Originally Posted by
ScottCommutes
Not familiar with your car, but two things I am pondering:
1. Did you ever successfully try bump starting it before the wire in the starter failed?
Yes, just once, as a lark when parked on a garage ramp. More out of curiosity than necessity though, and the engine was warm.
The day it died from the broken ground thingy it was ~ 92°F here and I'd been shopping for maybe twenty minutes so the engine had to be warm then too.
Originally Posted by
ScottCommutes
2. Isn't the starter solenoid, wire or not, still grounded via its mounting to the actual starter?
Practically minded folks would assume that's a yes I suppose. I know it came as a surprise to me when the mechanic showed me the failed component after the fix had been installed.
My take is that these CANBUS electronic creations have all kinds of sensors involved in the make/break decisions they control before anything happens. That broken ground connection may very well have 'faulted' a step in the ignition 'ON' sequence making any attempt at getting things to run as before well nigh impossible.
This incident was after the repairs effected post sunroof leak-related damages to the electronics so that might have had something to do with it also. Yet, once the starter / solenoid component was replaced, all was good once more.
As for component grounding, I've been informed by that same mechanic that the Subaru I'm now driving should have the ground straps between its engine heads and block assemblies checked periodically. Seems they can be prone to loosening or outright failure as well.
Sometime I'll relate my experience with the 2007 MINI Cooper S I owned and drove before trading for the Clubman late in 2012. At least with that I had the foresight to buy a third-party warranty coverage which paid for itself 2-1/2 times while I drove it....