Where is the 2015 CX-5 starter?

[Jomo1]

Hi,

My wife's 2015 CX-5 has a no start condition. I checked all the fuses, including the ones by the battery terminal, and swapped relays that I thought were for the ignition but the car will not start. Everything is normal except that the car does not start. That is, when I hit the brakes the push button switch turns green and when I hit the start button the car tries to start (dash lights up) but instead of the starter turning over all I get is a single click sound.

Any ides what I should be looking for? Can someone please tell me where the starter is and what needs to come out to get to the starter? Should I work from the top of the engine or from below.? Etc..

Thank you,
Jomo

 

[yrwei52]

I agree, some owners don’t like wrenching on cars, but the op’s first post was like “Just tell me where the starter is and I’ll get after it.”
Not a job for the faint of heart, to say the least.

If it was me, I’d do a simple jump start first which can give me a lot more information. After all, starter seems to be pretty reliable on CX-5 and we haven’t seen too many complaints on it.

 

[Jomo1]

Also could be bad (corroded) connections/cables from the battery to the starter and to the body ground. That's normally the FIRST place you should check before buying/installing parts (been there done that - when young I learned that the hard way).

Make sure the dull gray color (film) of the battery posts and cable terminal clamps are cleaned/wire-brushed to bright silver color and inspect/clean the cable wires just past the terminals under the insulation as corrosion can build up along the cables to the starter and body ground.

Corrosion causes resistance to current flow and you might have enough voltage to click the starter solenoid but not enough current (amps) making it to the starter motor to crank the engine fast enough to start.

Edited - Also could be the Bendix gear/actuating lever between the solenoid to starter is hung up a bit causing the solenoid to click and not start.

If you locate the starter and get a wooden stick (preferred as to not short something out) on it to tap it with a hammer/mallet on the starter body, it might free it up and allow you to start up the car. If so, it could be dry grease or a bad bearing inside the starter binding it up.
(Best to have someone in the car turning the key or hitting the start button while you tap on the starter.)

-Extremely Rare case - Worked on an old Ford Pinto and replaced just about everything - it turned out the crankshaft had a high spot binding the engine.

Had to put a wrench on the crankshaft pulley bolt to manually rotate it just past that high point and it would start right up.

Many years ago my friend called me up asking me to help him get his car started. I arrived and tried to give him a jump but the starter would not move. So I had an idea that amazed my friend in the end. I suggested that we push the car a few feet. The car started right up. The flywheel and the starter was not making contact at that point. Pushing ths car solved that solution. Actually, I tried that with the Mazda the other day without success.

 

[yrwei52]

Many years ago my friend called me up asking me to help him get his car started. I arrived and tried to give him a jump but the starter would not move. So I had an idea that amazed my friend in the end. I suggested that we push the car a few feet. The car started right up. The flywheel and the starter was not making contact at that point. Pushing ths car solved that solution. Actually, I tried that with the Mazda the other day without success.

Push start a car can only be done on vehicles with manual transmission. I did that several times in early days.

 

[Jomo1]

Here is the update.
My gut feeling was that the battery was fine. In my 45 years of owning a car, usually a bad battery just needs a jump start the first time it did not start.
Having said that, every reply I received in this post said battery, battery, battery.
So today I looked at the battery. I planned on cleaning the terminals and if the car did not start, then I was going to take the battery for a load test. Let's just say that I did not have to get a load test as cleaning the terminals was all that was needed to start the car.
By the way, I am not afraid of a wrench.
When I did a google search for this no start condition all I saw was check the fuses and the relays. Since they were good, I assumed the problem was the starter. For the record, I did ask 'Any ides what I should be looking for?'

Thanks for everyone who responded. You folks were all 100% correct as to what I should be doing first.

Once again, Thanks,
Jomo

 

[Jomo1]

Push start a car can only be done on vehicles with manual transmission. I did that several times in early days.

The car was not pushed started. Rather the car was pushed, ie moved, so that the flywheel would move away from the dead spot. With the flywheel moved to a new location the starter was now able to engage with the flywheel and the car started (from a stopped position).

 

[yrwei52]

Here is the update.
My gut feeling was that the battery was fine. In my 45 years of owning a car, usually a bad battery just needs a jump start the first time it did not start.

Just to clarify; you did try a jump start as many suggested but failed?

Starter nowadays is very reliable that’s the last thing I’d suspect I’d having problems. Most of time it’s the battery. Or the bad connection on battery posts due to corrosion.

Glad your problem has resolved.

 

[Jomo1]

Just to clarify; you do try a jump start as many suggested but failed?

Starter nowadays is very reliable that’s the last thing I’d suspect I’d having problems. Most of time it’s the battery. Or the bad connection on battery posts due to corrosion.

Glad your problem has resolved.

I did not try a jump start. I was just going to bring the battery to autozone to have it tested, but 1st I cleaned the terminals and all was good from there.
I live in an isolated area and did not want to bother my friends to have to drive a distance to give me a jump start.

 

[yrwei52]

The car was not pushed started. Rather the car was pushed, ie moved, so that the flywheel would move away from the dead spot. With the flywheel moved to a new location the starter was now able to engage with the flywheel and the car started (from a stopped position).

I see. I actually had similar experience on this. Some teeth got worn on the flywheel where the starter is having a hard time to catch at this spot.