So after I thought the ol' FC was outta my hair, the guy phones me and tells me he wants to revoke the sale. It won't start. Old habit of this car.

You turn the key, but nothing happens. No turning over of the engine or anything. It's not flooded, it just plain won't start. The car's got an old alarm set up, when you kick the box underneath the steering column and jiggle the wires usually you can get it to actually fire up, in which case the engine gets going no problem.

Is it likely the alarm wiring (I know nothing bout the old alarm setup) or maybe it's another problem? Alternator, starter, battery posts, something completely different?

1988, with the N/A 13B. Help would be appreciated, so that the next sale is actually final!

Oh, and the car is in Calgary if anyone wants to buy it :p

 

The transmission. I have an auto and if the selector isn't in the spot correctly it just does nothing. I alternate between P and N to see if it will start. If the needle jumps when you try to start it, then it just needs a bit of throttle to get going.

I took my car to the auto electrician and he cleaned the battery terminals and run a dyagnosic on the starter and battery. It is just tempermental.

 

did the alarm have a remote start feature? Maybe this did something with the clutch switch. Cheack and make sure that it is still intact and that it is pushed in all the way where you go start the car. Also if there is a bad ground for the starter the starter will make a click noise but it wont turn over.

 

Same problem here. It randomly acts like I have a dead starter then for no reason like 30 minutes later, the starter will engage like there was never a problem.

My guess.... wiring.

 

I was having a similar problem once in a while. It turned out my battery was nearing it's end, and my terminals were corroded all to hell. Got new terminals and a new battery and haven't had a problem with that ever since.

 

It could be the ignition lock cylinder. It might not be contacting properly that's why it works after you kick it and move **** around. L8ter.

 

Weird, I'll check it out, but my terminals don't look to bad.

 

If it is an alarm problem there is fuse in the box you can remove and that will disable the alarm, then that problem won't exist anymore. If you remove that fuse and it keeps doing it, then we just confirmed it's not the alarm. I'll look for a picture of the fuse box.

 

i had a similar problem too, ended up being a combination of lose starter solenoid wiring and a bad clutch engage switch

 

7.5A Meter Fuse connects to the Alarm System. Smack dab in the middle of the fusebox. If you take it out a lot of stuff won't work, but your car should still start. Just a FYI so you don't freak out.

 

That is why I am always OVERLY honest about issues so they aren't surprised when something like this happens..

 

I had a similar problem on my old Camry. At first i thought it was a bad battery (tested on the low side of things, so replaced it), but it actually ended up being a loose connection on the wires to the starter.