Intermittent start

[mnkittycity]

I own a 99 Solara SLE with 175,000 miles on the car and 50,000 miles on a new engine. I've been haviing intermittent problems starting it. Some days it starts fine others not so well. When I get in the car in the am, when I put the key in the ignition I do get the dinging sound. When I turn the key, I get one tick and the car doesn't start. It doesnt make one other sound. Its as dead as dead can be. Everything lights up on the dash. I continue to turn key from off position to start position and sometimes it takes 3 or 4 times and it just starts like nothing was ever wrong. Fires right up. Lately its been taking maybe 10 turns to get it started. Of course when I took it to the mechanic it started just fine. He said its probably the starter for $400. Any other thoughts on what it could be besides a starter? thanks

[Mister_Perkins]

Next time it happens, try putting the car into neutral before trying to start it again. If it starts up you may be having a contact issue with your Neutral Safety Switch. The NSS Detects when the car is in neutral and park. If the shifter is in park and the Electrical side of the NSS Doesnt make a connection, the car wont recognize its in park and will not send the start signal to the ECM.


Check out
DIY: Neutral Safety Switch Cleaning

EDIT:
Another thing to confirm its the starter thats causing your issue is to grab a hammer or something hard and have a helper tap the starter the next time it doesn't want to start. After you tap it if it starts, the plunger is getting a bad connection on the solenoids and will need rebuilt. Not a big deal, but you will need to pull the plunger side apart and replace the contacts.

And $400.00 for a starter is just ridiculous !! You can buy a rebuilt starter for $80 - $100.00
http://www.partsgeek.com/gbproducts/...ek+Google+Base