Updated at: 10-08-2023 - By: Lucas

If your car is making clicking sounds, why won’t it start? Then you should read this article. I just had the same problem with my car, and I finally made a plan for what to do if it happened again. Follow along, and I’ll show you what to do step by step if this happens.

When you try to start your car and hear clicking sounds, there isn’t one clear answer to what’s wrong. There are many different parts that could be broken or not set up right.

The flywheel gives the engine a push, which is controlled by the starter motor. All of these parts are powered by the battery, so that’s the first thing we’ll check. However, when the car won’t start and starts clicking, there could be a number of different problems or ways to fix them.

Car won’t start and makes clicking sound: How to Solve

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If you hear clicking sounds when you try to start the engine, it’s probably the battery or the starter. When you start the engine, there are a number of parts that work together. If just one of these parts is broken, you won’t be able to start the engine.

Step 1. Check the battery

When the clicking problem comes up, the battery is the most common cause. As I said before, the most important part of trying to start a car is the battery, which powers the starter motor and the flywheel.

Check to see if corrosion or acid has built up around the battery’s poles, and if so, clean it.

Look at the picture above if you don’t know what that looks like. The corrosion is the blue texture you can see on the left pole. If you have something like this on your battery, it could be why your car won’t start. All you need to do is clean it off, which is pretty easy.

Mix 32 ounces of hot water with baking soda, mix it up, and pour it over the connectors. I also like to use a toothbrush to get rid of all the rust afterward. When you do this, make sure to wear gloves and glasses. You don’t want either the baking soda or the battery acid to get in your eyes or on your hands. When you’re done cleaning it, spray it with WD-40 to keep it from getting rusty or corroded again.

Check the connectors. You should also check the battery terminals and the wires that go to the poles to see if they are loose. You need to tighten these if they are loose. This is a common way to fix the problem, so don’t skip this step. Here is an image of the two bolts that need to be tightened.

If these last two steps didn’t solve your problem, don’t worry. There is always a way out. Here are a few more things you should look into.

Check if the battery is dead or damaged

If fixing the corrosion or tightening the bolts didn’t work, your battery may have died or stopped working.

Use a multimeter to check the battery levels to see if this happens. If you don’t have one, you can buy one here or at a store nearby.

When you’re ready, turn the knob on your multimeter to 20 volts or at least something over 15 volts. Then, just connect the red wire to the positive pole of your battery and the black wire to the negative pole. When you do that, a number should show up on your multimeter. This number should be about 12,6 volts.

If the number is much higher than 12,6, your battery is bad and needs to be replaced. If the number is close to 12,6, we can continue testing. Even if the battery has the right voltage, that doesn’t mean it’s working right. So, to fix the problem you have, we need to do a few more tests.

Another problem could be that the battery doesn’t have enough cranking amps (CCA). This is a measurement that tells you how much voltage the battery can give off. Voltage is needed to start the car.

So, to test this, keep the cables in the same place you just put them, but this time start the car while you or someone else looks at the multi-meter. The number on the multimeter shouldn’t go below 10 volts when you start the car. If it goes below 5 volts, it means your battery is completely dead and needs to be replaced.

2. Check the starter

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If your battery still won’t work, we need to check the start. Most people will have trouble with the battery, and what you did before should fix the problem. So make sure to look at these first. You can also see if the clutch works and if the car is in park. Just start with the easiest ideas first

The starter is under the car, which makes it hard for most drivers to get to. Here’s a cool trick you can use to check the starter without touching it. Just follow the steps and don’t make things harder than they need to be, and you should be done in no time. This will be the last thing we do, and if it doesn’t help, you’ll have to take it to a mechanic.

Okay, before you test the starter, you need to put the car in neutral. This is very important.

Now open this box. There are fuses and relays inside. When you open the top cover, you should see a map on the inside that shows where all the relays and fuses are.

Look for the part of the cover that says “starting relay” and find it on the power distribution centre.

Don’t get confused by all the things you see here; the only thing you need to find is the starting relay. I’ll show you what you should look for in the picture below.

So, this is where the relay starts.

Now that the starting relay is out of the way, you should find a jumper wire like these. Only one is needed. On the picture before this one, there is a diagram that shows how many pins are on the starting relay.

Find pin numbers 30 and 87. They are usually on opposite sides of the board. Now, look at the power distribution centre and find the holes where pins 30 and 87 used to be. Plug the jumper wire into these two holes, and your car should now start. If it doesn’t, you know your starter doesn’t work. You could use a hammer to hit the starter motor a few times, but be careful not to damage it. In some cases, this can fix the problem. If this doesn’t work and you’re not a skilled mechanic, I’d suggest you ask a mechanic for help.

Conclusion

I hope this article helped you figure out what was wrong. If it didn’t, please explain what went wrong so other people can see. Likewise, if you didn’t, let me know. I’m always trying to make my content better so I can help more people. If you share your experience, it will help others who are in the same situation as you. I’m glad you read.

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