2005 Marquis wont start in the cold

[The patriot]

car wont start.
checked and replaced battery, still nothing. wont even crank. lights look bright.
is there anything that i should look for before i go under there on zero temp n a foot of snow?

 

[GrantP]

Whack the starter solenoid with a hammer and try again.

 

[B.G. Smith]

Are you getting any clicking when you try to start? I would try moving the shifter lever through park and neutral and see if you get any action. Next I would jump across the starter solenoid ( it's right behind the battery) and see if the starter runs. If it does then back to the ign. switch or neutral safety switch. If no starter run then the starter may be at fault. bg

 

[The patriot]

It's dead. Dead dead. Nothing.
He tried the hammer fix and it moving to the starter relay next.
I'll mention the column shift. Thanks!

 

[DonFitzwater]

4.6 v8? As mentioned, neutral start would be the next try and or jumping the solenoid

 

[The patriot]

He tried the column thing almost immediately. No good.
Thinking the relay. Hoping anyway....
B.G. and Don, he tells me it's not the typical starter solenoid(that's easily jumped). It's a plug in unit in the fuse box container.
Like a fuel solenoid relay on 2nd gen 12 valves.....

 

[B.G. Smith]

I thought it was more easily accessible. Just looked at mine, looks like the solenoid is mounted on the starter. bg,

 

[The patriot]

Yea, his probably is too.
Dealing with my dad. He's well into his 80's now and probably has it wrong.
Trying to help him over the phone from 500 miles away.
He was removing what he thought was the soleniod. Neighbor came over and told hims it was the cpu.
He's getting it towed. It's too cold for him to be messing with this anyway.

 

[DonFitzwater]

Sometimes it's better that way

 

[The patriot]

Sometimes it's better that way

My life has become a Seinfeld episode.

 

[The patriot]

Finally convinced his sitting there wont fix itself.
Turned out to be the alarm system. Bypassed & done.

 

[DonFitzwater]

Glad you got it sorted. I chased a gremlin on my 2001 1500 4x4 a few years ago.......every time the backup lights came on the starter would engage! Local dealer said my PCM was bad......after I decided that was unlikely and picked up my truck I found a bad ground for the auto start (it didn't work). I repaired the ground and the gremlin went away and the auto start started working. Security systems and auto starts can be a Royal pain.