engine wont crank..

[jeddyminit]

So i may be picking up another mk3 however the engine wont crank.
the seller was able to jump start it, and it started fine Once. but after that it would not start anymore.
If you were to try and crank it everything would go dim as if power was being drawn from the battery to try and start.
i did bring the battery to oreilly to get it recharged and tried it, and still wouldnt start

The car has a viper 5901 alarm
its an 86.5 with sunroof, originally 7mge automatic
but has a 7mgte and r154 swapped in..

Any help is appreciated. Thanks

 

[hvyman]

Sounds like starter or wiring to the starter.

Can try putting 12v from the battery to the little plug on the starter and see if it cranks. If it does it's wiring if it doesn't it's starter.

 

[super51fan]

^^ What he said.

 

[mirage83]

Ah, one of the classic Supra conundrums, the infamous voltage drop in the starter/ignition circuit. I have yet to firmly isolate where it's dropping off at in my '88, so I've just wired in a temporary switch to supply extra power directly to the starter when it won't crank with the ignition itself. Definitely jury-rigged and not a real solution, but it works for the moment.

 

[jeddyminit]

thanks hvyman, i will definitely try that

 

[supraguy@aol]

The other obvious thing to check is the condition of the battery connectors and cables.

 

[RS713]

You might check if the factory alarm is engaged. If it is, that could be your problem. But your horns would be going off if the alarm was tripped. Unless you had your horns disabled/disconnected.