm sets then the rain creates a surface that eventually allows the plunger to slip into the hole and the alarm system thinks the hood just opened? I will be looking into this further. Does anyone else have a bumper in this location that has a hole in its center?


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