You have to be a bit more specific. If there's power when the key is turned to ACC or ON and everything is on, there's power. When you go to turn the key to START and everything goes off and the engine doesn't crank over as it should, the starter might have died though not completely YET. The starter consumes all battery power when you start the car which would explain power going out when you turn the key all the way to start.

Now, if there's COMPLETELY no power, it may be the ignition module itself or a main fuse which should be in a small fuse box right on the positive terminal. But I doubt it'll be a fuse or relay issue.

 

The battery terminals are probably not seated or tightened properly or just dirty, take the battery terminals off, grab some sand paper or a sanding sponge and clean the inside of the terminals where they contact the battery posts until they're nice and shiny again.

I did that the other day, I serviced my own battery and cleaned up the terminals from whatever crap they had, tried to start the car and nothing... not enough power to start the car and the radio kept going off and on, I thought maybe the battery needed to recharge since I had put new water in it so I jumped the car with my battery pack warmed it up and drove around the block for a few minutes, turned it off and no power again. So I took the terminals out and sanded them off to shine again, tightened it properly and I haven't had any problems since and the battery feels like new.

 

Deleted. I read Ren's post but not closely enough. He had already suggested what I wrote.

 

I agree with ren. My car does it from time to time. The positive terminal will slide up over time from all the vibration of reving the shit out of it lol. Turn the key and everything will die. Pop the hood and press down on the terminal and everything will come back.

 

Sorry, no power at all when the key turned to acc or start.

The battery terminals are tight on there, the neg terminal was crusted so I cleaned it off and still nothing. I do have a new terminals in the glove box that I will put on tomorrow, since it was too dark to do tonight. Hopefully that fixes it. If not I just wanted to start getting some ideas on what it could be, since it's my only running car... meh.

 

trust me... do the sanding before you do any terminal changing.

 

Alrighty, will do.

If it's not that I hope it's nothing expensive, since I'm broke as can be

 

In addition to cleaning the battery terminals might want to remove and sand the ground wire connection that goes from battery terminal to the block. I have had the no start condition too and it has always been fixed by cleaning sanding both the battery terminals and cable connectors.

 

Ok I find this odd, the car has been fine since I have owned it besides when the battery died. Then yesterday my girl takes it to work and after work she goes to start it and has no power at all. Then I start to go pick her up and 10 mins later it starts right up. She drives it to my parents house, parks it on the street and turns it off. 15 mins later I get in it and it starts right up so I pull it in the drive to look it over. I take a few mins to look it over and then go to start it with no luck?

So today for giggles I try to jump start it and it starts to crank but not start. So I then get a battery which I know is good from my GTO and put it in there, it starts right up. I shut if off and take the battery out and then take the one that was in the Corolla to have it checked... it's fine, however it will not start the car? So later on today or tomorrow I will take whatever battery will start the car and take it to checker and have them test the alternator.

I sanded down all the terminals today, then if they still looked bad cleaned them with water and baking soda. From what I can tell, the ground and power wire seems to be just fine. So, my guess is to start on the alternator and add a new power wire going from the alternator going to the battery, just cuz.

 

The alternator wouldn't cause the intermittent on/off starting though... if the alternator was the cause you would just have a dead battery period, this sounds more like a wiring problem somewhere.

 

a dead alternator could cause electrical noise and make it not start...

 

I still don't think its the alternator... I'm still aiming for a wire problem somewhere, maybe something is lose.

 

my car started fine with a dead alternator. It died on the way back to my ex's house one time. Somehow managed to finish the trip and get to her house to be able to get another alternator the next day.

The first thing you check when the car won't start is the battery terminals and starter connection. Take the battery and alternator in to get them tested, most parts stores around her can test both for you. From there go to the battery cables if there is still an issue.

But the test would most definetely tell you if either part is the issue, could be the battery as well even though it's new if the alternator is screwed.

 

I actually got my GTO running, kinda... sorta. Which is why I put off the Corolla.

Today I am going to a car audio store if I can't find my extra wiring I had and running new power/ground wires. After that I will put the battery in the car and take it to Checker where a few of my buds work and have them test out the alternator. This way I will know for sure if it's the alternator or not, etc.

 

unfortunately the CSK alternator testers aren't too good....

the "on the car" tester requires the car to be off then turned on......

the out of the car tester obviously requires the alt to be out of the car.... but also isn't a load test and only checks the output of the alt.....

I would know, unfortunately I worked for CSK for a couple years.....

use new terminals and maybe run an extra ground to the trans area (I actually have been known to use one of the starter bolts as a direct grounding location).....

Toyotas are notorious for shutting power off if amperage isn't met (either due to poor grounding or a low battery.... also, if the battery is from CSK have it checked..... CSK batteries kinda suck)

 

Yep yep, I already have new terminals in the glove box, I didn't find any of my 4 guage car audio wire around but a friend of mine is going to bring me some today. I'm just going to do what I normally do when installing big car audio systems, new power wire form alt to battery, then new ground from battery to where the ground is on the car. Then another ground from battery to the frame or wherever would be a good spot for it, I guess the starter bolts is a good location so probably there.

 

I put on new terminals today along with running a new 4 guage power wire and a new 8 guage ground wire. The car starts up much faster and the dome light now works? I guess the next step is just to drive it around and see if the battery goes dead again... if so then it has to be the alt.

 

does anybody have similiar starter problems? i have been able to "clean" terminals in the past but it always got to a point where i had to tap start meaning the starter is getting frozen or something right???

every time i replace my starter the problem goes away for a few months, i finally got a bosch it was the best thing i could find... and now the same thing. only it seems to work better when it's cold out...

my batt is now relocated behind the pass and it has brand new terminals and 4gauge power and ground. my voltage meter shows draw when i try to start so it is still the starter right??? its like as soon as it heat soaks from the block it freezes...

on a hot day i could have the motor running and the starter wouldn't even engage at full juice

 

I had an issue for awhile of my starter clicking, not sure if it's the orginal or not. But all I had to do to it was open up it up and replace one of the contacts inside, if your toyota dealer aren't mentally retarded like the ones here are it's not a hard part to get. Cheap easy better than replacing it.

 

so a contact inside the starter housing needs to be replaced??? can anybody pull a part no.
thanks
i gotta solve this issue before it warms up (gets worse) thank god it's been starting every morning

 

You can only do it with the orginal toyota starter. I think there are variations of the starter that you can't repair yourself either. you went with boshe. My suggestion to you is to run new wires to the starter since you have already replaced it.

 

why would hot weather affect wires?

 

When I first got my Camry the neg cable was slightly cracked (I hadn't noticed) and the car completely died on the highway. It was pretty scary losing all power assist to everything. Has that happened to anyone else before?

Now my 89 all trac is giving me the starter grief too. Gotta clean up the terminals once its warmer than 10 degrees.

 

The car seems to be doing fine after replacing the wires, however I have not taken it out much yet. With the car on the battery is running at 14.07 volts, so apperently the alternator is doing something.

 

the regulator might be bad. getting it rebuilt shouldn't be very expensive i just had my 88 Land cruiser alternator rebuilt for like 60$

 

i had to "tap" start yesterday... i'm really worried about it when the weather warms up it gets worse...