help with a 1984 B2000 turning over

[avespdx]

Hi Folks,

We have a 1984 Mazda B2000 short bed, 2.0 5 speed. It works great (mostly) and still gets 27mpg around town.

Here's our problem.

When we go to start the truck, it won't crank ... like the battery is dead. The battery is brand new. So is the starter. We had both checked out.

It takes 7 - 10 cranks, with very little turn over (if any), before, on the 10th crank, it turns over and starts fine

The started has been inspected twice. It was replaced in April 2007. This all started after we had a tune up, and they adjusted our timing. We had the timing looked at again, and our local shop claimed it was set fine. It does idle well too when it's finally running.

We're trying to figure out, why do we have to crank it 10 times (all the way forward, and all the way off), just to get it to take that one time?

The starter shop looked at it twice, and say it's fine, it's the timing. The Tune up shop said, timing is fine, it's the starter (argh). Could it be something else? A ground? Battery and charging system are new too (new tune up in June). Could be be a coil, bad distributor or timing still?

Any suggestions?

thanks,
pdxb2k