1985 Toyota Corolla starter

TERRYGATEWOOD

MEMBER
1985 TOYOTA COROLLA
4 CYL
2WD
MANUAL
190,000 MILES

My car wont start, was told starter was bad, replaced it, found blown fuse on fuse box off of battery, replaced car still wont start, starter clutch engages but then does nothing and all lights dim out in car, also replaced battery so thats not the problem. Found a wire that is attached to nothing but when grounded out shuts off fans, engine tured over the first time I grounded it, but only the one time and now is doing the same thing. Car push starts and drives fine. Please help dont know what to do but push this car into a pond.

terry

4 Replies

MHPAUTOS

MECHANIC
31,938 POSTS

HI there,

If you have 12V at the starter solenoid wire(small push in wire) when key is on crank, and 12V at main starter terminal, start should work, if not the starter is faulty, also make sure all battery leads and earths are clean & tight.

Mark (mhpautos)

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Friday, December 5th, 2008 AT 7:42 PM

RASMATAZ

MECHANIC
75,992 POSTS

Which engine 1.6L or 1.8L? 1.8L has a stater relay -didn't see a clutch switch for it. Look at the clutch pedal arm if you can see a switch-if so disconnect it and jumper it and see what happens

At the starter solenoid small black wire have helper hold key at start-do you have power?

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Friday, December 5th, 2008 AT 7:45 PM

SCHNOWZR

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2 POSTS

I have the exact same problem on a 2003. It started as a intermittant problem and now is perment. When it would crank the battery never dropped below 10 volts on the leads, but I cleaned the the terminals and ground anyway. I shorted the clutch pedal switch to eliminate that.
The confusing thing is I am getting a 12volt reading on this hot wire (clutch switch) with both ignition switch ON and START position. According to Clymers this should only be the case on Start position. (Which makes sense)
I haven't got under the car to see what I have at the solenoid yet. It's gonna be tough getting to it once I locate it as I can't drive it onto the ramps.
I'm thinking there may be a relay somewhere that is controlled by the computer that is not shown in the Clymers manual. Any thoughts? There is no burgular alarm that I am aware of.

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Saturday, December 6th, 2008 AT 11:56 AM

SCHNOWZR

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I forgot to add that I measured the voltage at the battery leads when trying to start it (and it wouldn't start) - it was 12v and did not drop at all when trying to start meaning it wasn't drawing any heavy current.
I also placed a battery charger on there to give 14.8 volts and still no crank.

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Saturday, December 6th, 2008 AT 12:05 PM