Diagnosis · find out what it is before you pay for a part
Car won't start? Find out why before you buy anything.
A car that won't start has about six common causes and they cost very different amounts. People replace the battery, then the starter, then ring someone. I come to the car, test the basics in order, plug in a scan tool and read what the car itself is saying, and tell you what it is. Then you decide.
Any hour I'm not already on a job, across Sydney. Price for your car on the phone before I leave. Can't talk? Text me.
What it looks like
What "won't start" usually means
- Nothing at all, no lights, no click: flat battery or a bad main connection
- Lights on, one click, no crank: starter motor, or a cable that isn't delivering
- Cranks but won't fire: fuel, spark, immobiliser, or a sensor the engine needs to run
- Cranks slow and then dies: battery on its last legs, or a charging system that's been failing for a while
- Started fine, died while driving, won't restart: alternator, almost always
- Key turns, dash lights come on, security light flashing: immobiliser not recognising the key
Before you pay for anything
The order I test in
Battery and connections
Load test, terminal check, main earth. This is the answer more than half the time and it's the cheapest fix, so it goes first.
Charging and starting
Voltage at the alternator with the engine running if it'll run, voltage at the starter when you turn the key if it won't. This tells me which of the two big parts is at fault, or whether neither is.
Scan the car
I plug a scan tool in and read fault codes and live data from the engine, body and immobiliser. A crank-no-start with a crank sensor code is a very different job to one with an immobiliser code, and the car tells you which if you ask it.
At your place
What I do on site
Whatever it turns out to be, I tell you on the spot, show you the reading or the code, and give you the price to fix it. If it's a battery, alternator or starter I usually carry the part and can do it then. If it's something else I tell you what it is, what it needs, and whether that's a driveway job or a workshop job.
When you ring
Tell me these three things
The car, make and model and roughly what year. Exactly what happens when you turn the key, in your own words. And what happened just before it stopped, if anything, like a long drive, a jump start, sitting for weeks, or heavy rain. The story usually narrows it down before I even get there.
The quickest way to a price
Tell me what it's doing
Ring and tell me the car, the suburb and what it's doing. You get what it sounds like and the price for your car before I leave. Can't talk right now? Text me those three things and I'll text you back.
Any hour I'm not on a job. Same price day or night.
Straight answers
Questions I get about this job
Can't you just tell me on the phone?
What if it's something you can't fix on the spot?
Do you do jump starts?
Will the scan tool work on my car?
What does it cost?
Sounds like your car?
Ring me, describe what it's doing, and I'll tell you what it sounds like and what it costs for your car.