so lately its been a little on the colder side where i live at, every morning when i leave for work approx. 8:00 A.M my car only clicks, it will do this two to three times and finally start, and runs perfectly fine thereafter. The rest of the day it will start like normal, and even at night as the temp. drops, still start fine. Only when i let it sit overnight it will do this.
Btw. car is parked outside- 90 Ls 5-speed, B18a1, optima battery, new napa alternator. charging system checked out at NTB.
do you have a voltmeter to test the voltage with? it should be sitting around 12.74v depending on the temp outisde. (higher in warm temps, a little lower in low temps) If it is below 12 or even really near 12v before you even try to start it thats not really a good thing. If its around or below 11v its too low to start the car.
So if thats all good try and start it and watch what happens when you hear the click. Normally when the starter engages the batt voltage will drop somewhat as the motor turns over and then recover immediately after the car starts. If the voltage doesnt change at all when you turn the key, the starter isn’t engaging for whatever reason. Bad starter, bad connection, bad ignition switch ect…
If the voltage is low to begin with and/or drops too low when you turn the key and hear the click, the battery isnt charging or taking charge.
That should give you something to do until fcm chimes in and fixes your problem lol.
Intermittent problems like this can be hard to troubleshoot, because this only happens after car sits overnight and it will start after a few tries it is unlikely a no charge/low batt. or parasitic drain issue.
My guess is it is a connection problem.
If all other electrical works, head/park lights, dome lights, cluster, radio, blower motor and constant power things like dome light, head/park lights DO NOT go out when cranking to start, then it is not a main power or grounding issue.
That only leaves the starting circuit, ign. switch, starter relay, starter solenoid or the starter itself.
First thing I would try is a bypass jump, the next time it will not crank, do a bypass jump, supply power directly from batt. to the starter solenoid input.
A not to uncommon problem with symptoms like yours is a connection problem in the starter itself, [between starter solenoid and starter motor high current contacts.
If the “click” you hear is coming from the starter solenoid and not just the starter relay, [this is confirmed if a bypass jump also results in just a “click”] then the problem is the solenoid to starter connection, replace the solenoid/starter.
BTW, when doing the bypass jump, make sure car is not in gear, engine will crank even if car is in gear and ign. switch is off. 94