Car not starting, help please!

[94LegWagon]

Recently my 2.2 N/A is not starting for me. I try to turn it on and the engine wont even try to turn over. Then I come back to the car an hour later and it fires right up, no hesitation. The battery is about 6 months old. Cant hear the starter clicking like when I had a bad battery. Anyone know what this could be?? Really aggravating. The first time this happened I jumped it, then a week later it started happening again . Battery terminals are clean.

TIA

[BSOD2600]

Could be the starter or ignition switch.

[subytech]

Next time try jiggling the key while it's in the start position, if it cranks or tries to crank it's the ignition switch. I've seen this on many cars. Also to test the switch check and see if you have power to the small wire at the starter while the key is in the start position. Your profile says your car is a 5mt but if anyone has this problem with an auto you can also try pushing the gear selector twards the front of the car while turning the key to the start postition, if this fixes the problem its the gear position switch.

[Jessekrs123]

How many miles on your car? I've had 2 older legacys, and both their starters went out around 150,000 miles.

[94LegWagon]

car has 230,000 miles, and when it does start it starts up immediately, no hesitation at all. I will check the ignition switch and get back to you. Thanks for the suggestions!

[Legacy777]

More than likely it's the starter solenoid contacts, or as previously mentioned, the ignition switch. The relays are not hard to replace and pretty cheap. There's some pics of the solenoid contacts on this page. There's a few sites you can buy just the contacts, if you do a search, you should find it.

http://www.surrealmirage.com/subaru/images/swap/13

[94LegWagon]

Decided I want to try and replace the ignition switch, but when researching repair guides on this it says I am going to have to remove shear bolts. Any good way to do this? If this doesn't work will try solenoid contacts, or just replace starter.

[Legacy777]

Honestly, you're better off replacing the contacts. The "rebuilt" starters you typically get from the parts stores are crap.

Here's the thread with info on the contacts

http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=23141

[94LegWagon]

took the starter off today, openeded it up and cleaned the solenoid contacts with a wire brush. Also cleaned all the other electrical contacts I could find. Autozone doesn't supply solenoid contacts, but they tested my starter and say its good. Soooo put the starter back in (the bottom bolt is kind of a pain) and it started right up. Hesitation that was there before is gone, gonna start driving it again and see if its fixed. If this doesn't work I'm gonna replace the ignition switch. Just really don't want to if I am going to have to drill out a couple shear bolts. Anyways, just thought I would let you know where my car is at, thanks for the help.

[Legacy777]

How did the contacts look? Were they worn & pitted badly?

[94LegWagon]

Contacts looked pretty worn, had a very dark tinge to them of worn copper, and white corrosion spots, after the wire brush they looked way better

[Legacy777]

Was the part where the plunger makes contact with the solenoid, was there a big lip where the copper had worn down?

[94LegWagon]

I don't believe there was a lip from it being worn down, it looked great after I cleaned it. Car has yet to not start on me since I cleaned the contacts. Think it may be fixed

[Legacy777]

Yeah, hope that was the issue.