2016 Santa Fe Limited with a sporadic "no crank" problem
 

I am trying to help my Pastor with his 2016 Santa Fe Limited Ultimate 3.3L V6 GDI which has a sporadic "no crank" problem.
When it cranks and runs, it runs just fine until he shuts it off. Then quite often when he goes to start it again, it will not even crank over, much less run.


Normally it will crank up just fine and without any problems if it has been allowed to sit for a while after having been driven (but not always), but now that has stopped.


Sometimes you can press the start button and it will light up but the engine will still not crank over.
Then, sometimes it will crank all by itself even after the finger has already been removed from the Start button for several seconds. This led me to believe that the Start switch or the module that controls it may be defective.



I do not want to just “throw parts at it” until we find the actual problem.


We have already replaced the relay labeled “Start” in the fuse box under the hood with a new relay but that has not solved the problem.


Many times we have had to jump it off with another vehicle to get it cranked, which it normally does right away. With this being the "only variable" that we changed, it makes me believe that this may be due to a low voltage problem which may be causing the Start button or control module to malfunction.
Now, even this seems to have stopped working.



The battery is only about a year old but I am about to take it in to be tested in order to at least confirm whether it is or is not the problem.


He is currently now unable to drive this vehicle anywhere, even if it is able to be jumped off, for fear of him and others getting stranded somewhere.



I am very mechanically minded and I have worked professionally in the Automobile Collision Repair industry for the last 40 years so I have a good understanding about cars but this one has me temporally stumped.


Please let me know if any of you have any insight or suggestions pertaining to this problem.
Thank you very much!

As you know, questionable connections can drive us to drink.

If you can, I would suggest after you get the battery checked out, start checking for corroded or poor connections beginning right with the battery cables and where they connect to the vehicle. They might look alright but the only way to be sure is to remove them clean them and reinstall them.
From there I would suggest checking the ground connections that you can see and the connections from the battery to the fuse and relay panels.
I wouldn't say there isn't a defective component, but the majority of the time the components don't do their job is because they don't get the power to do it.

Thank you very much. That is exactly what I was thinking.
I will pull the battery in the morning, clean or replace the cables and connectors and have the battery charged and tested.
Thank you for your reply!

I checked the battery this morning with my battery tester. It showed to be good with no dead cells etc., but it was not fully charged. Turns out that the battery was only about 3 months old. I took it back to Walmart where it was purchased from.
They charged it up and it passed all of their tests with flying colors. They even gave me a printout showing such.
All of the posts and terminals looked good, but I cleaned them with a high quality battery brush anyway.

When I hold down the brake pedal and press the Start button, it will go to ON but the engine will not crank over.
In order to check/eliminate the brake pedal switch, I disconnected it and tried again. This time I got the dash message "Press brake pedal to start engine" so I feel like it is working properly.

After reconnecting the brake switch and with the battery fully charged, the Start button lights up on OFF, ACC & ON, but START never lights up and the engine still never cranks over.

I plan to check the Neutral Safety Switch next but I will need to research how to disassemble the console to obtain access to it.

Does anyone have any other suggestions on what to check, or what might be causing this problem?
Thank you for your help!

That message , "Press brake pedal to start engine" , is telling you the signal from the stoplight sw is not getting to the computer.
Quick check,,,, see if stop lights come on when brake pedal is depressed.

I was not getting the message "Press brake pedal to start engine" before I disconnected the brake switch. That is why I disconnected it. I was just testing it to make sure that it was indeed working.
The fact that I got the message after I unplugged the switch, and that the message no longer displayed after I plugged the switch back in, confirmed to me that the switch is indeed working and that it is not the problem.
Thank you very much for your reply and for your willingness to try and help me. :)

Unfortunately I no longer have a sporadic No Start situation. It is now a constant problem and the vehicle will no longer even crank over, so it is now immobile.

I had planned to find and disconnect the Neutral Safety Switch, but now the more I think about it, if it was malfunctioning I would probably be getting a dash message "Place transmission in Park to start engine".
Please let me know if you anyone else have any other suggestions.

When was the last time you replaced the battery in your remote unit?

There are two remotes and new batteries have been installed in each of them within the last week.
We have even tried each of the remotes while the other remote was safely out of range inside the house. No luck.

We also noticed that relays for IG1 and IG2 in the fuse box under the hood both click when the Start button on the dash is pressed. :confused:

Thank you for your suggestion.

If you are hearing the relays work, that confirms that part of the system is functional.

Suggest you check the connections coming to the starter itself.
Considering it is a 2016 year vehicle and we don't know how many times the starter was called upon to work , it does remain suspect.

You might try this. Turn the headlamps on and have someone watch what they do when you attempt to start the engine

If they dim it could be either a low battery , a starter that is drawing too much current or a poor connection from the battery to the starter.
If they don't dim, that could mean the starter has an open circuit inside, or the power just is not getting to the starter.

I will try that, thanks.
I had already planned on driving over to my Pastor's house today and dropping the engine splash shield so that I can try a direct jump start on the starter solenoid to see if that will work and to test or eliminate the starter as the possible culprit.
It is raining now and his SUV is outside but it is starting to slack up and I will just take a mat with me.