Starting Problem

[tim john]

I have a 04 es, 74000 miles original battery which is getting replaced Mon., drive the car daily, 28 miles round trip min., drove to a store, five min. later, no start. no cranking over, just a tick tick noise.. radio, lights worked, sat for about ten min. after trying to start, started right up. tried two keys, same thing. didn't start with either key. fine now. having charging system checked also. any tips on what went wrong?

thanks.

Tim

[rushlvr]

Check the forum, but it sounds like the contacts in the starter. 30 dollars in new contacts vs replacing the entire starter. You will find several post relating to this issue.

[branshew]

I'd say the starter as well. Try tapping on it with a hammer or something heavy while someone else is starting the car. You may get it to start, but that's a sure sign that it needs to be replaced or rebuilt. I just replaced mine recently. It died on me one night after work and I didn't have the luxury of the downtime that would have been required to get a rebuild kit so I just bit the bullet and bought a new one.

It's a pretty straightforward DIY job. Take out the battery and air box and it's right there. Only two bolts to remove on the starter. Just remember to re-connect all of the vac line hoses in the right spots.