Ke70 Starting When It Wants To?

[rollake70]

Hey guys

 

Not too sure if anyone has had this problem before.

When I go for a drive only somtimes will I go to start the car, when I only get a clicking noise from the engine bay, so when I turn the ignition on and off pretty quick and I'm hearing click, click, click then the corolla will start.

 

I have changed the starter motor and replaced the points and spark plugs?

 

Any other suggestions? Help would be great I was thinking it could be a solinoid in the distributed ? But yeh

[jimmy-d]

Hey guys

 

Not too sure if anyone has had this problem before.

When I go for a drive only somtimes will I go to start the car, when I only get a clicking noise from the engine bay, so when I turn the ignition on and off pretty quick and I'm hearing click, click, click then the corolla will start.

 

I have changed the starter motor and replaced the points and spark plugs?

 

Any other suggestions? Help would be great I was thinking it could be a solinoid in the distributed ? But yeh

To me "click click"sounds like the starter is not getting enough power to operate the solenoid properly so I would suggest checking wiring connections to the battery and or starter solenoid,a bad earth, maybe even a faulty battery. It definitely sounds electrical to me though.

[rollake70]

Yeh thanks mate

I was going to take it to an auto elec but it's just something so simple I did also think of running a better earth.

I'll get it like I said I did change the starter so yeh.

 

Anyone else have any suggestions??

[Evan G]

i think the best way would be to run a light in series of the solenoid wire aka

 

solenoid + wire. - side of the light and + side to the solenoid on the starter.

 

if you turn the engine off and dims its a getting current when it shouldnt.

 

could be wiring, relay or ignition switch.

 

let me know how it goes

[rollake70]

Ok I'll give it a go with the test light and see how I go

[towe001]

To me "click click"sounds like the starter is not getting enough power to operate the solenoid properly so I would suggest checking wiring connections to the battery and or starter solenoid,a bad earth, maybe even a faulty battery. It definitely sounds electrical to me though.

 

The "click click" noise is the solenoid not getting the power to switch on and stay on for the starter motor to be able to wind over.

 

Something else that could be happening is that the cog on the starter isn't meshing with the teeth on the flywheel a couple of tries from the starter should have it meshed correctly, sometimes putting the car in gear and rocking the car back and forth will help. But it'll be making more of a metallic clack clack noise if that was the case.

[scottiriver]

heyy mate,

mine did that when the battery was at about 11 volts charge,

the previous owner had the starter and ignition wiring replaced and made no difference,

so when I got the car, I put a relay in and the the relay basically switched the full battery load to both the starter and the solenoid, the car never has starter motor problems again :)

 

 

very easy to wire up, just need a high amperage relay, high amperage cable and a high amperage fuse(normal amperage of battery needed for cabling and relay),

1. disconect the wire from the ignition side of the solenoid and plug into either pin 86 or 85

2. attach high amperage cable to + side of battery and attach fuse,

3. attach other end of fuse to pin 30

4. attach pin 87 to solenoid on the starter motor

5. mount relay and tape up all connections

 

Note. DO NOT ignore the fuse, it could save your battery and all electrics in the car if something goes wrong :)

[RainWarriorDregs]

Way back in the day (i just remembered this) my car would sometimes not start. So i opened up the fuse box to look at the relay for the starter and there wasnt one. Just a piece of wire going from one terminal to the other. So i investigated as to what type of relay i needed, bought one put it in and never had a trouble. Now i realise that this may not help much, but if someone could shed like on why this is? or what relay is needed? maybe it could help.

 

goodluck

[iwontarolla]

I seem to have the same problem I've rebuilt the start and it takes about 30 god then it might start. It clicks and that's it I have put the jumper pack on it and the click just go louder and more intense. Same problem or not?

[towe001]

First off, have you checked all the connections, including battery terminals ? Not dirty ? Tight etc ?

 

Have a set of jumper leads ? Should be able to do it with the jumper pack, as long as its charged.

If so then pull the starter motor out, sit it on the ground.

The positive cable on the jumper leads is like normal - positive lead to the positive terminal on the battery and then connect it to the big nut terminal on the starter motor.

And negative lead is connected to the negative terminal on the battery. the body of the starter motor is ground or negative so tap the negative end of the cable onto the starter.

 

Might need to have a foot or a hand on the starter cause it'll jump around when the starter turns over.

You'll get some sparks and either just clicks from the solenoid (the motor part would need to be rebuilt) or a click and the motor turns over (which means you've got a bad connection somewhere).

[altezzaclub]

...and the one that no-one has mentoned is the teeth on the flywheel.

 

When you had the starter out, did you check the flywheel teeth?? They get smashed every time you hit the key, and because the motor always stops just coming up to compression there are only a few places on the flywheel where it stops. These teeth get worn and the starter can't engage properly.

 

So if you have the starter out take a look at the teeth where it engages.

 

I have changed the starter motor

...and I hope it was a fully reconditioned one with the solenoid renewd, (the solenoid contacts burn away) or else you might have replaced it with one just as bad as the old.

 

Scottiriver's photo above is NOT the starter solenoid, that is a solenoid that powers the starter solenoid. The starter solenoid sits on the starter motor and does two jobs- it slams the bendix gears into the flywheel and it switches on the huge current that the starter windings need. Test it like Towie says, but remember its not under load in the test. So it might work fine out of the car but not in.

Edited December 25, 2011 by altezzaclub

[towe001]

Something else that could be happening is that the cog on the starter isn't meshing with the teeth on the flywheel

 

 

...and the one that no-one has mentoned is the teeth on the flywheel.

 

When you had the starter out, did you check the flywheel teeth?? They get smashed every time you hit the key, and because the motor always stops just coming up to compression there are only a few places on the flywheel where it stops. These teeth get worn and the starter can't engage properly.

 

So if you have the starter out take a look at the teeth where it engages.

 

Urm, didn't say it in the same way as your better version.

 

Edit - :P :)

Edited December 25, 2011 by towe001

[altezzaclub]

Lol- yeah soz Towie.

 

OK, here is what happens inside. You used to be able to unbolt solenoids and fix them, but these days they are swaged shut.

 

The small wire takes power to the solenoid when you hit the ignition "start". That fires up the windings and sucks the steel core backwards in its magnetic field. The arm through the pivot pushes the bendix gear forward to engage the flywheel teeth. Simultaneously, the copper bar across the back of the solenoid core bridges across the back of the nuts you see on the outside, one of them carrying main power from the battery. The 300amps current goes down the fat cable, through the copper bar and into the starter windings. It sparks and burns the bar and the bolt heads, so when they are corroded and dirty they just go "click click click" as it slams back and forth but won't fire the starter windings.