Our team at Longview Alternator & Starter Co. has extensive experience in the automotive industry. As our name suggests, we focus primarily on alternators and starters, which are key parts of the engine that often develop tricky problems. In this article, we’ll go over a few ways to tell if your starter is bad—if you notice any of the following issues, we encourage you to bring your vehicle to our starter shop as soon as possible.
- The Engine Doesn’t Turn Over – The starter is the part of your vehicle responsible for making the engine turn over to start the vehicle (hence the name). With this in mind, the most obvious sign something is wrong with your starter is the engine failing to respond when you turn the key. Often, the dashboard lights, headlights, and radio will still turn on, as they are still receiving power from the battery, but the engine will do nothing. If this happens to you, bring your vehicle to our starter shop as soon as you can get a tow.
- The Engine Responds Slowly – Even if your engine comes on when it’s supposed to, there could still be a problem with your starter if it seems to be taking longer than usual for the engine to rev up. If it takes longer than normal for the engine to turn over, then we encourage you to bring your vehicle to our starter shop to get checked out, as this is a sign the starter is wearing out.
- You Hear a Clicking Sound – Of course, there are more reasons why a vehicle might not start than a bad starter, with the most common example being a dead battery. One way to determine if the battery or the starter is the problem is to listen for a clicking sound as you turn the key—if you hear clicks, then it’s probably your starter. If the starter is bad, then charging the battery won’t be enough to get the vehicle started again, so you will need to take it to our starter shop for service.