Question-------------------------
Followup To
Question -
I have a 1993 Tercel, base model w/manual transmission. Recently the car has developed a no-start problem: 95-98% of the time it starts right up without a hitch; other times there is a click and all the dash lights come on full but the engine does nothing. One night I got stuck for nearly a half hour, and sometimes the key didn't want to turn and/or it felt like the tumblers in the ignition lock were shifting. Took it in the next day, explained the start problem; the shop checked it, said the key was hard to insert/turn sometimes and replaced the ignition lock/switch.
Next day, *exact* same problem as before. The shop claims I "told them" to replace the ignition cylinder--as if *I'm* the mechanic.
The strange thing is that if I jiggle the key (the brand-new one), pushing it in further or pulling it out slightly, the car turns over and starts beautifully. This is without doing anything else differently. Also, sometimes the brand-new key acts like it doesn't want to go in the brand-new lock (have to push it), and when it does that the car won't start. If the key goes in easily it will start right up. The shop sprayed some graphite in the new ignition lock, but that hasn't made any difference; it's still resistant at times and smooth at others. I suggested perhaps the new switch was faulty, but the shop immediately dismissed the possibility without checking or even considering it.
The shop now says I need a new starter, which may be the case, but I'm a single parent who has already put out $180 for an ignition lock/switch that did nothing to solve the problem, and now they want another $200 for a starter. Why would the starter AND the ignition switch go at **exactly** the same time? And what if replacing the starter *still* doesn't fix the problem? Please help!
Answer -
First of all the ignition switch problem needs to be fixed before they can blame the starter, you need to be able to turn the key to make the starter start the engine, I don't know what they screwed up installing the new ignition switch but there is something wrong here, the new switch comes with a new key but most of the time the new key is different and won't work in the door locks, most people would like to have one key work in the ignition and also all the other locks this requires the new ign lock to be taken apart and rekeyed to the old key, I don't know if they did this but if so it wasn't done correctly, does the key work in the other locks with no problem?
The bottom line is that they charged you to fix the problem and didn't do a very good job or they missed something, they need to make the key work correctly before condemning the starter as the problem.
Reply:
They did not key the new ignition lock to the doors or vice versa; I now have one key (old) for the doors and gas cover and one (new) for the ignition. Not a problem, as long as the car starts and runs properly. What I've discovered over the last few days is that if I put the key in the ignition *just right* and turn it *just right* the car starts right up. I can virtually predict whether it will start or not by the way the key goes in and how it feels in the lock--and in my opinion it shouldn't be so "dicey." The next problem will be trying to convince the shop that they need to do something about the ignition lock; they're known to be very honest and all that, but as I said, they didn't react too well when I suggested the problem might be theirs and not the starter's.
When the guy at the shop (who has specialized in Toyota repairs for like 30 yrs) tried it out with me standing there, he did all this mechanic-stuff to start it, like turning the key and holding it in the On position while he pushed in and let off the clutch a bunch of times, turned the key off and on, etc. -- it started about 18 times out of 20. That's when he said it was the starter, but my thought is that he may have either slightly moved the key into its "bad" position for those few no-starts or just didn't turn it the "right way" which resulted in the no-starts. Does this sound plausible?
Is there some way to determine *for certain* whether it's the starter or not--preferably something I myself could do? Even a computer diagnostic or something so that I can know for sure whether the starter needs replacing, *before* I spend more money I really can't afford to spend right now. Thanks so much for all your help!!!
AnswerI guess that there may be a problem with the starter, I just don't know where else to go with this, starter problems are somewhat common on these models, there is no computer diagnostic system that checks the starting system, my advice is that if it starts 18 out of 20 times wait until you can afford to replace the starter or take it to a Toyota dealer to diagnose the problem. Sorry, but that's all the help I can be at this time.
