Hello,

I have an 06 S with around 57k miles, for the last few months it has had issues with starting. When you turn the key all instruments light up but no starter engagement at all. After random intervals of time, five minute's to an hour, it will start as normal and there will not be another event for a few weeks. My gut instinct is a bad ground, immobilizer, or clutch interlock switch. Has anyone else had a similar issue that that they have found resolution for?

 

Check positive cable in trunk, there are a couple of connections that come loose.

 

+1 on cable, both cables actually. Also

>battery age / condition
>starter cable connections
>starter itself
>key going bad (try the other one)

 

So, I had an identical issue in my 05 for a while. It wound up being the key. The little ID44 RFID bit inside the key had come unglued from its home, and was rattling around loose inside the key shell. Occasionally, it would rattle far enough away from its home that the anti-theft couldn't pick up a signal from it, and the car behaved exactly like yours. When I'd try to start it again later(minutes, hours, whatever), they little RFID bit would have rattled back to where it belonged, and everything worked fine. Once I figured it out, a dab of super glue fixed it right up.


Give your key a hard shake and see if you can hear anything moving inside it. Alternatively, try a different key and see if you have the same issue.

 

I just reinstalled my engine/transmission after changing the clutch, timing chain, and some other items on my 04 MCS and had the problem you describe. Turned out I forgot to tighten the ground strap that goes from the frame to the engine mount.