toyota cressida starting trouble.....

[trez2k3]

I have a 1986 Toyota Cressida that will not start. When you turn the key you can hear a very quiet clicking sound and a ?beep? sort of sound as long as you hold the key in start. Anyway the car was at my friends house and I had to get it towed back here. The guy that towed it said it could be the neutral safety switch. The battery is a month old and im pretty sure the starter is okay. This has been a frequent problem with this car however after a few minutes or an hour it would start back up?. Any ideas???

 

[CraigRT]

sounds like a corroded connection or something.. what else could that possibly be?
the connection could be outside the starter, or even in.. who knows where it is.. take a voltmeter and check the power lines to the starter or something.. it shouldn't be too hard to figure out.

 

[Dacalo]

cressidas are damn nice cars, sorry to hear about your trouble...

my parents bought 89 cressida and this baby keeps on ticking against my wishes... but it is still luxerious, with CD player that reads CD-R (impressive considering its an 89), moon roof, sun roof(yes both) and cool retracting dash that makes it look like some part from a 007 movie

 

[BatmanNate]

The newer Cressidas had the 7MG-E in them, essentially the same as my Supra minus the turbo charger and intercooler. Good cars.

 

[Quixfire]

Yield got it right. Check you voltage drop from the battery to the starter, if that's ok. Then check the ignition switch to the solenoid.

 

[Eli]

I'm not really sure I understand the problem very well.

So you're saying when you go to start it, you hear a clicking and this beep kind of sound... but the engine doesen't turn over at all?

starter solenoid?

 

[BatmanNate]

Actually that sounds just like what happened to my old dodge when the starter solenoid went out. If you bang on it with a wrench (I'm not kidding) it should free it up and start okay.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Yield
sounds like a corroded connection or something.. what else could that possibly be?
the connection could be outside the starter, or even in.. who knows where it is.. take a voltmeter and check the power lines to the starter or something.. it shouldn't be too hard to figure out.

I think that the neutral safety is a good culpret. If it's failed, the engine thinks that the tranny is in gear, and it cuts out the ignition.

Try putting the car in "Neutral" instead of "Park" and see if it will start. My old Accord would sometimes not start with the tranny in Park and I would have to put it in Neutral to start the car.

ZV

 

[trez2k3]

Thanks for the replies, no the car wont start in neutral... i guess the next step is to check the ignition switch or the starter how exactly do you do that?? also people have mentioned that the theft deterent comp. might be causing this???

 

[Evadman]

ummm... Is the battery charged?

 

[trez2k3]

yes all the lights and the radio turn on, like i said before it has done this for about a year but usually it would start after a few minutes but this time it wont

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: trez2k3
yes all the lights and the radio turn on, like i said before it has done this for about a year but usually it would start after a few minutes but this time it wont

oh, I must have missed that part somewhere in this post. Then ya, the neutral safety switch may be bad. try starting it in all gears. if it cranks anywhere, you found your problem. It may never work in any gear as well, so YMMV.

Also check all the terminals for corosion and for voltage drop from battery to solonid/starter. (which has been mentioned.) measure the voltage from the positive battery terminal to the solonid. You should get a reading of next to zero. If you get a voltage reading (which is actually voltage drop) then replace the cable and clean all the connections. you can also measure from the solonoid positive to ground. you should gett he same as the battery. if it is less, that is also voltage drop.

Also check the ground strap of the engine. the engine must be grounded for it to turn over. Check voltage from positive to everything. if you get 0v then you have a ground fault and the engine is not grounded.