a slightly different starting problem

[wiccanferret]

Either it's different, or I just couldn't figure out what to search for, but here it is:

The car starts fine, but every once in a blue moon, usually when it's been sitting for a few days, it just clicks. No start, no whirring, nothing...like you're just sitting on "on" without cranking, even when you're all the way over. You get all the dash lights and the radio and everything...so the battery seems fine. Give it a couple more tries and it always starts right up. Wouldn't bother me except it's slowly becoming once in a blue moon plus once or twice between blue moons...it's getting slowly more frequent. Keep in mind, I start this car at least 10-20 times a day...it's my delivery car. It's never done it at work...only at the start of the day.

If not for the fact that it doesn't seem to do it when warm, I would assume it was the starter first off...but what could cause it to work fine when warm but have problems when cold? Is the starter an easy/cheap enough job that I should just throw one on just in case? I know this sounds like an odd thing to do, but with a car this old I don't know how old it's individual parts are. After all, at 215k miles, I've only had it since 206k.

Edit: Today it eventually started, but not until we turned off all the electric accessories (AC, headlights). We did that only after 4 tries...but then again, it's been sitting for 3 days.

[rolla-XRS]

Make sure you aren't using any type of floor mat other than the Toyota brand.

It's happened fairly frequently where people with generic floormats get them caught under the clutch so that the clutch pedal doesn't depress 100% to the floor...thus the starter won't turn.

But it could be your starter with the milage you have on it. Perhaps one of the contacts is messed up. Hummm...sounds familiar...can't remember which car has that issue on older models...thought it was the 323 but could be Corolla.

Anyways I'm sure a mechanic can inspect the wires and contacts to the starter to see if they're corroded.
GL

[thoughthard]

IMO, sounds like the starter contacts are worn down, and the clicks will be getting more frequent.

[wiccanferret]

I was thinking it sounded like the battery wasn't holding its whole charge. Why would it be the starter when it only happens after the car's been sitting?

[Limnos]

Check the battery terminals and connectors for corrosion as well as general battery condition. The click is your solenoid. A car needs a lot of juice to start and what will run your lights and radio may not even get your starter to crank once. This happens on one of my cars where I have problems with a flaky battery and I just clean the crud off the connectors and it starts right up. The lights and everything will work fine but just a click until I clean the battery. I also encountered the same thing with another car with an old battery and some days it had enough charge and others not.