When you go to start the car......and you hear nothing but a click.......do your headlights still shine brightly? or go dim/off? Next time you go to start the car, turn the lights on first then try to start. IF you hear the click and the lights go dim/off.....then repair your battery cables. You don't have to replace the whole cable, just the terminals.

Seeing as how this happened after you replaced the starter.....I'd suspect the ground wire for the battery, which attaches to the long outboard starter bolt......is suspect. As in not tight or not touching bare metal.

Then again you said after you hear the click and then go adust the battery terminals, things return to norm. That indicates the battery terminals.

 

for me what was happening is that ALL power went out. nothing (horn, lights, etc.) had power. i tried once with the lights on and when i turned the key, i heard the clicking and then no power (lights went off).

anyways, it's really hard to pinpoint. i have cleaned the terminals and the cables really don't look damaged or anything. like i said though, before i put it in storage it had started working fine again (after i ran those FSM tests)...

i'm going to change the battery and battery cables, and maybe replace a few ground wires. if that doesn't work i'm going to buy a new rebuilt starter. if that doesn't work, i'm getting a new car

 

well, i took out the starter after hooking it up to the positive terminal as the in-car-test, which it passed, and i took it apart and put it back together and put it in and same problem. it was wierd though, i would reconnect the battery to the car but have no power, but if i slammed the hood shut shaking the whole car, the power would come on inside the car. so im thinking a loose connection somewhere, but when the power is working again and i go to start the car, click, no power like before. i cleaned the terminals, got a new battery, tested the starter and cleaned some grounds... to no avail. so, if gold plated terminals and some extra homemade grounds don't work, i say goodbye 7 and hello some new car that i can't afford but will run for years without problems.

 

I found my ground problem at night time..
Have someone Looking over the engine keeping their eye open...
have someone turn the key..Look for a spark. problem fixed...

its a bad connection that lets low current through..But as soon as you try to apply the 30-40 amps to the starter it send a ark into the small space that the current is flowing threw arking the connection closed...

 

Well....if the battery terminals are good and the cable that runs from the battery negative terminal to the starter is connected good to the starter........and ALL lights go out when you hear the click when starting.....................You might take a look at the MAIN fuse. The MAIN fuse itself might be fine, but it is held in the fuse box by two 10MM bolts and they might be loose??????????????? Be sure to disconnect the battery when trying to tighten them so you don't short anyting out.

Another thought is that the wire that feeds the ignition key has a single connector about six inches or so from the engine fuse box. Sometimes it gets pulled apart....but then you'd probably have NO click when going to Start. You'd still have some lighting, but no starting ability. It's unlikely this is your problem..but look.

Next time you try to start it and it clicks, leave the key to ON and get a pair of channel locks or large pliers and twist one or the other battery terminal a bit and see if the lights come back on. Sorry, I can't get past the battery terminals.

Another thing is.....the battery neg cable has a branck that comes off it and attaches to the left strut tower, where it passes by the strut tower. See if that bolt is there and tight.

 

this is now happening to my car aswell. Did anyone find a solution. Also my security system was going haywire before it happened. Such as security lights blinking and doing a dim blink aslo doing the blibking thing with my seatbelt light. Only to stop if i put the key in the ignition. I will go check my grounds and stuff tom. when it light but i was just wondering if someone found the difinative answer to this problem.

 

well, the problem sort of just went away, it's wierd. it's only been back a few times, and everytime it happens i just have to disconnect the battery, and then reconnect it, and it starts up fine...i haven't really evaluated it much further, but it could be some sort of grounding issue or electrical short, not sure.

i tried what Hailers said about playing around with the terminal cables, but i could only get power to come back by completely disconnecting the negative terminal, and then reconnecting...

anyways, hope you fix it

 

I had the same power with my car. The batery wasnt putting out enough jucie to turn the starter over. Just charge the batery and it should turn right over.