Why does car make whirring noise but not start?

Answer 1

From most to least likely:

1. Starter solenoid is not getting power

2. Starter solenoid is bad

3. Starter gear is stripped

4. Flywheel ring gear is stripped

Age of starter is not really relevant. It is possible to get a defective one.

Check electrical connections. Some cars have a separate wire to the solenoid.

Remove starter, look for obvious damage to gears.

If you don't see anything really glaring, like a chunk of flywheel missing, take the starter to any auto parts chain store. Most of them have a testing setup and do the testing for free.

Answer 2

Whirring Noise But Will Not Start

If you try to start the car and you hear the whirring noise and when you let off the key and it stops, that usually means that the gear in the starter isn't engaging the motor's flywheel. Try replacing the starter's bendix unit.

What a bendix is, is a relay with a forked assembly that forces the gear of the starter to slide forward on the starter motor's shaft and engage the flywheel, and then after you move the key from the start to run position, it causes the relay to disengage by using a spring in the assembly.

They're not too hard to change and generally not too expensive to replace. You'll probably have more difficulty getting the starter motor out of the car than changing the bendix unit. It's a relatively straight forward repair, and if you don't run into any serious problems with having enough space to easily remove the starter without going through all types of contortions trying to get around steering suspension or linkage parts, it should take around 45 minutes or so to do, start to finish.

Note, "Bendix" is a brand name for a starter drive. Bendix makes many parts. The starter drive you purchase may be made by someone other than "Bendix".

BE SURE TO DISCONNECT THE BATTERY'S POSITIVE WIRE BEFORE STARTING YOUR REPAIR.

Answer 3

The battery is probably dead, you need to get a new one.