Hey Everyone.

I am desperately in need of some help here. So recently, my 85 GTS has died and I've been trying to diagnose the problem for the last several days. It definitely seems electrical. It all started one morning when I tried to start the car by turning the key in the ignition and nothing happened. The lights inside came on, but when I turned the key there was no noise at all. Not even the engine trying to turn. It was just quiet. So I thought it might be a low battery so I brought out the jumper cables and jumped the car. It started for a short while, but died shortly after removing cables. Tried it again with a longer charge, but it still died. This led me to think it was the alternator. So took out the old alternator with my battery and took them to my local O'Reilly's and tested them both. They told me battery was good but alternator was bad. So I ordered a 4AG 80A refurbished alternator from a 90s Corolla online and installed it (it didn't fit as smoothly as many people have said on forums). Reinstalled the battery and tried to start the car again, but the same issue. Lights are on, but no turning of the engine. Tried jumping the battery again and the car started, but seemed very weak with a very low idle. It eventually sputtered and died before I even disconnected the jumper cables.

What do you guys think? Could it be time to replace the battery even though the O'Reilly test came back good for mine? I don't want to have to spend money on a new battery unnecessarily. Could it be the starter motor? Any help would be much appreciated.

-Richard

*EDIT: Some info on my car if it's at all helpful. It is a 1985 GTS Hatch that was purchased by me last month and the car has 158K miles. No power steering or AC. Car was running fine before this last week. These problems started a couple days after my car came back from the smog shop where it spent 2 weeks getting repaired and worked on to pass smog. They're a very reputable shop so I don't know if their work had anything to do with this, but it's something to consider I guess. Work done at the smog shop included EGR, MAF, O2 sensor, throttle body.

Guess I'll just have to shell out the cash for a new battery tomorrow. Don't know what else to go on.

I know its a refurbished unit but toss a multimeter on the system and check to make sure the alternator is charging properly first. Realistically speaking you should be able to start a car, disconnect the battery, and run it completely off the alternator. If you cant- Its not charging properly

Not sure if the battery is good, do the headlights work or not? It's as easy as that, whether they dim & go out completely when trying to start it or not.
The alt. is a different & separate problem and is only responsible for charging the battery, not for whether it will start or not.
Search for starter solenoid problems on this & all other forums.

Thanks for all the tips and advice guys. I went ahead and bought a new battery earlier today. Even though my old one passed the O'Reilly test TWICE. After installing the new one, car started up just fine. I feel pretty stupid since it was such a simple fix instead of the super complex problem I made it out to be. But I'll take it. Went for a long drive around town tonight and it felt good. It's great to have her running again. Now onto fixing the little things one piece at a time.

Thanks again.

Glad to hear that seems to have fixed it- But im still concerned about it dieing after you jumped it. Just be wary

SidewaysGts wrote:Glad to hear that seems to have fixed it- But im still concerned about it dieing after you jumped it. Just be wary

Yeah, I was thinking about this too. I will definitely be keeping a close eye on her the next few days.

"Work done at the smog shop included EGR, MAF, O2 sensor, throttle body."
BINGO.
Don't buy a new battery so fast.
I had problems on my car, wher ethe car would run fine, come home fine, park and shut down fine, and then be stone dead the next morning. Plenty of battery, plenty of power ot the starter, engine would spin up smoothly, just not fire, or stumble and quit. It turns out these cars are just smart enough to be dangerous.

During "start" position on the ignition, the fuel safety cut-off circuits are bypassed. In the RUN position, if the ECU does not see a signal from the airflow sensor, it "knows" you've had a crash and there's high pressure fuel about to incinerate you, so it politely shuts down the engine and fuel pump.

The only problem with this logic is that if the ECU doesn't see a good signal from the MAF, it won't let you run an otherwise perfectly good car. Odds are that the smog shop accidentally disconnected a wire, or a wire chafed and came apart as the result of simply being old and getting poked. You might tell that to the shop because either you or they should now check every inch of accursed wires, from the airflow sensor to the fuse box to the ECU, especially where the harness goes through the firewall or there are connecting plugs.

Don't ask me how long it took to find out that can cause "won't restart after sitting overnight" problems.

Battery? Easy enough to test, buying a multimeter, or load tester, or charger, all cheap enough. But I'm betting on the damned wiring.

first thing to do when aquiring a corolla.

1. REPLACE EVERYTHING =D

ryun84 wrote:Thanks for all the tips and advice guys. I went ahead and bought a new battery earlier today. Even though my old one passed the O'Reilly test TWICE. After installing the new one, car started up just fine. I feel pretty stupid since it was such a simple fix instead of the super complex problem I made it out to be. But I'll take it. Went for a long drive around town tonight and it felt good. It's great to have her running again. Now onto fixing the little things one piece at a time.

Thanks again.

The same thing was happening to my car, I tested alternator and battery and they all passed and I even tried a new battery and the car ran with the new battery for a few weeks then the symptoms came back.
My problem was the black/white wire going to the starter from the harness was corroded so the car wouldn't crank but it worked with the new battery for a while then the resistance got too much for the battery to power the starter; so if your problem comes back you can try checking your connection to the starter

ronny wrote:first thing to do when aquiring a corolla.

1. REPLACE EVERYTHING =D

Truer words have not been spoken.

its either replace everything, or just empty your wallet directly into the engine bay.

You guys make it sound like a POS. It isn't.

It was a very cheap car which sometimes means it got bought by new or cheap (or both) owners, who rode it hard and put it away wet. Sometimes it just got bought by cheap owners who knew that a car was cheapest when you didn't skip the maintenance though.

So it only needs money when it was used up by the past owners. And if you check it over carefully before you buy any used car--you don't buy one that's been used up that way.

Not built like a tank, but not a POS that way you can make it sound. Doesn't eat water pumps, or timing belts, or exhausts, or front ends, or anything else the way a POS would. Just an old car, often abused. There was lots of stuff built in the early 80's that was way way worse.