Won't start, blows fuse every startup attempt

nigelgreenleaf

Hi everyone. Many thanks for any help.

1999 Breeze. Just replaced the battery. Insert the key, the car dings at you like normal. Turn the key, I hear a big "click" like the first noise you're supposed to hear, but then no other noise. No cranking, no wheezing, nothing. Can turn the key again and nothing happens at all.
Checked the fuses and the ignition fuse was blown. Put in a good fuse and tried again. That "click" again, the fuse is blown, if I turn the key again there's nothing.

Is this a defective starter? It's a pretty new starter but you never know. My dad suggested the starter solenoid maybe...
Any ideas?

Thanks so much for your assistance.

socal_eric

That does sound like a starter solenoid or possibly the wiring to it from what you're describing. If you're mechanically inclined you could pull it off and have it tested for free at most auto part stores, but I'd start with a good visual inspection first to make sure there isn't a wiring issue.

joejoeson

You have a short somewhere. The click is the relay which means it's good, but somehow when you turn the key there is a short somewhere which is blowing out the ignition fuse. It could maybe be the starter, but not necessarily, you could remove the starter and bench test it, or have a mechanic do this, and if the starter works, obviously that is not the problem. If you take a multimeter with an Omn function, disconnect the battery, place the black lead on the ground terminal of the battery, and the red lead with Ohm reading at different locations from the relay to the starter (the relay is good so focus from there to the starter). You will have to disconnect different electrical connectors and then check for continuity. The readings should read O.L., since you disconnected the connector and it is not grounded or getting power anywhere, but if you read 0 then you found your short (which means despite the connector being disconnected, it is reading some resistance, which indicates it is shorted to ground, and the electricity has found a new path to ground which is causing your fuse to blow). If you can't do this yourself you can at least inform a mechanic of what needs to be done rather than have them just replace your starter which might not fix the problem. If the new starter can handle increases amperage it might work for a time, but ultimately your short was not discovered. Unless you bench test the starter and that is the problem, where the short exists in the starter itself, hard to say without actually doing some tests on it.