85 Corolla Fwd Problem

[mr2dreamer]

hello.

i'm very new to knowing anything about cars beyond that turning the little key makes the car go, so please bear with my ignorance.

i'm having a problem with my old 85 corolla (inherited from my grandmother, who supposedly always took very good care of it). sometimes when i turn the key, i get absolutely nothing, not even dashboard lights. other times (even a few seconds later) it will start as normally as it always does. four weeks ago i took it to a shop just asking them to find the problem. they said that i needed a new neutral safety switch (along with a new turn signal switch, which had happened to fail on the way to the shop), and replaced it. since then, no recurrence of the problem.

until today. this morning i once again got nothing when i turned the key. a minute later i tried again, and it started just fine. after i got to school, i accidentally left my lights on while i was in class (i know, n00b ), so when it wouldn't start i thought i had simply drained the Battery. a teacher gave me a jump, and it once again started just fine.

but i don't think it's a dead Battery because it failed that morning before i had left my lights on, and because i was able to start it up several more times hours after i got home, which my dad says shouldn't have been possible if my Battery was dead.

i'd greatly appreciate any feedback any of you might have on what may be causing this. any thoughts?

[TheNissanMan]

I had this problem until recently and thought it was normal as a few MR2 owners experience the same thing, turn the key nothing, turn to off give a few secs and then normal...

I hada bizarre thought as he office alarm has a fob that looks like a cat2 immobilser thingy which you keep with the keys, I removed that and now starts first time every time...

Don't know if you havea fob but that could cause interference, otherwise it appears to be quite common on older Toyota's....

Oh BTW, welcome to the club. Only stupid question is the one left unasked so don't worry about asking any questions you may have, I'm sure there are enough peeps on here who would be more than happy to help, we don't bite and have been known on occasion to be quite friendly.

And BTW why dream of an MR2, you can pick a Mk1 up for 31k if your lucky, a good condition Mk1 Supercharger for £2.5k and a Mk2 for £3.5k up, they're not really that expensive :D :D :D