Have a 2012 V6, but not sure if that matters. What happens is every once in awhile I'll turn key, I'll see an hear all usual noises, solenoid click, lights come on, a whirring noise (injectors priming?) but starter won't turn. The battery is new (6 months old) so it can't be that. I'll sit for up to 5 minutes turning key. I'll take out of park (auto trans) rock the car, turn the steering wheel, nothing will work until suddenly it will start, just like normal. This happens about every 10-20 starts. Thinking it's starting to happen more frequently now. Called 2 dealers, they never heard of such a thing. One said check all connections. They are tight. I really don't want to bring it in blindly and say, "just fix it". I'd really like to have an educated opinion before I do take it in. Maybe it's something simple, or maybe not. I hate the thought of having to make multiple trips to dealer now that car is out of warranty. Anyone with knowledge of this? Thanks in advance to anyone with a thought.

 

Your starter is bad. It has some bad spots on the armature where the brushes dont make good contact, so every time you turn the key it bumps a little bit, eventually it finds a good spot and works. Next time it happens get under there with a BFH and give the starter a couple taps I bet it will engage. And any mechanic who has never heard of such a thing needs to go back to mechanic school, because its a common problem with all starters.

 

There wasn't any reason to post the same thing multiple times. Deleted the duplicates

 

Thanks dawson, that is a great help. What do you think, should I just go ahead and get a new (or reconditioned) starter and just bolt it in myself? Not exactly a great mechanic, but I like to do some of my own maintenance and upgrades, did the shorty headers and exhaust on this car and I'm somewhat cheap. My other thought is, maybe I should take it in to make sure there not any other electronic issues. What would you say the cost of a dealer going though the whole diagnostic then replacing the starter? Cost of new starter I see is about $150. Thanks again for the help.

 

If you can swap headers, a starter replacement is a piece of cake. 2 bolts and the electrical connection and your golden. You can have your old starter tested to verify, but I agree with dawson on it being a dead spot in the armature.

Give your cables and all connections a good once over also. Looking for corrosion and cuts in the cable insulation.

Good luck

 

Took out starter today and to a electric repair shop to test it. Guy there bench tested it and said it worked but only way to know if there is a dead spot on armature was to rebuild it. Said buying a reconditioned one would be cheaper. So now I'm back to square one. I put it back, it works for now, next time it acts up I'm going to whack it with a piece wood, like the guy said, to see it that makes it work. I guess that's a way to check if contacts are off. If that works, I'll get a new starter.

 

Sounds good, thanks for the update. Good luck