Help! 1995 Tercel won't start

[Air4ceOne]

I have a '95 Tercel, 4-speed manual transmission. The car has been running perfectly with no problems at all, not even intermittent ones. Went to go to work this morning, and it wouldn't start. It wouldn't even turn over. Turned the key and nothing. All electrical systems light up and are strong. Tried jump starting and nothing. Was able to push start it with the assistance of my neighbors and it ran strong. At least until I shut it off. Then nothing again. Any suggestions?

[Airjer_]

Do you have power at the small wire on the starter with the key in the crank position?

[Air4ceOne]

I don't know, I have no test equipment. I was able to push start it again this morning and took it to the Toyota dealer. The mechanic said it's the solenoid going bad. He said once it gets started and warms up, it'll continue to start. And it did exactly that. It started every time at the dealership.

[ewidder]

I had a bad starter solenoid in my 92 3EE. Sometimes the car would start, other times not, but the starter always clicked (solenoid energized). If your car doesn't click when trying to start, then you have an open circuit condition in the circuit to the solenoid coil. This would be either a bad wiring connection, or possibly the key ignition switch.

In my case, It the problem turned out to be the primary (power) contacts located within the solenoid. Every time you start your car, these power contacts arc and blast small pits in the contact surface. Eventually, this repeated process consumes the contacts almost entirely.

The fix cost me $12 for a pair of contacts. Otherwise, you spend $20-30 for a solenoid, or $60-100 for a rebuilt starter, or pay a mechanic $150-300 to do it.