Starter won't spin and fans cycle on

[jefferson]

This morning my wife came in and said the car wouldn't start. Took the charger out and hooked it up and I can hear the solenoid kicking in, but the starter doesn't even try to spin. The odd thing is the fans cycle when she turns the key on. I think I just thought of why the fans are doing that. She had the defroster on last night so I think that is it. I was concerned this was more involved because of the fans, but now I will check and it may only be a connection or starter.

[monkeyposeur]

I bet your starter contacts are worn. Pull the starter and replace the contacts. If you have an alternator/starter rebuild shop in your city they can sell you some for a couple bucks. Otherwise you can order a kit on eBay for about $10. Or just buy a new starter.

[jefferson]

i cleaned them when I rebuilt the transmission, but that doesn't mean anything really. Went from starting fine to dead overnight. I am wondering if it doesn't have a dead spot in it. I might try smacking it with a hammer and see what happens.

[rallyak]

Smack it, mine dose this once and a while and I've been dealing with it like this for 10 years. My wife's car on the other hand I just replaced the starter so I wouldn't have have to hear the complaints.

[ride_child]

hahaha worth the new starter for that!!!!

[cj91legss]

To be honest, I've had this exact problem with multiple subarus. Smacked starters, bumped ignitions, kicked tires and fenders.

I have tried everything I can think of and I personally have come to the conclusion that the Subaru starting/ignition system just plain sucks.

Outside of all of that the only thing that has never let me down is jumping the solenoid on the starter. It never failed me and because of this I just installed a push button to start the car while the ignition was on.

[Legacy777]

If you turn the HVAC system completely off do the fans still stay on or cycle?

Are the green diagnostic connectors under the dash connected? If everything is working properly those being connected are the only things that would keep the fans cycling like that.

I don't think those connectors have any impact on the starting, but if they are connected I'd definitely suggest unplugging them.

[jefferson]

When I turned off the defrost the fans stayed off and no the diag connectors are not hooked up. I got it going by charging the battery. Even after charging it still didn't take off until a few tries and has been fine since.

[Legacy777]

Ok, if the defrost or AC buttons are selected the fans will stay on.