My mother in law has been driving my outback for the past few months. I got a call yesterday that it wouldn't start. Luckily(?), it wouldn't start while it was in my driveway and not hers, so at least I have all my tools.
When I turn the key over, I can hear the starter solenoid click, and then nothing. The car doesn't even try to crank, the stereo and other interior lights dim (so power draw is occuring) and I hear a faint buzzing.
My initial thought was that the battery was low, that it had enough juice to power lights but not crank the car. I tried jumping it, no go. I left the jumper cables connected for about 5min to bring up the charge, still no go.
My next thought was the starter. I removed the starter and took it to O'Reilly's to be tested. It passed with flying colors. We ran the test 4 times to make sure it wasn't overheating and dying, and it still passed. We noticed the blue boot on the back of it was cracked, so I wrapped it well with electrical tape to keep out dirt and moisture. Reinstalled it into the car and my problem persists.
I'm not sure where to go from here. I tried checking the voltage with a multimeter. I put the positive lead against the positive terminal on the starter, ditto the negative, and had my wife crank the car. I got no change in the reading. Honestly I'm not sure if I got a good reading or if I botched up using a multimeter, but I'm working on the assumption that my starter isn't getting power.
While I had the starter out, I used a wire brush and cleaned the contacts on the starter itself and the wires that connect to it, so I know that dirt and/or corrosion there isn't causing it. While searching here, I found an older thread that mentioned an iginition switch causing this issue on a '91. I also read in another thread to check the relays. What exactly am I looking for? 12V to the relays? Which relays should I check?
Basically I've reached the end of what I know to look for and need help being pointed in the next direction. I need this car back on the road tomorrow.