Has anyone else experienced this... you turn the key, and even though you have a fully charged battery, all you hear is the massive click of the starter relay. The engine does not turn over.
It happened to me, and jumping the battery from a running car produced the same results. I crawled underneath looking for the actual starter motor, but couldn't see a thing. Next I let it roll down the slight incline of the driveway, in "N" and put it back into "P" with a little clunk. Still no joy. I was about to give up when I turned the key on and off rapidly about 3 or 4 times, when it popped to life.
Now I cannot duplicate the problem. I really don't think its the starter motor, not with 70k on it and only 2 years old. (Mine is a 2006) It's more like a computer glitch not opening a relay somewhere. Anyone have any insight or read some Tech bulliten that I'm not aware of? The dealer suspected the battery, but his diagnosis was from 15miles away. I had plenty of soup in the battery, cuz the lights were bright, and the horn worked. Putting the battery on my charger, it would only take a couple amps, (Internal sensing on the charger - a dead battery takes 30 amps)
Dang it I miss manual transmissions. This happens out in the woods, and one could really be up a tree.
Thanks for the link to the TSB... gonna check that out. It is NOT the battery. It's fully charged. Also, I pulled the terminals and did the terminal post clean job where you polish til the post is nice and shiney and then I cleaned the inside of the connectors. Horn, Lights, A/c blowers all work and turn signals don't even slow down with brakes on and horn blasting, so I'm fairly convinced I've got plenty of juice going to the system. Now here's the kicker... I haven't been able to recreate the situation.
I'm leaning towards faulty starter, only because I did get it to crank by flicking the ignition switch on and off quickly, and the snapping of the starter relay may have been enough to cause the armature to wiggle just enough to kick in, but I sure don't like this answer.
The TSB doesn't describe the problem in enough detail for my liking. I wish it described the condition more than "Engine won't crank" I cannot tell where the starter is even located. Maybe I was hearing a relay inside the Module they talk about in the service bulletin.
dang, mine just started doing this.... left it off for 15 minutes, came back outside to drive somewhere and it wouldn't start. Just a loud clicking noise indicating the battery was dead... jumped it and had it restarted soon enough, but the fact that the battery lost enough amperage within 15 minutes to not start it really freaks me out... time for a new battery? 46k miles, 2006
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2006 Commander Limited, 5.7L V8, QD II, Dark Khaki, Mopar Performance CAI/Exhaust
I shoulda known this was coming. Did it again over the labor day weekend. Lots of folks told me to crawl underneath and bang starter with a hammer. This is not going to work on an 06 Commander. Might work on newer models.
Long story short, had to have it towed to a dealer luckily enough only 8 miles from the hotel at Va Beach where we were staying. They got to it on Tuesday, and sure enough said it was the starter. Then came the B.S. from the Service mgr. He told me I could have crawled under and hit the starter to get home. There's no way... I knew he was full of "you-know-what" when he told me that dirt and mud could splash up on the armature and cause it to stick.
Does anyone know what has to be done to actually "See" the starter? I'm guessing the bottom skid plate needs to be removed, but have no ideal just how complex this is.
Good news is that the starter replacement only cost 360 bucks installed, tax and labor included.
i just had the same thing happen to my commander today. went golfing, returned to my vehicle, and CLICK..... nothing!! i attempted to jump start the vehicle, repeatedly click the ignition key, and everything else i could think of. i started to dig into it with what tools i had readily available, and could not get it started. the battery is GOOD. i took the skid plate down (i think it was (4) 13mm bolts) to access the starter. the starter is located on the lower drivers side of the engine. there is a heat shield mounted around the starter wiring connections. in an attempt to get home i tried to bang on the starter and that did not work. i ended up getting it flatbedded to a remote location where i can work on it some more. i'm not for sure on this cuz i have only worked on it for a little while, but it looks like the front drive shaft and/or the exhaust has to be unbolted and dropped down from the engine to get access to the starter for replacement/diagnosis. anyone have the procedure for this to save me some time investigating? i will keep everone posted when i get it fixed. FYI.... i have a 2006 with the 4.7L V-8
My '06, 5.7L did the single click with no crank thing at 38,000 miles. It left us stranded in a parking lot. We had it towed to a dealership and they replaced the starter. Then, 17 months later it happened again (57,000 mi).
The bad thing is, I assumed it was the battery this time because of two things:
1. It was -2 F.
2. It started after I left the charger on it for a couple of hours.
I tried to find a battery at a couple of local stores and neither had a replacement listed in their book. I went to the dealership and paid $163 for a battery. Installed it and still just a single click. Darn. Once again, the flat bed came and hauled it to the dealership for a starter change.
I am seriously questioning the reliability of this vehicle now.
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