Car won't crank...

I've got an '87 Toyota Corolla FX-16 GT-S. It's a former SCCA car. It's my "When I have the money, I'll run HPDE" car. So for now, it just sits.

I went to move it recently and it wouldn't crank. When I turn the key, there is electrical power, as the dash lights work. The light gets a bit dimmer when I turn the key, but nothing happens. No click, no crank. Just silence. When I first got the car, I would have to wait a second or two after turning the key before anything would happen, but when it did finally crank it fired right up. Now nothing.

Remember, I'm a complete novice on car repairs. Would you suspect solenoid? Starter motor itself? How would I go about checking? Should be fun to get to, the starter is packed in there.

check the voltage at the starter, see if it's getting what it needs to even crank.

Could be as simple as the wire from the starter/solenoid to the switch (key or button...) is disconnected.

Or it could be as bad as the starter is deader than a doornail.

I've seen this on cars that just had a corroded or even loose battery cable connection at the battery.

My capri wouldn't crank sometimes and the new owner told me the alternator had a short.

Congratulations on the purchase of an awesome car!

As stated, check voltage and all connections. If it hesitated to crank before it will be a bad connection, weak battery, or bad starter.

I recently replaced the starter in my FX16. It's easy to unbolt, I just couldn't get it out of the car. Ended up pulling the radiator and exhaust manifold.

Be aware that rebuilt starters tend to suffer from heat soak and will not crank when hot (obviously not the problem now). If it has Toyota starter, it might be best to rebuild it. There are 'how to's' online. You'll need to get parts online too. Running HPDE will definitely put heat into the starter since it sits under the exhuast manifld.

Removed a brand new Bosch starter and replaced it with an old Toyota unit. Heat soak problem is now gone.

i'd check the action on the clutch safety switch, in addition to the other suggestions above.

I'll chime in on bad battery connection. Pull it apart, clean well, grease it up and try again. Hey, it's only a 5 minute try.

How funny this thread came back up today. I just made another post asking about tires for this car.

I haven't had time to mess with the car since I made this post, but I'm about to start. I did check the battery connections and they all look clean. But I'll actually pull it apart and clean it. Like cwh said, it can't hurt.

trucke, Glad to see you said that. When I had the hood open looking at the battery terminals, I was scratching my head looking at the starter. This car has headers on it. The starter is nestled in behind it. On my car, the PO covered the starter with a nice insulation, so I have to take that off. But I can't for the life of me figure how that starter would come out without removing the header...

AngryCorvair wrote: i'd check the action on the clutch safety switch, in addition to the other suggestions above.

I'd likely check it too, because "why not?" but if that were the problem, I wouldn't expect the lights to dim. Something's drawing some decent power, and if the clutch switch was acting up it seems like it shouldn't (unless the wiring is different than I imagine it to be).

i will jump on the clutch switch bandwagon. my rx7 is notorious for this problem!