car clicking but not cranking

[miggles]

Yesterday we finnished 1hr early from work due to the xmas holidays.I promptly went out to start my car n drive it to pik up my new pc tower and i got the dreaded click click.I was thinkin wtf is going on.Theres a new battery less than 4months old,starter always started first time,everytime,so i pop the hood to investigate.I had full power to the dash,mp3 player was working though it did dim when i went to crank btw.The first thing i check is the battery terminals as i had a sneaking suspicion that it may be the circuit breaker block on the (+) terminal come loose.BINGO it was loose.I tighten it back up with a 11mm socket and go to start and she fires rite up and im off.:icon_razz Just check your battery terminals before banging on the solonoid on the starter guys.(that was my next option :3d_frown: )

 

[Mr.PFloyd]

hehe good job ur not a rookie

 

[miggles]

i guess you pick up some things after owning a car for 6yrs

 

[shaeff]

yeah, battery cables is the first and easiest thing to check. way easier than trying to hit the solenoid! haha (used to have to do that on my old chevy about once a week. (but it was way easy)

-shaeff

 

[MDCmotorsports]

There is a huge writeup on another site about this. Most of the problems are like you stated, or the starter signal wire is loose like in my case.

 

[Draken]

my starter died on me, and that top bold is reall making me mad!

 

[Fuzz420]

mine was loose too, but now the clicking came back and the terminal are as tight as they go. Guess i better get some money available for a new starter, dont know how much longer i got.

 

[GreenChevelleSS]

Mine was doing the samething...It was the negitive battery cable. Someone replaced it and its a crappy one. I tightened it all the way and it would still do it so I ended up putting a screw in it and no problems so far.

 

[hottscennessey]

wow, same problem with me. dimming of electronics too. the weird thing was.. the headlights would pop up while there was that clicking lol. But anyways, i was about to give up, unhook the battery (by the negative terminal) and i decided to hook it back up and try one more time. I tried it once more and it fired right up. Its most likely the ground. (wish i tried that before i pulled every single fuse and disassembled my entire interior and reinstalled my turbo timer). Good luck.

 

[tte]

Yeah...mine was electrical too...

I remember one nite after I got out of a music shop my car did not start and what made it was was it was freaking pissing down alot.
I got so soaked checking the engine bay wiring and finally decided to tow it.
I called a good friend of mine and he let me drive my car into his mechanical engineering company at nite. I had the spare keys and I worked on my supra till 2:00 at nite to get it started.

And then I just wired up a switch in the dashboard to connect the starter signal wire to Batt+ and everytime my car couldnt start I would use it. My car used to do that alot all of a sudden and I got fed up paying money to tow it home. I hated leaving my car elsewhere...So this switch solved my problems.
But then the problem disappeared all together. I think in my case it was a loose connection somewhere.

Cheers,
Roy

 

[csr ma71]

Find a plug that plugs into the small hole of the starter, then run a long wire from that plug with the end bare and touch the positive terminal with it. Make sure you key is in the acc position first. Your car should now be starting or at least cranking. I had to do that for a week before I rewired mine.

 

[Draken]

nope, finaly got my starter done last night, it was in fact the starter....was so nice to fire it up and drive it and not worry about turning it off due to lack of starting....now maybe i can start getting some stuff done to it, still totaly stock

 

[Adjuster]

I can't tell you guys how many times I've changed out alternators, starters and other electronic stuff that was fine... But the replacement was expensive, and we never told the owner it was fine, just a loose wire, bad ground with corrosion on it etc.

Most starters never fail unless they have been abused. (Run longer than 15 seconds all the time.) Starter is only designed to run short times, and cool off completely between uses. (Ok, they deal with engine/header heat, and that can make them brittle, but on the 7M, the starter is on the other side from the exhuaust, so this setup should last forever.)

I always use sandpaper on my ground contacts. Clean up the chassis of any paint, or debris, and clean up the wire end of any corrosion too. Then coat them both with dilectric grease, and assemble. This helps to slow down new corrosion, and displaces water too. A good ground is critical to bright headlamps, any other lamps etc. Also excellent grounds for your ignition system etc.

I've added a large gauge (4 I think) wire between the engine at the alternator bracket and the negative post of the battery. Also added a section from the neg. battery to chassis grounding point behind the fuse box. On the compressor, I've added two more grounds of 12ga wire one to the chassis at the sway bar bushing, and one going to the common ground behind the fuse box. Clean up where your common ground attaches to the left apron. Those bolts get corroded, and your common ground decreases. (This is an easy job too, and your going to be shocked how much white corrosion is on them and the areas they touch the chassis.) When your done, you going to love how bright your headlamps are, and other nice stuff will start working again

 

[Anh]

The Non-US Supras never had a starter relay, the starter control wire sends power to turn and pull solenoid plunger, aligning the teeth of the starter pinion to the flywheel. After so many years the wire just can't deliver the current to do this job, especially when the engine is hot - it has enough to pull the plunger but nothing left to turn it and aligh, and hence the click.

We have to add a starter relay to cure this.