Last night I was out at a restaurant and when I go to start the car (85 GSL-SE), nothing happened. All the dash board lights went on as usual, the lights and radio worked, but no starter action. I got a jump start, but that didn't help. So, I figure the problem must be the starter. Push started the car and drove home fine. When I got home, I turned it off and then restarted it. No problem. Started it again this morning. The battery cables look fine on the top side, I'm about to crawl under and look at them at the starter. Anything else I should look at? Is there anything else in the starter circuit that can go bad? When 'starters go bad', do they ever fail, get better and then wait until you're in the middle of no where to fail again?

Also, when I bought the car I was a little surprised that you don't have to press the clutch down to start the car. I thought all cars had that since the 70's. Is that the way it's supposed to be, or has it been disabled on my car?

 

It could just be a bad Positive terminal/ground or the solenoid is bad on the starter.

I just got done changing the starter on my car.. i used a 2nd gen starter(since a 1st gen starter needed to be ordered) and replaced teh positive battery cable while i was at it.. My car was doing the same thing yours was, it sometimes wouldnt start and had to turn the key on off on off then it would start, started after work yesterday went to go out and it wouldnt start... Now with the second gen starter the engine spins and starts super fast.

 

I had the same thing happen t me, my problem was the ground on the starter solenoid, it accumulated a large amount of rust on it so it wasnt correctly grounded. I removed the solenoid, cleaned it and reinstalled it after coating the contact with dielectric grease.

 

Just thought i would reassure you that your car is not the only one that starts without the clutch being depressed. I guess not all of the cars needed that sensor or they fail in these cars. I dont really mind. Makes it easy for starting the car when you are working on it, just have to be sure its not in gear

 

I've had this kind of thing before. Check the small electrical spade connector on the starter solenoid itself and clean it. It just feeds 12 volts to pull the solenoid in when the key is turned and it gets corroded. Hope it's the same on your car because, apart from eating dirt, it's an easy fix.

 

Amen to that. I had the same problem . . . turn the key and absolutely nothing. Traced power all the way down to that spade terminal. I had it off to check power which was there. I thought the solenoid was bad. I plugged it back in, and just for the heck of ot tried starting it again, and it fired right up. I knew right then that that spade connector was not making good contact. Cleaned it up and has been working fine ever since.

 

Sometimes the spade lug connection gets loose and intermittent and you have to add a little pliers crimp to the female end, or even replace it.