1991 Corolla has Occassional Problems Starting

[PoopEater]

Hello Everyone,

My father in law recently purchased a 1991 Corolla with 148k miles. The car runs great, but has an issue with starting (only sometimes). About half the time, it will start right up. The other half the time, it won't even turn over. I was wondering if maybe there was a switch somewhere that might be making poor contact (like a switch to tell the car that it is in park or something), or maybe the car needs a new starter or something. Does anyone have any idea what could cause this?

It's a 1991 corolla, 4cylinder, automatic transmission.

Thanks for any help or ideas you have about what the problem could be, or how to troubleshoot it.

[90 GP]

It is the starter or more likely the solenoid which is built in the starter. The problem is that the replaceable copper terminals on the solenoid wear down and you get the intermittent no start you describe.

[Ukrainian102]

^ Yea chances are its what he said. If it only does it sometimes now, it's gonna get worse.

The way you can tell if its the solenoid contacts is if you just hear a click when the car doesn't start. If it clicks, the wiring should be good and everything (just in case check the battery), just the contacts on the solenoid plunger are worn out. If this is the case don't get a new starter, it's a relatively easy fix.

Same thing happened to me and I took my starter apart and the contacts were worn out... I have to replace them still but I'm sure that was the problem.

[PoopEater]

Originally Posted by Ukrainian102

^ Yea chances are its what he said. If it only does it sometimes now, it's gonna get worse.

The way you can tell if its the solenoid contacts is if you just hear a click when the car doesn't start. If it clicks, the wiring should be good and everything (just in case check the battery), just the contacts on the solenoid plunger are worn out. If this is the case don't get a new starter, it's a relatively easy fix.

Same thing happened to me and I took my starter apart and the contacts were worn out... I have to replace them still but I'm sure that was the problem.

How do I go about replacing the contacts? Is there a place on the net that sells rebuild kits?

[Ukrainian102]

Well you'll have to figure out how to get the starter assembly out of your car. It was mad hard to get it out of my 1995, and your engine and starter I think are similar to mine. I have yet to put it back in.

When you take out the starter, it's easy to replace the contacts. Check these places:

http://toyotanation.com/forum/t27312.html
http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...shtml#EasyTest
http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/t19221.html

[barthmonster]

I'm working on a '91 Corolla now but the starter seemed easy to remove with the intake off. Its under your intake runners and may be difficult to see the bolts, etc. with the intake still on the motor...
Good luck...