Dry start up with ignition 5 out of 10x? New starter?
my 93 Camaro is dry on start up about 50 percent of the time
the other half it starts up smoothly

when there is dryness or not a smooth immediate turn on of the car's ignition towards the tail end I can hear the chassis or the underbelly of the engine rattle

my mechanic said a number of things could be the problem and that this isnt' the sign of a necessary spark plug replacement or a full tune up, but it is instead one of the following:

older battery
new starter is needed
or loose ground

i asked this mechanic if there's any danger the starter can blow and then leave me stranded and he said no

this mechanic said 'no' and he added but it runs fine.

But im a little skeptical, im thinking that after too many times, the car will not even be more dry on startup, but worse , but worse: It won't start up at all, since maybe the starter will have totally died?

I want to know how long I have to get a new starter which are pricey at 300 dollars and a 90 dollar install fee

out of all the above scenarios,the starter is the most costly one and the worse case scenario

btw; i had a tune up about 12,000 miles ago, the next one is coming soon, but the problem with a dry start up at ignition may be more pressing.

thanks for any help

 

well i dont know where you priced a starter at ,Ebay average for a desent one $55.00 $65.00 93 3.4l a high end one is like 100.00 at most , the one on my 406 couse i wanted a new one was $59,99 2 years later working fine ,from what i hear it could do what your talking about for years ,sounds like a job for the back yard mechanic ,there not hard to install at all,for me it would only be $120.00 at the most ,an that includes an hour labor to install it ,even if you paid the $90.00 a desent alternator for that car is like said $55.00 65.00 so half of $300.00 at most is all your looking at ,if the mech said it was not a big deal probley not

 

is the starter engaging and working and engine will not start? is it draging and not working well enough to start engine or not working at all?

 

Dry start up? I have a degree in automotive tech, GM and ASE certified tech what the heck is a dry start up? Is this a some regional slang for a certain condition? To me a dry start would be no fuel?

Since I do not know what a dry start is I can not really help but here are some facts.

All a tune up on these cars is new plugs/plug wire and filters. There is no adjustments or tweaking like there would be on an older car. Doing a second tune up in less then 5 years or 80,000 miles is throwing money away.

New parts fail, it happens all the time.

Diagnosing a cranking problem should have NO guess work in it for a mechanic with the correct tools. That assumes the mechanic can make the error happen with the tools connected.

I have had 20+ year old cars with chronic cranking and charging issues. First thing I do is replace the main battery cables. Large cables build resistance over time. This resistance will cause premature Starter and Alternator failure. It can even make seem like weak battery. This resistance is easy to measure in a voltage drop test but if I had a car that was 25 years old, it would be getting new battery cable.

 

A "dry start" is when the engine sits for a prolonged period of time, allowing more of the oil to run off the internals. Then when you start it up, it takes a couple of seconds for everything to get oiled back up. He's misusing the term is all, that's not what's being described. A no gas issue can't be a dry start, it would be a no start.

 

I'm just curious where he's buying a $300 starter.......the one high-torque starter for the race car didn't even cost that much.

 

I have heard "Dry start" for a newly built motor, as in "that moron did a dry start without priming his new engine." But I did not make the connection with Dry starts 5 out of 10 times.

The most expensive Starter on Rock auto is $95 and that is new, not remnafactured. BigCat just pays what the mechanic says. I really have to question the logic of someone that does not work on cars owning a 24 year old car. $90 labor? With a lift and air tools its a 1/2 hour job, Maybe an hour in my driveway and battery powered tools and a beer in one hand.

My Garage would do the same thing. I was really busy at work a few months ago and my garage charged me $800 for front wheel bearing on the wife's 2011 impala due to ABS codes, they wanted $600 for rear brakes and sway bar links on the back of my truck. The car I ate due to time the truck cost me less then $200 and about 3 hours.

 

yes, starter is overpriced, mechanics at repair shops really charge more than autoparts are worth so that they can profit by it. NOt sure if there is a regularatory association that regulates the mechanic industry like the ADA, the AMA or a BAR association for lawyers--that's what my backyard free lance mechanic friend told me also, he's sort of like the dude from "2 Lane Blacktop" played by The Beach Boys' drummer, Dennis Wilson, co-starring singer, James Taylor. But my backyard mechanic doesn't like to work on American cars, he'd rather work on imports like Japanese cars since they're easier to work on. I think it's common knowledge that a tune up on a Camaro is more difficult than a Toyota Camry, because of placement of spark plugs for example on a 4th Gen. Camaro, for example.

I really thank you so much since I can start her up like this "for years" as you said, that is a relief and is corroborated by 2 other people in addition to you.

but I would like to nip any foreseeable problems in the bud at inception before it gets worse.

that's why we're Camaro enthusiasts and love our Camaro's.

Thanks again!!

 

that's the quote from my trusted repair shop mechanic

my free lance mechanic friend said repair shops routinely jack up prices for autoparts to pad onto their labor fees.

good thing is that it only takes like 45 minutes to replace a starter.

at 95 dollars an hour at this repair shop owner in san diego ca, that's not too bad.

i pay a little more (often) for peace of mind.

there's a trade off between time spent looking for deals and doing it yourself, time is spent on this that could be spent elsewhere.

thanks MK C.

 

starter engages and turns car on

if u ever saw training day and that '79 monte carlo black in color driven by the NARCotics officer played by Denzel Washington,

at one point in the middle of the film he cusses that his car won't start when trying to escape from a gang neighborhood

then it starts (when all the other times in the film, it would start up very smoothly)

it doesn't take that long to start my car, just a little dry and then starts,

and engages engine.

since this dry start is a 4 out of 10 type of problem it doesn't seem too bad

but i am getting it diagnosed and then fixed in like 3 weeks by my trusted auto repair shop mechanic.