So was driving the car about 2 streets down to drop a friend off, came to a stop sign and the car completely died. So naturally I go to turn the key on again and there's nothing, no clicking or anything like it's dead as can be. Tried to push it and pop the clutch but that didn't do a thing either. Waited for a friend to come jump the car and after sitting a few minutes the car started up again. So I assumed it was the alternator not charging the battery. Went to O reillys and they tested the alternator a few times and said it's still good (purchased it back in august-september). Also had changed out my battery around the same time but I had the battery tested at autozone anyway and it passed as well. So at this point I'm assuming it's a bad ground so I spend the morning sanding down the paint where the grounds go and re-did them all anyway. Even added a ground from the intake manifold to the firewall just incase. After I did the grounds a buddy came by tried to help me jump start the car again but nothing happened. My headlights still come on. I don't have any illumination on the gauges, no dome light, no nothing. I checked all the fuses on the kick panel and under the hood and none of them were blown. I also changed out the Open circuit relay by the passenger glove box with another good one I had laying around and that didn't do a thing either. I'm starting to think it's comming down to a relay issue or possibly the ignition switch, any help would be greatly appreciated I'm running out of ideas as to what the issue could be.

When you turn the key can you hear the starter solenoid click? If you hear it click but it wont turn over you could have a bad starter. If it doesnt click the solenoid is probably bad.

meifert wrote:When you turn the key can you hear the starter solenoid click? If you hear it click but it wont turn over you could have a bad starter. If it doesnt click the solenoid is probably bad.

nope no click at all

Ok. Sounds like a dead solenoid. You can get a seperate starter button from most parts stores and bypass the solenoid. Hit the button and if it starts replace the solenoid if its seperate from the starter.

meifert wrote:Ok. Sounds like a dead solenoid. You can get a seperate starter button from most parts stores and bypass the solenoid. Hit the button and if it starts replace the solenoid if its seperate from the starter.

dead solenoid on the starter or ignition switch?

Check the fusible links on the battery positive. Make sure you have 12V downstream
from the links on every wire that leaves the battery positive.

Cheers... jondee86

jondee86 wrote:Check the fusible links on the battery positive. Make sure you have 12V downstream
from the links on every wire that leaves the battery positive.

Cheers... jondee86

I was wondering if they could be bad, can you get them at any autoparts stores? i went to o reillys, autozone, advanced couldn't find ones that would fit

jondee86 wrote:Check the fusible links on the battery positive. Make sure you have 12V downstream
from the links on every wire that leaves the battery positive.

Cheers... jondee86

Came here to say the same.

I actually bought replacement fusible links at walmart of all places. I have also seen them at pepboys.

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=530762&cc=1274992

MisterJerk wrote:

jondee86 wrote:Check the fusible links on the battery positive. Make sure you have 12V downstream
from the links on every wire that leaves the battery positive.

Cheers... jondee86

Came here to say the same.

I actually bought replacement fusible links at walmart of all places. I have also seen them at pepboys.

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=530762&cc=1274992

I see, i went to pep boys yesturday and was able to find an 80A fuse, matched it up with the original one i have but the newer one is slightly shorter, also the original one is a little bit wider so the new one doesn't fit right in place, can i possibly bend the prongs to try and make it fit? will that affect anything? also wasn't able to find a 30A fuse but i'll see if i can make it to wal mart to find the 30A one. Aside from that I went ahead and ordered the ignition switch with the connectors on it. I'm hoping it's one of these two things.

I used to have a 240 that did this, it was the connections to the terminals on the battery. I'd double and triple check your ground on the battery and then like jondee said, check at the fuse blocks that you have 12v from the battery there. Hope that helps even to just eliminate possible causes

I found the 30A at an O'Reily's in Austin about a year ago. You might just need to search a few others ... or ask Jonas, he will definitely know where they are hiding in the Houston area.

shagymc wrote:I used to have a 240 that did this, it was the connections to the terminals on the battery. I'd double and triple check your ground on the battery and then like jondee said, check at the fuse blocks that you have 12v from the battery there. Hope that helps even to just eliminate possible causes

I definitely went over this pretty well and everything was fine, i feel like im running out of ideas, replaced the ignition switch and it's still dead, maybe needs to be re-jumped but when i turn the key nothing happens, I ordered the 30A & 80A fusable links they should be here friday morning sometime, im going to change those out and hopefully it does the trick, only other thing i can think of is a starter relay? but would that even explain the lack of power to the inside of the car? (dome light, gauge cluster lighting, etc)

When a whole bunch of electrical stuff, lights etc., go down at
the same time, the first place to look is at the battery terminals
and fusible links. If you have power to some items, headlights or
brake lights for example, then it is pretty safe to say the terminals
will be OK... which leaves the fusible links. Easy enough to test
them for continuity, but replacing them is OK too.

Starter solenoid can be tested by using a spare piece if wire or
even a jumper cable to take 12V directly from the battery positive
to the spade connector that usually brings 12V from the ignition
switch to the solenoid.

Dome light gets its power directly from the 60Amp fusible link.

Cheers... jondee86

jondee86 wrote:When a whole bunch of electrical stuff, lights etc., go down at
the same time, the first place to look is at the battery terminals
and fusible links. If you have power to some items, headlights or
brake lights for example, then it is pretty safe to say the terminals
will be OK... which leaves the fusible links. Easy enough to test
them for continuity, but replacing them is OK too.

Starter solenoid can be tested by using a spare piece if wire or
even a jumper cable to take 12V directly from the battery positive
to the spade connector that usually brings 12V from the ignition
switch to the solenoid.

Dome light gets its power directly from the 60Amp fusible link.

Cheers... jondee86

I see well that would be a first for me since i've never had to replace the fusable links and you mean 80A right? i have the 30A (pink) and the 80A (black), not sure how common they go out but im going to assume these are the original ones from way back then. I ordered them from toyota they should be here friday morning.

Have you used a multimeter at all to test for voltage at the key cylinder?

shagymc wrote:Have you used a multimeter at all to test for voltage at the key cylinder?

didn't have one available so it was a bit of a guessing game unfortunately, finally got the fusable links changed them out, when i go to turn the key finally i see the charge battery light as well as the e brake light on the gauge cluster (they weren't working when the issuse were happening) so I'm hoping it was just the fusable links. I went to turn the key and it was still dead but i'm assuming the battery could be very low from sitting for a decent amount of time. Going to try and jump start it when I can get someone over to lend a hand

well the car finally starts again. I guess maybe a few things went out at different times and it was hard to figure out what was going wrong at certain times, basically bad ignition switch and somewhere inbetween the fusable links went bad, replaced the ignition switch first and waited for the fusable links to get in, replaced them, jump started the car and back in action. Not a fan of things going bad and having the car sit but won't deny when stuff like this happens I suppose it keeps you on your toes and sharp. Anyway much appreciate any help and info that you guys gave me thanks again.

w00t!

nice!