Basic starter question
 

1982 RX-7. Recently, my starter won't turn over. You turn the key and hear clicks but starter does not engage. Is this just the solenoid in need of replacement, or is the starter and the solenoid in need of replacement. Just a basic question but your help is appreciated. THANK YOU

The click sound you hear is the solenoid "kicking" the gear out to engage the flywheel. If you get click but no crank then starter motor POSSIBLY. If no click at all then solenoid is POSSIBLY whats going wrong. Also, get underneath car and tap on starter with a hammer. TAP it easy dont go all crazy on it. Could be a bad spot on electric starter motor causing no contact to be made.

Single click can also indicate a weak/dead battery or corroded cable connections.

It's a single click. Battery is good. I am guessing corrosion or needs some tapping. If it is something else, I will post again with what I find out. thanks for the quick responses. It appears starter + solenoid is 50-80 dollar range. thanks.

Yep, most likely a bad connection. Original battery cables are aluminum, and prone to internal corrosion. Installing a new set of cables would be a big reliability upgrade. :)

its best to take it out and test it. It's simple enough, just take booster cables and hook them up to the motor and see if it spins ...

save your money and replace your battery terminals for 5 bucks... i learned the hard way. even if it may not be, but you suspect, it is always worth it.

The mother of all assumptions.:)

Did you take the battery in and have it tested?

Want to eliminate the possibility of it being a battery. If you have another one to put in then do that and see if it starts. If not then have it tested. Or jump it from another vehicle making sure that you put the negative cable from the jumper vehicle on a good ground and not the post. The reason for this is if the battery has a dead cell the power will not go through the jumped battery.

When diagnosing it is important to follow certain steps.

In this case I would start with removing the cables from the battery and cleaning them and the posts.

A lot of times heavy corrosion builds up and that is the issue.

Check the connections at the starter.

You can also bypass the solenoid by jumping from the main connection (positive cable) at the solenoid to the S connection or spade terminal in most cases and see if the starter spins. (make sure transmission is not in gear):)

If the starter comes out and gives a good thump but does not turn the engine over then make sure your engine is not seized.

Yep... I had the same problem... Just a click and nothing. I had a starter laying around so I swapped them out... same problem. Thought maybe the one I had sitting for years went bad tooo, so I picked up a new one from the parts store, $110 mind you. To find out it was just a bad connection on the battery terminals. Meanwhile the terminals / posts *appeared* clean from a quick look.