Buick Rendezvous Starter?

[Nick1994]

So my mom's beater 2003 Buick Rendezvous 3.4L was having trouble starting yesterday. It would crank slow for a few rotations then crank fast and start. After a few starts like that it finally quit and now it just clicks. I thought it was a bad battery at first since it's about time for a battery for it. I put a new battery in it and no change. Also tried to jump start it, it just clicks.

When trying to start you can see the pulleys crank a tiny bit sometimes, and then some smoke comes from the starter area. I'm guessing it's the starter that's bad since years ago it used to stay engaged after starting for a second or so and make an awful noise, haven't heard it do that in a while though.

Also it had a low oil pressure light on the dash come on randomly a few weeks ago and it never came back on. I looked underneath and the starter is a bit oily and so is the oil pressure sensor. My mechanic buddy thinks the sensor is probably leaking on the starter and helped kill it. The connections on the starter are tight and not corroded.

My mechanic will work on it tomorrow but I figured I'd ask on here to see if there's anything else that's common on these motors to do something similar. He's also changing the oil pressure sensor.

Thanks.

 

[Chris142]

How many amps is it pulling?

 

[Nick1994]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
How many amps is it pulling?
Is there a way I can tell?

 

[hansj3]

You would have to have a battery tester with that option, or a serious amp gauge inline. If you want to confirm that it was the issue, have the mechanic bench test it when its out.

If you have a dvom check the voltage at the starter power post, and the ohms in the power wire to rule them out