Where is the starter located

Have you checked the circuit between the key switch and the starter ?
There should be a starter relay and a neutral safety switch involved.

loose or dirty battery connections ,starter solenoid faulty, low battery

Sounds as if you have a bad starter. The vehicle running differently when cold is a whole different issue that has nothing to do with the starter. Below is a picture of the starter and its location. You can have someone turn the key as if to start the car while you actually touch the starter. If it is bad you will feel it trying to enguage or click inside. I'm guessing that's the clicking noise you hear. If the vehicle is in a bad location and you need to move it in order to replace the starter, again while someone is turning the key to start the car you can tap on it with a small hammer or something and GM starters are pretty good about loosening up and starting while you are tapping on it. This doesn't fix the problem it just will get you going so you can move it. This "tapping" works about 85 percent of the time on GM starters. Either way if you feel the starter trying to go with somebody turning the key, more than likely you are dealing with a bad starter. Hope this helps.

Hello! intermittent faults are difficult to locate but I'll narrow it down to three possibilities: #1 bad ignition Switch...#2 Bad Starter relay...And #3 bad Shift Range Selector Switch...Lets eliminate...Next time it happens shift into Neutral and see if it starts...If that doesn't make a difference...Switch the Starter Relay with the Defogger relay (they are the same relay) and see if the problem of starting is solved...Location of starter relay...It's located in the fuse box, directly in front of the passenger side strut tower next to the Battery.. You'll see a row of relays that are the same size. (four across). It is the second relay from the left...And Blue in color...Just to its left is the Defogger relay (Blue)...If none of the above move or solve the fault I suggest replacing the ignition switch...See photo below...Guru...saailer




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This sounds like the solenoid on the starter is not engaging the starter or the starter itself is bad.

Thanks for choosing FixYa and welcome. This means that power is present. Locate your starter. The hot side battery wire, one leads to the alternator and the other to the starter. It is usually on the bottom front of the engine. Hit it a few times with a hammer, just enough to give it a decent hit. See if the car will start. You probably have a bad starter or starter solenoid. If it starts, it still will need changed asap. If it doesn't, it may be a bad ignition switch. Also, check to make sure the battery is cleaned, no residue.

When you say it won't start, do you mean it cranks but won't fire, or it just won't crank? If it just won't crank, you could be having an issue with the starter relay. The often become intermittent before failure. Many owners do not know there is a starter relay because it was added as a recall item i order to protect the iginition switch from burnout. The starter relay is located in the very front of the engine compartment, just to the left of the battery, on the back side of the radiator crossmember.

If you mean that you turn the key to start but the starter motor doesn't engage the flywheel until the key is turned to start several times, try this. Look under the front of the car and locate the starter motor, which will be at the front of the oil pan. Tap the end of the starter motor with the handle of a large screwdriver a couple of times. If the starter then engages, the starter motor is bad. What happened to the last 99 Caravan (w/175,000 miles) was that a large amount of oily gunk had made its way into the part of the starter that housed the motor brush ***'y, preventing the motor brushes from moving freely and keeping one or more of them from making contact with the armature. The fix was to spray cleaner into the unit. That freed up the brushes and allowed the starter to work. That was a year ago. If you mean that the motor turns over, but doesn't start until you have tried 3 or for times, then I suspect a fuel problem. I have seen a problem where the fuel drains out of the fuel line when the car is off so that repeatedly turning the key to start runs the fuel pump which must refill the fuel line before it can reach the engine. Check the fuel pump, the fuel pump relay, etc. Or, locate the fuel pump relay, under the hood, on the driver side fender. Carefully remove the relay and remove the black plastic cover by lifting the two tabs. Carefully reinsert the relay, sans cover, and have an assistant turn on the key. If the contact "pulls in" then have your assistant remove the gas cap and listen as you manually close the contact with your finger. ( It's okay, the 12 volts won't shock you!) If they can hear a whirring sound, then the pump is working. Have someone start the car while you keep the relay engaged. Hope this helps. Dano

There is a good probability that the starter solenoid is starting to go bad, or has poor contacts. This unit is usually located piggyback on top of the starter, and the starter doesn't have to be dismounted for replacement.Before replacing ( it is inexpensive too), check that the cables leading to it are not corroded or loose, usually just 2 cables.

This sounds like there is a dead spot in your starter. The easiest way to resolve this issue is to replace your starter. Many times, if you take a lot of short-distance trips over the life of your car, the wiring inside the starter itself will wear (short trips means starting it more often, causing a lot of wear over time). Then the inner wiring of the starter wears too much, it forms a "dead spot" -- when the starter is stopped at a very specific spot i will not form the magnetic force needed to torn the starter motor. This is a common issue which can be dealt with for a time if you have to save the money to replace the starter. Tapping the starter, or arcing it with a screwdriver makes the inner workings of the starter jump a little, allowing it to move out of the dead spot and kick over as normal, but it is only a temporary fix. Unless you refurbish electronics for a living, it is very unlikely that you will be able to repair the starter on your own, and such a repair takes some time, so you are better off to replace it than try to repair the starter itself.
As long as the starter does not happen to stop in the dead spot, it will work as normal ... but in time the dead spot will spread, causing the issue to worsen. You can keep forcing it to turn with the two tricks you used until you have had the opportunity to earn the money to replace the starter (or until you have a day off to get the repairs done) .. but over time this can cause more damage to other parts of the car, so I recommend replacing the starter as soon as you can.