Ok i drove up the road to drop some movies i rented off. turned the car off, left the lights on windows open but car off, dropped off movies, 10 secs later, get in car and it wont start! I turn the key and all that happens is i hear a little click from a warning light come on. its the brake light above the park brake light to the right of the speedo. both the charge and oil lights are on when car is in AC mode. Battery is fine, lights are bright and stereo pumps loud. tried to jumpstart it but to no avail. checked the oil( had checked it 2 days before and was just on the empty E, so i bought some oil that day. checked the oil when it didnt start and it was barely at the bottom of the dipstick. I recently washed my car at a brushless carwash and i think i blasted a stream of water under the hood thru the grill. all the leads and distributer seem fine. one thing i think it might be, but I'm not to sure what the part is, its the little white bar that comes off the ignition coil, one time a while bak one of terminals became loose and my car would turn off in the middle of the road or not start unless it was firm. it seems pretty rusted now.

 

I havnt had time to look at it properly yet, and i broke down at night last night. I have the morning off tomorrow so hopefully you guys can tell me what to check for and i can get into it. Also it might be the starter motor? or the engine blew? I read in my workshop manual. But the car started so smoothly when i started it to take it up the road and it turned off like normal with no loud bangs or anything. I did stall it on purpose a couple of times a few nights to annoy a mate in a carpark, could that have had something to do with it? Ive got no idea, has anyone else had problems like this before? distibuter cap, rotor, leads and plugs are all under a year old as well.

Ok i drove up the road to drop some movies i rented off. turned the car off, left the lights on windows open but car off, dropped off movies, 10 secs later, get in car and it wont start! I turn the key and all that happens is i hear a little click from a warning light come on. its the brake light above the park brake light to the right of the speedo. both the charge and oil lights are on when car is in AC mode. Battery is fine, lights are bright and stereo pumps loud. tried to jumpstart it but to no avail. checked the oil( had checked it 2 days before and was just on the empty E, so i bought some oil that day. checked the oil when it didnt start and it was barely at the bottom of the dipstick. I recently washed my car at a brushless carwash and i think i blasted a stream of water under the hood thru the grill. all the leads and distributer seem fine. one thing i think it might be, but I'm not to sure what the part is, its the little white bar that comes off the ignition coil, one time a while bak one of terminals became loose and my car would turn off in the middle of the road or not start unless it was firm. it seems pretty rusted now.

 

I havnt had time to look at it properly yet, and i broke down at night last night. I have the morning off tomorrow so hopefully you guys can tell me what to check for and i can get into it. Also it might be the starter motor? or the engine blew? I read in my workshop manual. But the car started so smoothly when i started it to take it up the road and it turned off like normal with no loud bangs or anything. I did stall it on purpose a couple of times a few nights to annoy a mate in a carpark, could that have had something to do with it? Ive got no idea, has anyone else had problems like this before? distibuter cap, rotor, leads and plugs are all under a year old as well.

Is the engine turning over? is it manual or Auto.?\

not turning over. nothing at all happens when i turn the key besides the warning light for brake coming on. car is manual.

not turning over. nothing at all happens when i turn the key besides the warning light for brake coming on. car is manual.

starter motor fault, either a wire off, faulty starter solenoid or short brushes.

Make sure the car is in neutral with the hand brake on. with the ignition switched off short the terminals shown with a screw driver. if it cranks your wiring is faulty, if not remove starter and send for repair.

ok thanks alot! ill get to pull me tools out and have a play tomorrow :P hope it goes well.

By the way, that little white bar thing below your coil is a Ballast Resistor. It's used to bring coil voltage down to around 9V instead of the standard 12-14V you get from a car battery. Should only cost a couple of bucks from your standard parts place (Supercrap, Repco etc) to replace

I'd just hit the starter with a hammer....it will work.

 

Then buy a new one :P

I'd just hit the starter with a hammer....it will work.

 

Then buy a new one :P

 

 

lol this actually works well. my freind had a corona wagon with a dodgy starter. he always carried a hammer.

Or use a wheel brace

Hey I had the same problem and it was only the ground wire for the battery...it will act up sometimes and sometimes not...any way the cable was loose and battery ports dirty...replaced the wire cleaned the ports and presto.....no more problems. Hope it works for you.

If it goes from fine to just a click at random times, then its a bad ground. Put some big cables from starter to battery, body to block, battery to body and sand under them so theres good metal-metal contact. This will fix it.

edit** my grounds are all good. espescially from my batt.

 

yeh my grandad used to do that for a magna wagon too haha. he has this long bar he taps with a hammer when it doesnt start up.

 

i just got bak in from stuffing around with it. couldnt get it to kick over by shorting that terminal. what is that little cube that comes from the battery and has a few terminals on it. Its what makes the clicking sound and it sounds the same when i took the clip off to short the two terminals together as KE30 KE35 KE55 told me to do. I put my multimeter onto that little cube (is it a relay?) and the only point on it with a charge was the one directly connected to the battery. one was a ground and i don't know what the other 2 were for, but they didnt have a charge when i switched the key, lights or radio. Does it definantly sound like the starter motor?

Edited December 10, 200718 yr by Calam05

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Edited May 24, 200818 yr by Sbox

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Edited May 24, 200818 yr by Sbox

Strange. I have a similiar problem too. But I am pretty sure it's my battery. I put a racing 700cc battery into me ke55 just to start it up. I had to jumpstart it first to get it going, finally it went after a few goes. I drove around for around 10 minutes and then I stalled it coming out of reverse and it would not start up again, trying jump starting etc. All I would hear is a weird clicking noise over by the carbie area, I'm pretty sure mine just needs a new battery.. though I will test it out when I get a new battery =]