[Mk2] [NA] Starter motor sound, but engine not turning over, HELP!

[smashing666]

Hi all,

Just went to start the car this morning and it initially started very rough and after a second or two died. When I went to crank the engine again, all I got was what I believe to be the sound of just the starter motor. The car has been sat on the drive all weekend as I was stripping the interior, so I can't really think of what went wrong with it. Would it be related to any modules inside the cabin which would control the contact of the starter motor to the crank? I've rolled the car about a foot off the drive to make sure it hasn't lost a tooth or something, but I still get the same rattly starter motor sound.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Julian

[Protok]

You may have knocked a fuse somehow by messing with the interior but that is unlikely.
I'd have a look at the usual suspects; distributor and coil pack.

Did you hear the fuel pump or spark?

[smashing666]

Didn't have time to check fuelling or spark. You know these engines better than myself, but my thinking is that if the engine isn't even turning over, it's not related to spark or fuelling? (correct me if I've said something daft hehe)

I was thinking that the pinion on the starter motor could have stripped, which would result in just the start motor spinning when I tried to crank the engine, but that wouldn't really explain why it initially started very rough before it died!

Ahhhh. I'll be able to check it again at 5 30

[MartinF]

When you're cranking the engine can you see if the pulleys are actually rotating.

It may be that the starter is not engaging for some reason.

[smashing666]

I'm 95% sure pulleys aren't moving when I'm cranking. But I'll have to confirm this when I remove the cam cover at some point today.

Totally unrelated, but I did remove the battery for the whole weekend, and replace the stock srs steering wheel for an aftermarket one, but I highly doubt that could have had any impact on this problem?

[MartinF]

You don't need to remove the cam cover to see if things are turning, just look at the crank pulley and\or alternator belt whilst somebody cranks it.

[smashing666]

So... just had a look at it at lunch; It looks like I was mistaken and the engine is turning over, just not firing. I didn't have much time to diagnose the problem but I popped out one of the spark plugs and grounded it on the cam cover and it appears to have spark (although very weak). Can't hear the fuel pump prime when I switch the ignition on, but then again, I've never really noticed them prime.

I didn't have the time to pull apart part the fuel system to see if its got fuel. What's a quick way to determine whether its fuelling as I'm starting to think that it could be that as that would explain why it initailly started at the beginning of the day before coughing out (the remaining bit of fuel in the lines before it ran dry?)

Also, would this be linked to an alarm/immobiliser issue (it's a standard toyota unit). Would the diagnostic tell me anything if I managed to find one somewhere to plug in?


Any help would be appreciated

[bobhatton]

Hi all,

Just went to start the car this morning and it initially started very rough and after a second or two died. When I went to crank the engine again, all I got was what I believe to be the sound of just the starter motor. The car has been sat on the drive all weekend as I was stripping the interior, so I can't really think of what went wrong with it. Would it be related to any modules inside the cabin which would control the contact of the starter motor to the crank? I've rolled the car about a foot off the drive to make sure it hasn't lost a tooth or something, but I still get the same rattly starter motor sound.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Julian

Did you unplug any cables or pull any wires? I would check the fuel pump cables

[smashing666]

Didn't unplug anything, might have gently touched afew when taking off/putting on trim but nothing looks out of place. I did have a look at a little black box with Toyota security system written on it on the rear of the cabin with a little rubber dial on it which I thought was to do with the volume of the alarm. All the wires seem fine though.

Do these cars have a fule cut off switch I may have triggered when shaking the car to get the steering wheel off, or when removing the battery or spare wheel?

Thanks

[smashing666]

P.S. I've connected +B and FP in the diagnostics connector and I can hear the pump working, which I couldn't hear otherwise. Unfortunately it still doesn't start this way. Ideas?

[smashing666]

Car has just started. Not sure what did it..which is worrying