Intermittent no start - Solenoid???

[chrisinkanata]

Need some advice please....2004 2.2 Sunfire. Once in a while when the engine is hot, try to start it but get a VERY slow crank. 99% of the time, it'll start. Ran into a shop to get a coffee yesterday, hop back in and get the slow crank. This time though it's as though the battery is virtually dead - alot of clicking etc. Which it wasn't because the car had started perfectly about 10 min earlier. All the lights worked fine, radio good. That said, I don't recall if the lights went right out when trying to crank or just dimmed. Battery is about a year old (doubt it's a problem - car starts fine even at -25C). Checked all the connections, no corrosion, cleaned up a ground, but good. Starter connections good. I'm thinking I have a problem insde the solenoid...? Thoughts?

Thanks,
Chris

 

[melsg5]

You indicate you had to clean the ground connection? I would check the alternator output first and have the battery load tested before blaming the starter. If this happened only once it could have been a poor ground.