Good one!
Speaking of loose screws, bolts, nuts, wires.......
I am embarrassed to mention this but….Two weeks ago, I drove the car into work and midday my daughter called and asked if I would like to join her for lunch while her car was being worked on at a tire store. So I picked her up, and we went to lunch. Upon returning to the tire store she invited me to come in and pay for the work performed. Being the awesome dad that I am, I turned off the car and came inside. When I went back out to the car and turned the key, nothing happened, no turnover, no click, nothing. The only thing I could think of was that the bump I had hit coming into the tire shop’s driveway entrance had loosened up an electrical connection. Unfortunately to get at where I thought the loose connection might be (e.g., under the hood at the ignition switch), would take about an hour to access, fix, and button up.
The guys at the tire shop were helpful and tried to give me a push start. No luck, the beast just wouldn’t start. I wound up getting a tow back to my garage so I could diagnose and repair out of the hot sun (believe it or not it was 93° on this particular day….we haven’t seen that since).
Anyway, after dwelling on it, I decided to look at the simple, easy access, possibilities first, before diving under the hood. I looked at my cutoff switch, which actually was in the off position, which I apparently had inadvertently hit while in my panic and attempting to start the car back at the tire place, but that wasn’t the answer. I then went to the starter/solenoid and sure enough there was a loose wire. The two barrels on the blade connector on the ignition switch wire were loose and wouldn’t adequately hold onto the blade on the starter solenoid. Wish I had spotted this back at the tire shop. I could have save myself a $100 tow and some embarrassment.