so i drive in to work this morning in the seven, everything is great. Suns shining, cars running smooth after an oil change the night before, couldnt be any better.
Pull into work, park and go to it..........
fast forward to 6:30 and I go to leave.......but alas my car wont even crank!! Nothing!!! All electricals working strong so it cant be the battery.....all I hear is the "click" as I turn the ignition.
As I repetedly try this I begin to notice that the brake pedal is getting pretty..."tense" I guess the word would be to the point that it travels very little. Also I believe that the gas pedal moves to the floor with much more ease.
Still no crank......

I have never had any problems like this with the car before...ever..(88 n/a vert)
Although I have noticed a tiny insy bit of hesitation when re-starting the car hot...non whatsever when cold.

Sooo...anybody got any ideas of what I may be looking at first.....the car had to be towed to Mazda and I want to head over there in the morning and try to get er started before they ream me!!!

help

 

Check the starter solenoid circuit.

Brake pedal is normal. Happens to any car with the car turned off.
Gas pedal is your imagination.

 

Check starter solenoid. lightly tap on it or the starter with a metal tool and try starting again (don't rely on this method if it works this once).
Inspect battery posts and terminals for corrosion.
Check main electrical connections especially from battery starter solenoid, ground points.
Check clutch disengagement switch (sorry, spaced the actual name) near the clutch pedal.

The brakes are supposed to do that--they're power hydraulically assisted. Without the car running there is no power to the brakes.

If none of the above works, get a friend to help push and try a compression start (get it rolling, put in 1 or R, and drop the clutch--be ready for the car to start and move on its own power.)

Just $0.19 cents.

 

ditto both of the above and hope the engine didn't decide to lock up.

 

The engine lock up from sitting a few hours after running perfect? Not possible. I would do the tapping on the starter. That will usually get it started up to get it home. good luck

 

I will look into it. I'm hoping its something as small as that (crosses fingers)
Certainly hope the engine isnt seized up. only has 130,000kms on it (original)

This place rocks!

 

except it wasnt just the solenoid or faulty wiring, it's all seized up!! Is it hard to rebuild one of these?

 

Meh, probably not worth rebuilding. Go pick one up from an auto parts store, and get back on the road I'd call around for prices before you worry about rebulding it.

 

I had the same exact problem. I bought a start off a local guy's parts car, cleaned it up and it took maybe 15 minuets to install and now the car cranks over with ease.

 

I have a spare N/A starter... I'll sell it to you for whatever these guys think it's worth.

 

thanks for the offer but I think I will source local first.

 

Hey man.. i know that clickn noise... i just put my new starter on my rebuilt engine.
and heres what happened.
well i plugged it in. and i cranked it and my negative terminal to my battery got hot.. spent a week trying to figure out the problem...turned out i had a bad ground
so what i did was.. i bought a 6 gauge wire about a food long spliced both ends of it put on a circle connector, went from the negative feed on the starter and bolted it to the transmission... sure enought.. the damn thing started.. i said holy ****.

you might have a bad ground.
maybe your negative cable is exposed and grounding out...

i had the same click
it was tryin but it didnt work till i added another ground to the starter
good luck