[dodgerojo]

Hello good, Clean them with hot water and baking soda. You mount the terminals again and put baselina on them. If it is very loose the car will not start. Greetings.

 

[672aq]

I'd suggest dealing with each solution, one at a time, instead of just piling ideas before we see what each one does.

Could be this. Could be that... Eventually the problem is out of control and no one knows what's been done or what's going on.

 

[rebelredneck666420]

I'd suggest dealing with each solution, one at a time, instead of just piling ideas before we see what each one does.

Could be this. Could be that... Eventually the problem is out of control and no one knows what's been done or what's going on.

I agree with you on that, I'm going to check the starter relay and go from there, if the relay isn't the problem then, and it's something like a wire or a computer, then it's time to retire the car and get a new one

 

[rebelredneck666420]

Hello good, Clean them with hot water and baking soda. You mount the terminals again and put baselina on them. If it is very loose the car will not start. Greetings.

The terminals are cleaned and tight as can be

 

[fritz.bush57]

I have a 2008 dodge caliber sxt, 4 cylinder, took it out one night to the store and parked it for the night, that night we had a little snow storm about a dusting to a inch, went to start the car to go to a Drs appointment and the lights came on on the dashboard but it didn't turn over, did the tap trick on the starter and no spark or anything, ordered a new starter put it in and still won't turn over dash lights come on and, change the battery and still nothing, any help would be awesome

Sounds like the battery, how old is it?

 

[rebelredneck666420]

Sounds like the battery, how old is it?

It's not the battery, I have tried 2 different batteries and it still doesn't start

 

[kennyb]

I agree with you on that, I'm going to check the starter relay and go from there, if the relay isn't the problem then, and it's something like a wire or a computer, then it's time to retire the car and get a new one

The caliber has no starter relay. The best test is pulling your fuse box up to see all the connect.ed wires underneath. In one of those clips of wire You will see a yellow wire or just follow the yellow wire to the starter. Dont pull out the wire. Just run a jumper from yellow wire under the fuse box to positive terminal. With key in the on position. When it starts up you will know it's an ignition problem. You can be cheap but sufficient by running a Toggle or button switch to the inside. Just like my Cheap ass did

 

[kennethfalco59]

Stopped at a red light ac on rough idle stalls starts right up no miss fire smooth on acceleration

 

[chrisf2012]

The caliber has no starter relay.

This is true but if the car's main relay or its wiring is faulty, it will prevent the car from trying to turn over.

 

[rebelredneck666420]

This is true but if the car's main relay or its wiring is faulty, it will prevent the car from trying to turn over.

There was a relay fuse that I took out yesterday and the one prong was broken off and still in the prong slot with corrosion built around it and 2 wires under where the prongs go were both corroded as well

 

[kennyb]

Again, No relay in caliber. Its all in the fuse Box/T.I.P.M. just watch. I guarantee it will start. You will figure out its an ignition problem. Fix it normally or run a nice little toggle switch inside the car.

 

[rebelredneck666420]

Again, No relay in caliber. Its all in the fuse Box/T.I.P.M. just watch. I guarantee it will start. You will figure out its an ignition problem. Fix it normally or run a nice little toggle switch inside the car.

There's another fuse box behind the front driver's side wheel well, under the headlight on the driver's side, one of the fuses the prong is broken off in the slot

 

[Aleks]

3 fuses

 

[chrisf2012]

There's another fuse box behind the front driver's side wheel well, under the headlight on the driver's side, one of the fuses the prong is broken off in the slot

The box behind the left headlight, at least on my car, contains relays, not fuses. Does the faulty device you found have 4/5 legs or just two? If the former, it's a relay.

That relay box is integral to the main wiring harness so it's not easy to replace. You don't necessarily need to fix the relay box itself though...you can install the new relay to be external to that box. Buy a relay socket with pigtails, cut the wires going into the box for that relay, attach them to the pigtails, then plug a new relay into the socket. Or, you could just attach the wires directly to the relay legs if you don't really care about being able to easily unplug the relay at a later date (that's the way I did it after my main relay had the same problem). Just do your best to weatherproof that relay.

 

[rebelredneck666420]

The box behind the left headlight, at least on my car, contains relays, not fuses. Does the faulty device you found have 4/5 legs or just two? If the former, it's a relay.

That relay box is integral to the main wiring harness so it's not easy to replace. You don't necessarily need to fix the relay box itself though...you can install the new relay to be external to that box. Buy a relay socket with pigtails, cut the wires going into the box for that relay, attach them to the pigtails, then plug a new relay into the socket. Or, you could just attach the wires directly to the relay legs if you don't really care about being able to easily unplug the relay at a later date (that's the way I did it after my main relay had the same problem). Just do your best to weatherproof that relay.

Yea the box under the left headlight is where the relay is, the 1st relay closer to the wheel well is the one that is broken, I'm going to try to tie the wires to the relay and just wrap it up with plastic and zip ties and hopefully it will work

 

[672aq]

I just unplugged that relay on my Caliber to see if it would affect starting - there is no change when removed. It still starts.

KennyB, and all schematics I've seen online, are correct; no starter relay.

 

[chrisf2012]

There are multiple relays in that box and the arrangement of them seems to vary from year to year. I just looked at the wiring diagrams in the 2007 service manual and it clearly shows the main relay providing power to the ignition coils, the fuel injectors, and the powertrain control module. So, no main relay, no engine start.

Main relay =/= starter relay

I've had the wiring to my main relay fail on my '10 and sure enough, no crank no start and no communication with the PCM, thus verifying the wiring diagrams.

 

[rebelredneck666420]

Well the relay was the problem all this god dang time, cut the corroded section out, and used wire sleeves to hooked up the new relay and wrapped it up in plastic and zip tied the plastic so water and dirt don't get into it

 

[672aq]

While going through the Calibers in the junkyard, I see a lot of these relays with heat-stress on the terminal(s).

Seems like a lot more amperage is going through them (heating them up) than the relays are designed for, causing failure.

Also, because the underside of the relay box isn't really waterproof, I also see a lot of copper corrosion on their wires and terminals.

That's why I targeted the relays first - I just see a lot of failure points there. Sorry for calling it a starter relay.

Good job on the repair, 666420! 💪👍

 

[chrisf2012]

It's probably the corrosion in the socket and on the pins due to the lack of waterproofing. The corrosion creates resistance to current flow, which in turn generates heat that just accelerates the failure of the relay(s).