It's happened two times in the last week. My wife tries to start her car and nothing happens. What she means by nothing happens is that there is no engine rotation or any clicking sound. After open and closing the car door and hood it then works and starts fine. It's hard for me to trouble shoot a car that works. But, I'm looking at either a starter relay or a starter. Anyone want to take a guess as to what they think it might be? 98 Lumina 3.1

 

does the power go out in the car
or does the power stay on

if off try looking at battery connections

if the power stays on
it could be just the starter
like the stator could have a short and the brushes is on that bad spot
opening and closing the doors and hood
could shake the starter a slight bit
and let it be in a good spot
then start


but then again i dunno
hard to trouble shoot a car from a forum
lol

 

i would try diconecting the battery and cleaning the terminals and make sure they are tight. then check around the starter to see if there are any losse wires. give them a slight pull to see if they are broke they may look ok and be broken on the inside of the wire casing. hope this helps a bit.