Expert: autohelp - 4/27/2010

Question
QUESTION: I own a 2003 CTS 3.2 engine. There seems to be an intermittent problem with the starter. Sometimes it won't start and just keeps on "clicking" for a while until after several attempts it starts. We have changed both thye starter and the starter relay. All cables have been checked, and the problem persists.

Any ideas as to what could this problem be?

ANSWER: Did you find your problem ?.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: No I Don't fine the problem.

ANSWER: Please e-mail your question to: onlineautohelp@msn.com

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I own a 2003 CTS 3.2 engine.There seems to be an intermittent problem with the starter. Sometimes it won't start and just keeps on "clicking" for a while until after several attempts it starts.We have changed both thye starter and the starter relay.All cables have been checked,and the problem persists. Any ideas as to what could this problem be?

Answer
I have seen this problem quite often. Get yourself a battery cell hydrometer tester. It looks just like an anti-freeze tester with the 4 or 5 different colored balls inside what looks like an eye dropper that has a bulb on top that you can squeeze and suck up some of the anti-freeze to see how many colored balls floated and this told you at what temp your anti-freeze was good for before it would freeze.

They make a similar item that tests the individual battery cells in the same manner. Remove the rectangular caps that are on top of the battery and use this ball tester to measure the individual cells within the battery.

I have found numerous batteries with one or more bad cells. I even had 2 supposedly brand new batteries installed and still had the same problem and I tested it with the ball tester and sure enough there was one or more bad cells. It took me 3 batteries in one of my vehicles before I finally got one that had all good cells and my problem was resolved.

You also want to cut some of the plastic insulation near the battery post connection on the positive and negative battery cables to see if the actual wire strands are NOT discolored as this will also cause your problem.