G'day all,

I'm posting this on behalf of a mate, and hoping you learned fellows might be able to offer some advice. :)

My friend managed to run out of petrol about a month ago, and when he filled up again the motor wouldn't turn over. When he told me it wouldn't start I thought he had probably stuffed the fuel pump, but you can hear it working when you turn the key. The engine wasn't turning over at all, and the battery seemed fine so I figured it must be the starter motor. So I removed it and he took it to an autoelectrician who rebuilt it (and said it was pretty shagged). Put the new starter back in and it worked fine, it was a bit laboured on the first start but I put that down to the fact that it had been sitting in the shed for a week or two and the battery had gone a little flat. So problem solved... but over the next few days each time he went to start it, it got progressively harder to start, until this morning when it wouldn't turn over at all.

I tried to jumpstart it, but it still wouldn't turn over at all, it just makes a strange buzzing sound for a second or two when you turn the key to "on" and when you turn the key to "start" absolutely nothing happens. I've checked the battery (which is fairly new) with a multimeter and it seems fine.

I'm running out of ideas here...the rebuilt starter seemed to solve the problem for about 3 days, but it's got pretty much exactly the same symptoms now as before we replaced the starter. The autoelectrician who rebuilt it is a trustworthy guy - I go to him for bits and pieces quite often and he always takes care of me, so i'm at a bit of a loss. I'm wondering if it could be some sort of electrical thing like a relay, etc... the buzzing sound it makes is a bit weird and I can't seem to figure out where it's coming from - sounds like it's somewhere around the fuel injection/intake manifold. But I don't even know if that has anything to do with it, it might have made that sound before and be perfectly normal. The car is the same as in my username - a 4 banger TR.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated... :)

Cheers,

Nick.

Yeah - easy. Starter motor solenoid wasn't properly rebuilt (should have been) or you have some high resistance joints on the way to the solenoid.

Put a relay in (commonly required for older vehicles) and it should fix the issue.

BTW - Make sure that when you crank the engine that you are actually getting (any) volts to the solenoid, or you are up for a new ignition switch.

I'd take it back and get him to have another look for you.

thanks mate, I'll take it back to them - I just thought it might have been something else.

Cheers.

this happened to my mothers 1st gen, she ran it out of fuel, and it was hopping along for a little bit till she got to the servo, she managed to lean the engine out enough to damage the headgasket, and the coolant leaked into the cylinder and over the week while she waited for the starter motor the cylinder/s had siezed, and although it started when she got the starter motor back, the car laboured badly, and after ahalf a dozen starts refused to start again. This engine had 23*,*** on it which probably played the most part

thats worst case scenario

check things like fuel pressure/flow and for a blocked fuel filter

it does sound odd that she isnt even cranking, which sounds startmotor/relay related

check the oil for milkyness/discolouration

goodluck

Lionel

always check the compression on a V6 first

check the coil see if it sparks to the motor then the plugs

undo the dissy cap and see if the rotor is turning

if you have bent a valve

1-the cam wont turn over properly

2-the timing belt may have broken

bit late, but it's all sorted, thanks. It was the solonoid - sparkys fixed it and it cranks very nicely now.

Thanks again.