Well I feel dumb but... my son who will be 21 years old in 28 days had "borrowed" a fuse about 3 weeks ago and he carelessly either put it back in the wrong place or left it off entirely. Putting a fuse back in the PCM Ignition spot does the trick for future reference

 

But the PCM has nothing to do with the motor cranking? Everything you said was wrong would have nothing to do with the PCM?

From your first post. How is the below even possible if the PCM did not have power???

Don't be surprised if you need a starter soon anyway. It sounds like you had a car that cranked fine and you killed the battery trying to start it. It is very common to have a starter failure within the next few months. For every 30 seconds of crank time the starter needs 5 minutes to cool down.

 

That above post was just a statement that there was nothing wrong with the battery etc. That was when it was running fine before this incident. We had it tested and it was fine. Tried cranking it twice today and got same thing. Put that ignition fuse in and it fired right up. My son had pulled a fuse out the day before and used it in his in order to use a cigarette lighter for an air compressor. When he put it back, he thinks he put it in a spot that I didn't need.

 

I can't find that post you quoted in any of my recent posts. It must of been related to something other than the starter when I wrote that. Maybe it was an answer to someone's question about it?


Ok I found that post. That was when I first thought it was the battery. That was because Advanced said it was bad but then took it to Walmart and it was fine.

 

When ever we are talking about a current problem don't quote specs from tests you did before the problem ever showed up. When you said you have 14 volts running everyone assumed the car would start sometimes just not every time. Nowhere in your posts did you say the "motor cranked great for 20 minutes but would not start now it would not crank". Just that sentence would have put everyone in a completely different direction.

In the future if you want help just tell use exactly what happened. Leave nothing out. I have always said we are only as good as the information you give. This is perfect example of a issue I spent more time typing trying to help then it would have taken me to fix the car.

 

I posted a video of what happened and what car was doing. Couldn't get any clearer than that. The car didn't run for 20 mins. I said in the post you quoted "when the car was running". That could of been 6 mths ago. All of that was to answer a question about the condition of battery and alternator which was ruled out in that post. Then I started a new one about starters and posted the video. Relays were suggested. We traded them and it had no affect. I'm not blaming anyone for this but my son who took away 3 weeks of my use of the car. We didn't know he did that so we'd never thought of it missing anything inside the car. Really all you had to say was "I'm glad it was resolved'. I appreciate your knowledge and have never taken it for granted.

 

Well Dana, I'm glad it was resolved!
I don't think any of us saw that one coming.
So, is your son walking bow-legged now, with one of your shoes stuck in his ars?

 

I think the issue is terminology.
“The car cranked for 20 minutes”, this means the starter tried to start the car, by saying that you would be implying it did not run. This is primary cause by a lack of fuel or spark.

“When I crank the car it tries to start” This would mean the starter is trying to start the car but then you hear a single burp or back fire. This confirms there is at least some fuel and some spark.

“Car will not crank over.” The starter will not spin the motor over. This is the issue like everyone thought you had. A starter can draw about 120 AMP on a cold day(per minute). A good new battery will store 850 AMP. Which means you have about 7 minutes of crank time before you battery needs re-charged. 7 minutes does not sound like a lot but since most of the time the car start in less than 5 seconds it is a lot of tries. Based on the “Crank 30 seconds/let cool 5 minutes” it would take over hour to kill a good battery.

“Cranks” or “Turns over” means about the same thing (the starter is working)
“Starts”, “fires up”, “Running” (means the motor is running without the starters assistance)

“Tries to start”, “tries to catch”, “wants to start” (All mean the same thing motor will NOT spin without the starter assistance )
So the statement that the car “Cranks and tries to start and on the 4th try it normally fires up and runs good” has a very exact meaning.
These terms vary from State to State. Anyone have any to add?