2000 2.4L LD9, 5 speed.
Short ram, motor mounts.

Conditions: normal daily driving, pulled into a parking lot and shut off the car. Left the headlights on for about 15 minutes (never head any problems with battery before).

I try to start the car... just the starter clicking. Trip meter reads "ERROR", cd player reads "LOC" (which is what it says when you try to steal it?) and only power to mirrors/headlights... brakes make the cd player dim. Repeated attempts (in short intervals as I haven't had the recall done on the ignition) and just clicking, eventually halting. I called AAA and they sent over a guy who owns a shop in the same town. He plugs a battery onto my battery, clicking returns to normal speed by no starting. I try giving it gas,no change. Instrument cluster does not work once I set the key to the "on" position just before the "start" position, but starts to turn on as I turn the key to "off". He says he thinks its a short or problem with the starter, but will have to be diagnosed. He towes me to his shop (dragging the new LS lip on the ground brutally as he lets the car off the ramp) and tells me he will need around an hour or more of diagnostic time in the morning (at $65 an hour). I do not get a good feeling from this guy, and I'm worried that he's going to spend 2 hours dicking around to tell me it's a complicated problem he needs more time to solve. I only have $500 as I just spent $1.6k+ on a supercharger (which I WAS GOING TO INSTALL THAT SAME NIGHT). So when I put the key in and turn it to "on" to roll up the power windows, nothing. Can't use the remotes either. "LOC" is still on the CD player.

Is there anyw ay without the dealer to over-ride the theft deterrant system? Any ideas as to what's causing this? How much does a starter cost? How will I know if it was just a short that needed to have a wire replaced and what if he claims its a solenoid on the starter that needs replacing? Is it worth it to try to fix this myself? I have all day tuesday to work on it but pretty much no time otherwise... should I have it towed ~10 miles away to a friends garage if he finds out the problem is something minor?

Well if the solenoid on the starter is shot, I would get the whole starter replaced, Who knows down the road youre starter may even burnout too. I believe a starter sells for $150 at the most could be cheaper.


Good Luck

Keep us updated.

starters are cheap in comparrison to many other oem replacements... if you cant get it started, just pop start it and i would suggest taking it to your local trustworthy shop, because its a bitch to get to without taking the entire intake out i believe.. yea, theyre like 150/ 160 or so...

i had some starter troubles in the last couple weeks of 05, and wound up having to put 2 new ones in, in a matter of months after the first refurbished one turned out to be shyte... so just make sure that its done rite the first time, like you would with anything else, and if its a standup place they;ll replace it for free if it doesnt work.


good luck

Shop has determined (for $60 in an hour) that the starter is fine, theft system is locked up. Free tow from AAA to dealer, they quote me $300 and two hours (tomorrow of course...) to replace the broken theft deterrent system because its broken (we tried resetting it.)

check to see if the starter is bad yourself. get a large gauge wire, touch one end to the grounded side of the solenoid on top of the starter, and the other side to the hot side of the battery. if it cranks or turns on, then your starter is fine.

a starter is not THAT hard to put on. i did mine a few months ago. took me a good amount of a day because of the damn intake manifold, but im one that would rather learn to work on my car then pay someone i dont know and doesnt care.

hope this helps.



- Cameron (CaliforniaCavalier)
- www.csc-motorsports.com (my new NOR-CAL car tuning site)

try disconnecting your battery for about 20 minutes. While it is disconnected put it on a charger. This should reset anything in your computers.

I guess the shop tried that but what happened is the PASSLOCK cylinder in the ignition is fried... so the dealer has changed their price to $450 and its taken another day just to get to it for some reason. The shop determined the starter was fine, and the battery is fully charged (and was unplugged for a while)... so I asked the dealer if there's any way we can bypass the passlock system (because I don't really care about it, I'll just put a club on my steering wheel and not have to pay $450 in the future) and he said it's necessary to make the car run. How convenient that something you have to have and is difficult to replace breaks every so often and only the dealer can replace it or get their hands on the part.

Granted this is the first time I've had any problems with my Z, and its 6 years old, but damn... that's frustrating.

That is true. You cant bypass it without knowing what resistance it is. With it broken or fried there is no way of finding out the resistance either. That sux. I got your message about the MAP sensor. That is the right one if you haven't figured it out yet.