I have an 03 with cams, exhaust, clifford 650, DIY Intake, hard pipes, Deku battery, and running a speed density MAS sensor. I havent had many problems till recently since the cars getting a bit old now. I drive very short stints to work, maybe a 10 minute drive and I have a mini batt. The car will not turn over. Key in, clutch in, turn key to ACC everything powers on, HKS turbo timer reads 12+ volts, turn key to ON and you hear one mechanical clank sound. Try again and same thing. Its more common when the car sits in the hot summer sun or if the car sits for a couple days. If you start the car, shut it off then start it again, it will always start easily. When I have trouble starting it I do a couple things like turn the AC off, pop the clutch a couple times, key on and off a couple times and it will start eventurally. So far ive replaced the accessory belt since it was cracking to make sure the alternator is chargin the batt, replaced the 1.5 year old Enersys with the larges Deku that fits my tray. The only things I can reason are 1) something aftermarket wired into the car is drawing the battery down 2) althought the starter is out putting 14ish volts while the cars on the batts not getting full charge 3) the engine is shutting off in such a way the starter cant crank it, turn over 4)the clutch in sensor is flakey.

If I have the key to ON and clutch in and out I hear the same single mechanical clank sound from the engine bay. The car will always eventually start, but you have to mess with things. Its very frustrating.

Im no AES tech but Ive done all my mods myself so Im fairly good with working on the car but this one has me stumped. Its like its gotten worse over time and it happens constantly now. Please help, I need ideas of where to look and how to troubleshoot this! Thanks

ps- Im running about a 12 month old version of Tefra mod, if that is any help.

 

If you have a large key chain, the weight may have damaged the barrel where the key switch is. You can get a replacement from a lancer, or a junked Evo.

It seems intermittent, and not really related to anything in particular. This MAY be your issue.

 

Sounds from your description that something is draining your battery. You may have 12 volts when it is doing nothing but when you apply a load to it then it most likely will drop a lot.

I see that you replaced your battery not too long ago but it sure seems like you have something just drawing the life out of it.

Get a load tester and try that on the battery. Another way is turn on your headlights and try to crank the engine. If it doesn't crank and the lights go dim the battery is low on charge or shot.

 

check alternator

 

1) check your battery
2) check the ground to the starter
3) check your starter

see if that helps ... the large clanking noise might be #3

 

Thanks guys this should get me started. Im going to look into the load tester.