6G Celicas Forums

Ok, after driving home from work last sunday, my car sat for a few days. later on last week I went out to start it, and it seemed as if the battery had died. I hooked the battery up to my friend's battery, and it still wouldn't start. The thing is, it seems like its closer to actually turning over when its hooked up to someone else's battery. Is this a starter problem? I need to fix this w/o paying someone else to do it, and I don't want to pay for a diagnostic. Is it a safe bet for me to just replace the starter?

Thank you for any help

The engine turns over (as in the starter cranks?). If the starter cranks its obviously not the problem, and the problem is prolly gonna lie somewhere with your ignition system would be my guess.

If you starter isnt cranking, then try to make sure ur battery is fully charged and the connections are all good on the inside of the engine bay. Still no good, then yeah the starter may be bad.

need more info tho i guess.

-Ryan

yea, sorry, you're right. It was cranking, but not starting. But anyway, today I replaced the starter and the battery, so those problems are eliminated.

what ignition component(s) could be the problem?

ignition coil?
distributor?

thanks ryan

Check for some blown fuses, there prolly wasnt any need to change the starter or battery out would be my guess.

If its not blown fuses check for loose connections in the actual bay.

Beyond that you can check if your getting fuel / sparks. I dunno have you done anything to the engine bay lately?

It could be a large number of things really

yeah, I haven't done anything to the engine lately, I'm going to go check fuses right now. Is there anyway I can check if the distributor is working properly?

Um, not sure exactly. Have you tried to see if your getting sparks or no?


Does the engine kick at all when ur turning it over?

not sure what you mean by kick, it just sounds like its about to start. I don't know how to explain it.

How do I see if I'm getting sparks? pull the plugs and try to start the engine?

Pull the plugs and rest them against the head of the motor. DONT HOLD THEM W/ YOUR HAND, or you can, but it will be a nasty surprize. There is a definite sound difference in a motor that is just turning over, and a motor that is like, about to fire or w.e. Do you hear JUST the starter, or do you hear other noise too? I guess it is hard to explain.

Check your gas level too, but I hope you'd allready of done that

-Ryan

take ur old starter to autozone they check it free, battery as well.. disributor cap n rotor are always a good thing to change wont cost u more than 20 bux

It sounds the same with of without the wires to the spark plugs. Should I see an electric spark coming off of the wires when I rest them on the engine bay?

I took off the distributor cap, and as for the rest of it, it seems stuck onto the engine block, I only found 2 bolts holding it on, does anyone know if there are more?

thanks again for all the help

checked for sparks, and then I noticed a broken fuse I must have not seen when I checked before. The fuse is the "alt 100" fuse by the battery. Is this for the alternator? would it not start without this? Anyway, I tried pulling out the fuse with my hands, it wouldn't come out. Then I tried plyers, and in the process, I destroyed the fuse, leaving half of the fuse in the socket, and I can't get it out.

arrrrrg!

does anyone know if the blown "alt 100" fuse is the reason its not starting?

Well, replace it and see what happens, no reason to leave a blown fuse there...

I bet thats the problem, something to do with your alternator? Repace it for sure. Also make sure to check your efi fuse.

any updates im working on a car with problems similiar to urs and im on a tight budget so i dont have the money to buy alot of new things. cept mines stopped making cranking noise.

If its not even cranking anymore than your starter is prolly bad, or your battery. Get them both checked.

it's cranking, I replaced the alt100 fuse, it was a biotch. Unfortunately it didn't seem to make much of a difference. It cranks and it sounds like its really close to starting, but no dice. I checked the battery, it was bad so I got a free replacement, unfortunately thats not the problem either.

the starters fine, I think I'm just going to have it fixed by a mechanic tomarrow, or actually today(its 1:30 am)

any updates

had it taken in, and after a $40 tow and $98 diagnostic, it was one of my fuses. ARRRRG, none of them looked blown at all, even the mechanic was going nuts trying to find out what was wrong. But in the end I got the pleasure of paying about $140 to have a fuse replaced

ouch that blows worse than a fuse