Hello and thank you for looking. We have a 1998 Saturn SL2 sedan with a 4cyl. Just last week it started to have starting issues sporadically. Typically it will have no problems starting from cold, but there is not too much consistency. From what I can tell the most consistent that it was having issues was once the motor was warm, clicked off for a few minutes, and then tried to start again. When I get in the car, the lights come on, I put the key in the ignition cylinder, and when i turn the key all of the lights on the dash come on, but the motor makes no sound. The electric seems to be working fine, as the lights remain on when i attempt to start, but the starter doesn't even attempt to turn. Typically it will take between 5 and 10 minutes to get the car to start. Once the starter does attempt to start, it starts as if there was no problem.

Also I thought it may be important that there has been problems before with ignition cylinder. Frequently, the key will have difficulty turning. I will have to jiggle the steering wheel somewhat vigorously to get the key to release to turn. Also, when i remove the key from the ignition, sometimes the cylinder will stay depressed, and the door dinger will ding at me until i fiddle with the cylinder to get it to pop out.

Thanks again for looking, and please let me know of any advice that you have for me! I appreciate your time.

 

That is usually symptamatic of a defective starter. The dingy thingy seems to be a characteristic of Saturn ignition locks ofter a long period of time and lots of wear.
I found on mine it is picky and in order to get things to work regularly I have to (as I turn off the ignition) mentally remind myself to PUSH STRAIGHT IN on the key as I turn it or everything seems to get stuck, If I do it correctly it all works correctly.
which may be the way the thing is supposed to work anyway but it has been a problem for so long it has becoume rountine. (I've owned it for 16 years)

 

Well thank you for your reply. I think that is a pretty good idea, i will try doing that. Though i am not so concerned with the ignition cylinder so much so as the starter. Are you suggesting that the starter is going out on the car and should be replaced? Just surprised since the car has under 70k on it.

 

It's 12 years old and has about 70,000 miles on it?
Where is it stated that starters are supposed to last a given length of time.
The average factory warranty is only about 30,000 miles and 3 years. Although that may change from time to time so by itself is not much of a recommendation or comparrison.
I owned a brand new Lincoln at one point in time that could not run 2 months at a time with out something new (and some times repeated failures) crapping out to the point where when the optional and extra cost engine and drivetrain warranty for 60,000 miles ran out I dumped the thing. It cost me 8 grand to get rid of it. The next owner spent 4 grand on it in 2 months and then I lost track of it. Thankfully.
While I resented the entire situation and it rankles to this day, there was no way I was going to drive that car for another mile with out some kind of a catastrophic coveage warrantly on it.
It was cheaper to dump it and buy a throwaway car. That I then proceeded to drive trouble free for 270,000 miles and still sold it at a fair price.

 

I've just been having the same experience, and after some detective work on my part and my mechanic's, we discovered the culprit was the fuse box. It's the one beside the radio and a/c, next to the passenger's legs.

At first I was pulling fuses and checking them, but they were all fine, and the car, after doing that, would start again. We then realized that when I was pushing the fuses back in, I was making a connection in there that then allowed the car to start (that is, it wasn't the fuses itself).

So just today, the same thing happened. All I had to do to get the car to start was to give a little knock again the fuse bank, and voila!

I can't say (obviously) that that's excatly what going on with yours, but it might be worth checking out at least before you deal with the starter. Just a thought, and I'm really completely new at this, but that's been my experience.

 

Hey, thank you for your reply, I will give that a check!