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Jim
Grant has been working in the automotive industry for over twenty
years. In addition, Jim is an ASE Master Technician with advanced
L/1 certification. He works as manager and technician in his
family's automotive business in New Hampshire. He writes weekly
automotive consumer columns and is editor of an automotive newsletter
that is circulated throughout North America. |
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Jim Grant's Tech Tips '91 Toyota Corolla
Q:
My
"91 Toyota Corolla has a problem. When the car is running it’s
fine but when you turn it off it will not restart; nothing no noise. My
dad took it to his mechanic. This was not a good thing. This guy changed
the timing belt, computer, starter and the wiring harness to the starter.
We also replaced the battery. Still have the problem exists but if you
jump the car with cables, it turns right over!
-
Tom
A:
Tom,
you’re right, it was not a good thing changing all those parts without
a diagnosis first. Most of those parts that were replaced have not thing
to do with the starting/cranking over of the engine. The starting system
in your Toyota is a very simple system and has but a few requirements
to crank the engine to life. It needs a good power supply, ground and
a signal to tell the starter to crank the engine. With booster cables
on the vehicle, you’re providing a power supply. If you can turn
the key and the starter cranks the engine over then the signal to the
starter and the ground are good as well. This brings us back to the original
problem why won’t the starter work with the vehicle’s battery?
You have a bad connection. For some reason the power from the battery
is not getting to where it has to be. Because booster cables do work but
the battery doesn’t, I’d be looking very closely at the battery
terminals. There has to be a corrosion or connection issue. I suggest
finding a tech that has a little better understanding of electron flow.
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