Celica Gt 2.0ltr Gen 6 Won't Start!

[AJ_Celica]

Hi All,

I have owned my Celica GT for about 7-8 months, have already done approx 8-9 thousand miles and it has been 100% reliable until about a month ago when for the first time, it failed to start first turn of the key. (Car is used daily and has excellent Battery etc). On second attempt it started as normal and I thought no more of it.

It continued to start first time for about another week and a half and then it happened again. Again it started on second attempt with no other problems.

I thought that maybe the immobiliser had failed to disarm as to me it didn't seem to be firing at all.

One week later I'm on the way back from somewhere with my girlfriend and the car suddenly cuts out as I'm driving!!!! I managed to coast into a layby, armed and then disarmed the alarm and it started (took 3 attempts), and run all the way home with no futher issues, no miss firing etc. I then looked at the toyota alarm manual and it said that there is a saftey circuit that makes it impossible for the immobiliser to arm itself while the engine is running so it seems that shouldn't be the problem?

Car continues to run for another few days without issue until I try to start it again and it appears to be firing on only one or two cylinders but eventually starts and as usual runs perfectly normal with no power loss or anything.

About 2 nights ago I go out to start it to take my girlfriend to work and it fails 100% to fire despite many tries. I tried the alarm on/off trick but nothing. Dead. It hasn't started or even fired on any cylinder since, (3 days now). Engine turns over just fine but it just won't fire/start. Tried several times since in last 2-3 days and it's the same. Battery is starting to run lower now but still plenty to start it if it only would fire.

Looked at the alarm/immobiliser resetting thread here and tried a few things with the keyfob (mine is a black round one with 3 buttons?) but nothing changed and still won't start so I don't think it's anything to to with the alarm system etc?

Maybe I should add that here in South Wales, U.K. we have just had a month of quite heavy rain followed by snow and for the last 3-4 nights very very cold freezing nights. I don't think it's weather related myself as it was starting and running just fine in heavy rain/frost and snow but thought I should mention it anyway.

Any veteran Celica GT 2.0ltr Gen 6 (1993) owners here have any ideas what it could be? I really hope it's nothing too expensive.....sigh

Thanks for any advice or info as I really need to have the car in daily use so if I can't solve it, it will have to go into a garage very soon.

Andy

[Scarlett Arrow]

Not an expert myself Andy, but I do know of one not a million miles away. A guy called Rhys based at Cardiff Road Garage in Mountain Ash is a former Toyota technician. Got to be worth a call :)

[AJ_Celica]

Wow, 131 views and only one reply (Thanks btw :D ). too funny LOL.

Anyway, turns out I was more or less right in my own assumption that it had something to do with the immobiliser system. The car has an expensive Cat 1 alarm running alongside Toyotas own standard alarm system. It's this one that was causing the car not to start. It immobilises the fuel pump and just about anything else that can start the engine, and the fuel pump was the "problem" area. It wasn't disarming that part. Took it to a local garage (I know them well, and they're good), and they "discovered" the problem and with them testing everything and "fiddling" around with the wiring and connections etc it righted itself and is now back to it's first time, everytime starting :D The downside is of course it could at some point happen again in future so I just hope if it does I am not too far from home again ;) The garage informed me that it is a very complex and expensive alarm and that it's "into" just about everything lol. It cost £75 just for the labour alone so if it ever happens again I will ask them to disconnect it from the fuel pump and wire a live feed to it from part of the ignition circuit of the loom so that it's always running with the ignition on. Just thought I would update any of you interested in this thread. Thanks.

Andy :)