I have a 1996 2-door Accent that decided to completely die on me the other night... I just had all fluids inspected, new tires, allignment, the whole works - when it didn't start I assumed it was the battery. Took it out and tested it to discover it was leaking and wouldn't hold a charge at all. After installing a new battery it still wouldn't start.... the car has power as far as lights, fan, etc. but it won't turn over. I'm thinking it's the starter but not sure... has anyone else had a similar problem? I'd like to avoid a $300+ visit to the mechanic if it's something as simple as a starter... any tips on removal/installation of the starter or other suggestions would be VERY appreciated, I've been without a car for a week now and it sucks :) Thanks - R.

It could be that your engine earth has gone.

Get a jump-start lead and connect one end to the negative terminal of the battery, and the other to someting metal attached to, or part of the engine body.

Then try starting your car - if it works - it's your engine earth.

If it's a starter earth problem then do the same as above, but instaed of attaching one end of the jump-start lead to the engine - attach it to the body of the starter and try again. This might not work as some starters do not use their body for the earth to run them and are seperately earthed - but I'll leave that to the hyundai experts on here to correct me on as I havn't got a clue.

Good luck :D

On the topic of starting lately i have been experiencing this problem sometime i start the car the radio would chip out and loose memory of the radio stations so i would have to re-set them (so i thought that it was the radio going ) but after that the car would be drivin and it just shuts off as if i had turn off the engine. The lights in dash dont come until i touch the keys . i figured that the (key start) has some faults has any one had this prob if so what was the reason for it

Rae

I would get your battery and alternator tested as it sounds like one of them has gone. Let us know what happens.

I have a 2000 Accent Gs which had the original factory battery until recent. I had it replaced and the car has been fine since. With the engine not starting do you have an aftermarket immoblizer fitted or a standard ignition key immobilizer?

If it's aftermarket, look under the dash and remove the alarm battery line fuse and replace the fuse if it's burnt out. If its a genuine hyundai system it might need to be check for a fault. Sounds like it's an ecu fault possibly intermittent which requires a hyundai dealer rep to repair.

Also with the other guy's stereo losing it's memory, sometimes when my secondary infared immobilzer is active the radio loses its memory, this is not a fault but a sophisticated program to switch positive power and negative power through the starting wires to confuse a would be thief.

Any how let me know if you have either a genuine immobilizer or a factory or OE system???

As I am unsure as to how mechanically minded you are I will tell you what I would do to illiminate the problem.

I would check all the fuses in the engine bay fuse box to see if they are blown.

If there were no blown fuses (even checking the main fuse in the corner that looks real scary :lol: ), then I would procedd to check if I had any supply voltage to the trigger wire to my starter motor.

Oh, before i forget, is the engine cranking over but won't start or it won't even crank?