Toyota corolla starting problem

king_of_inismac

I have a problem with my 94 corolla. Its a great car, and its regularly serviced by me.

It has almost 200000 miles up on the clock, and the engine sounds great.

Recently tho, I found it quite difficult to start. I thought it was a battery problem because once it started, it was fine. I bought a new battery, and checked that it was charging using a multimeter.

The car started fine then, but the problem seemed to be returning. Could it just be a problem with one of the battery terminals/connectors, or could it be something else?

the car runs fine once it gets going...

Thanks,
Martin

AMurphy

This one has a contact-less distributor I'll assume.

Difficult to start when cold, warm, hot, or all of the above.

Do you have a timing lamp?. It could be useful.

I had a problem with the truck, when starting when cold/cool. Once started went line a charm.... till it happened again.

With a timing light I determined the center lead to the dist cap had plenty energy, but the leads to the plugs had hit and miss sparks.

Changed cap, problem gone.

If it is not starting, you are either missing sparks or fuel.
Easy to check for both. Timing light for the sparks. If there are, or appear to be, sparks. remove a plug to see if it is wet. if wet, you have sparks but probably bad plugs.

while we are on teh job, whats the compression when warm.

And/or seeing as you have a voltmeter, if it has a Hz setting, connect it to the coil terminals see if there is a chopped DC voltage there.

stevenmu

What is actually happening when you're trying to start, does the starter sound ok but the engine doesn't take or does the starter seem weak ? I'm guessing the latter as you suspected it was a battery problem, older starter motors can stick, I think the contacts get clogged up with carbon or something like that. I've heard of people giving them a few taps with a hammer to get them running perfectly again, altough I wouldn't suggest you try that yourself, just in case

bazz26

You could also have a faulty altenator. Best thing to do is maybe bring it to a qualified independant mechanic to check rather than going out replacing things that may not be at fault.

AMurphy

stevenmu wrote:

.... I've heard of people giving them a few taps with a hammer to get them running perfectly again, altough I wouldn't suggest you try that yourself, just in case

right, if the engien is failing to even turn over. The above is the first test.

AlienGav

bazz26 wrote:

You could also have a faulty altenator. Best thing to do is maybe bring it to a qualified independant mechanic to check rather than going out replacing things that may not be at fault.

That's what my money's on!

Is your battery still loosing charge after you've been driving?

Having the same problem with my car! :mad:

AMurphy

However, he stated the charging is ok. Well, easy to check again anytime.

If it not turning or slow to turn over, terminals can be the source of the problem is they are corroded or loose or even cracked.

I have encountered a starter problem where the wire from the key to the solenoit was corroded at an intermediate wire splice.
And on a car with a very long cable with a dip, moisture collected in the dip and corroded the wire, needed a replacement primary cable.

However you have a VM, so easy to check voltages at each location in the chain.

Anyway, it is not turning over, or turning over very sluggish or turning over at normal speed, but not starting.