No crank, no start...

[90T04]

You need to do a voltage drop test, next time the failure occurs. I know you said you have good battery connections and cables, but it really sounds like you have a bad connection at the battery. You can have a connection that is good enough to provide a low amount of current, but then turns into an open when the starter is cranked. That's why your radio settings are erased. A voltage drop test will quickly determine if this is the case.


And what the crap would the alternator have to with this problem to you who have suggested this?!?

 

[jetjock]

^ At last, after 40 posts someone who actually understands...

 

[Setheroo]

^ At last, after 40 posts someone who actually understands...

It would be a lot easier on me if it happened every single time... today I couldn't get it to happen once, not even a single time, where as the other day it happened all day long.

Just to rule things out, I am going to go out and buy some of those really high quality battery terminals - the ones that people usually use to split up their connections in order to run an amplifier cable... and oh I won't stop there, I will even run some fancy new wires for both the ground and the positive leads.

This way, when I am out and about thinking that my problem is resolved, and end up turning my car off while I make a stop of some sort - I will be left waiting around for power to return to my entire car and then have to push start it :] It isn't like Supra's are heavy or anything :sarcasm:

 

[nerfkhat]

i would try the battery cables first..its a old car and i have seen them be pretty corroded on the inside where you can see the corrosion lots of acid build up. especially if it uses a a unsealed battery.

Also the ignition wires is really easy to replace. The white plug that has all the soldered wires on it comes out very easily if you unscrew a couple screws. The whole plug will come out of the ignition lock. the soldered joints may not be burnt but the inside of the switch could be broken. If you have the ignition switch out of the you can even just use a flat head to start the car. then just unplug the other other end of it of the harness and you have the whole ignition switch out.

 

[bubba94]

im havin the same problem with my mkiv

 

[88jspec]

You need to do a voltage drop test, next time the failure occurs. I know you said you have good battery connections and cables, but it really sounds like you have a bad connection at the battery. You can have a connection that is good enough to provide a low amount of current, but then turns into an open when the starter is cranked. That's why your radio settings are erased. A voltage drop test will quickly determine if this is the case.


And what the crap would the alternator have to with this problem to you who have suggested this?!?

hey did someone piss in your corn flakes, read the post, what is the purpose of the alternator...........

 

[3p141592654]

As stated before, there is no diagnostic info in this thread that will allow any hope of a solution. When it happens again, have you DVM handy and start tracing the circuit and recording voltages along the path starting at the battery terminals. Nick already gave you the link to the relevant schematic, now fill it out with measured data. And since it seems that everything goes out, that eliminates a lot of the wiring that is not common to every circuit.

 

[90T04]

hey did someone piss in your corn flakes, read the post, what is the purpose of the alternator...........

Wow. I started to type a reply but I cant find the words... Yep, you are right, it must be the alternator.

 

[Setheroo]

I have changed my starter wire you all - and it hasn't done it to me yet with this new one... but then again - I was having trouble getting this problem to occur for quite some time before I decided to replace that wire.

I can't say that it was for sure the wire, but it hasn't happened for almost a week now, so that is a good sign.

 

[jetjock]

You should have drop tested it. Now you have to wait and see if you guessed right...

 

[Setheroo]

You should have drop tested it. Now you have to wait and see if you guessed right...

Won't show me a darn thing when it is intermittent. Sometimes it was full on, and others it was basically all off... so the results would have been all voltage or no voltage.

You might disagree with me on that, but in this case I know that to be true.

 

[jetjock]

Hmmm. Of course I disagree with you. Drop testing will reveal problems even when a circuit is "working" and is one of the best methods to use for finding the kind of problem you had. Furthermore because of the current involved I can think of no place where this is more true than the starter circuit. I had assumed someone claiming your electrical skills already knew this. Then again your approach to the problem throughout the thread has been puzzling. My bad.....

 

[Setheroo]

Hmmm. Of course I disagree with you. Drop testing will reveal problems even when a circuit is "working" and is one of the best methods to use for finding the kind of problem you had. Furthermore because of the current involved I can think of no place where this is more true than the starter circuit. I had assumed someone claiming your electrical skills already knew this. Then again your approach to the problem throughout the thread has been puzzling. My bad.....

Drop testing will show results for when you have high resistance in terminals, wires, switches, relays, and any electrical component. But in this case there didn't seem to be anything with too high of resistance - everything just stopped working at complete random and then it would come storming back as if nothing ever had happened. I tested for voltage at every problem spot, I checked everything I knew to check, and I had the right voltages at every single location in the starting circuit, that is until of course EVERYTHING stopped working.

I know that this thread may make me look misinformed on the subject, but truth be told, hunting down a problem that only happens every once in a while is a real pain in the ass when everything you check turns up normal.

I don't claim that I am all knowing, but in this case everything worked great, then things stopped working, and started working again.

It is more likely that there was a bad spot in the starter wire than there is anything, and no, it didn't show up when I was checking voltages, there is a chance that it would kink a right way when I last turned the car off and when I came back out I wasn't getting the right voltage, then after a while longer after tinkering everything turned normal again.