Car starts very hard..
 

Hello,

I had trouble with my car starting very hard, progressively getting worse. The starter fires strongly, but it just keeps clicking for a while until the engine eventually turns over. The engine RPMs read 0, and then as soon as the needle moves up it starts pretty quickly.

At this point, I have put a new battery, new alternator, and just a recently a new starter in. After I installed the new starter, it worked very well for a few days. Now it is back to doing the same thing.

It is very messy down there. I'm not sure whether that could be the sole cause of the problem or not. It appears to be oil, but it's also possible it is engine coolant as after one short trip of a very rough running car I checked my fluids and my engine coolant was bone dry. However, I'm still fairly certain it is oil. My oil level is a little low and I just did an oil change this summer and it has been driven approximately 2500 miles since.

Sometimes the SES light turns on when the car starts. Then if I turn it off and restart it the light will not be there. I have only seen the light once since the new starter.

The old starter passed the test at Autozone when I took it in. I went ahead and put the new starter in anyway and it worked very well for a few days as I said. The connections to the starter are (were) clean when I reinstalled them.

Need some suggestions where to go from here. Thanks in advance.

Also, the battery cables are not frayed and the flywheel looked fine

HI kparrent, please let us know what year make and trim your Bonneville is. That way we can better help you.

Couple things:

I assume you bought a new starter?
Have you checked your 'ground bus' for corrosion?
Have you checked all the grounds and positive cables going to and from the motor and battery area, also cleaning each ends?
Do you have a different auto parts store by you other than Autozone?

Start with these areas and get back to us.....

This is a 94 SSE. I bought a remanufactured starter since the new ones were out of stock. I did check all cables going from the battery and to the starter and all appeared to be in pretty good condition. I also cleaned them when I installed the new starter, however, there is enough oil down there they may be dirty again.

Can you elaborate on what you mean by the ground bus? Thanks

If it were a poor ground, wouldn't I be having trouble with the starter not firing occasionally? It has always fired pretty strongly.