No crank

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irowiki
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No crank

Post by irowiki »

So while trying to troubleshoot "Buck" the new wagon' starting (fuel) issues, she suddenly stopped cranking. Just "click" and all the lights would dim, and the battery terminals would heat up.

I thought the brand new battery was dead, so I got it tested, and it is fine and fully charged.

So I swapped the starter with a junkyard spare, hooked everything back up, and "Click", except now the lights inside flicker once and stay bright, no super drain.

Do I have a second bad starter or is something else up?

I'm going to test the starter in "Snap" the 87 with a blown transmission, swap that one in tomorrow if it works.
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dlb
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Re: No crank

Post by dlb »

check the battery cables for corrosion. i had a no crank sitch a while back and the cables looked fine at a glance but when i pulled the negative cable sheath back, there was a ton of corrosion in there. trimmed it back to a clean area and it was fine after that.
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Gottolovem
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Re: No crank

Post by Gottolovem »

Easy to check starter use a set of jumper cables strait from battery. With starter out of car
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irowiki
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Re: No crank

Post by irowiki »

Oh, you don't have to trigger the solenoid?

David, the negative battery cable does have some greenish looking copper like corrosion!
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marlinh
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Re: No crank

Post by marlinh »

If the battery terminals got hot that means you have resistance in those connections. They need to be cleaned.
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irowiki
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Re: No crank

Post by irowiki »

I forgot to mention, I cleaned the terminals real good after I got back from Walmart checking the battery, and the wires got hot instead of the terminals. With the first starter. With the second starter nothing heats up that I can tell. I have a spare negative battery cable I think. I'll give that a shot.
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Petros
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Re: No crank

Post by Petros »

check the contacts at both ends of each cable, and inside the swagged ends too. sometimes the swagged sleeve can have internal corrosion that causes a bad contact, this is actually more common that a bad starter.

you might also check your starter relay, it is rare but i have seen those go marginal and act like a low battery, chatter and clicking even with clean terminals and good wires. The relay is what energizes the starter solenoid when you turn the key to "start". I do not recall where it is located, I think it is on the driver's side kick panel next to the fuse panel.

if your stater is good and your battery is good, it either is the a bad connection (most common) or a bad starter relay.
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keith
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Re: No crank

Post by keith »

Put a socket on the crankshaft bolt and see if you can turn the engine by hand. This sounds more like a seized engine than a starter or battery problem. If the engine turns with only a little resistance, then the starter is bad.
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Re: No crank

Post by irowiki »

Engine was moving when I put her in gear and bounced the car forward, I'll try turning the crankshaft too just in case.
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tercel4wdrules
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Re: No crank

Post by tercel4wdrules »

I've had the exact same issue. One time it was actually a bad battery. The other times were a bad positive cable terminal end.
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Re: No crank

Post by Vienna »

Turns out the spare starter we'd gotten from petros was actually a dud too, so all this time we were carrying a dead backup with us. We pulled the one from our 87 FWD since we have a while to go to get her back up and running and buck fired back up, no sign of fuel issues yet like we expected to have to deal with once we fixed the start issues.
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Gottolovem
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Re: No crank

Post by Gottolovem »

Buck could be shorting starters?
Just a thought i hope i'm wrong
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Petros
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Re: No crank

Post by Petros »

i had told you I had no way of knowing if that spar starter was any good, but that usually the starters are reliable. I bought it as a picknpull as a spare. Many auto parts stores will test them for you to make sure.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
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Re: No crank

Post by Vienna »

I didn't mean it as "Petros intentionally sold us a dud". it's a pain in the butt to type a long message on my tablet so I shortened it, so I apologize if it sounded like I was accusing you of being malicious.

We had her out for a drive just now and she seemed to be doing fine. Unfortunately she's instilled a bit of fear in us that she could drop dead again at any moment.
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irowiki
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Re: No crank

Post by irowiki »

Don't worry she wasn't trying to accuse you or anything, because you did tell us! I think it is funny Peter that the Tercel you got that from probably went to the pick and pull because all that was wrong with it was a dead starter :lol:

Anyway, took the negative cable off, cleaned everything, nothing. Tried bypassing both battery cables with jumper cables, nothing.

Tested the starter that came on her, gear popped out but no turning. Took the starter out of the blown engine, and it pops out and turns. Took the "spare" starter out, popped out and no turning.

I should have figured out how to test it sooner. Pretty easy to do so:

Get a battery, and jumper cables. Connect positive from battery to the lug on the starter that you nut the cable to. Connect negative to the frame of the starter by where it attaches to the car. Get some sort of alligator clip wire for the little connection and jump that to the positive too. Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwcn-NYJRag
Former Tercel Enthusiast (not a practical family car anymore but they still have a place in my heart)

Site administrator, if something is broken, PM me!

87 Corolla FX16, 105k
94 Jamboree RV (Ford E-350), 90k
95 Camry Wagon, 170k
97 4runner, 275k
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