I have a 1997 Mazda B2300 pickup with 177,000 miles. Manual transmission. Over the past few months it has sporadically (1-2 times per month) exhibited the following problem:
I’ll turn the key to start the engine and the starter will not immediately engage. All of the usual dashboard lights that come on when the key is turned to “ON” do so.
Quite often in such cases I only have time to register that there’s no starter engagement before it kicks in and all proceeds normally - we’re talking a half-second delay after turning the key to “START”, no more. Other times, I’ll have time to release the key and try again. I’ve never had to do this more than twice before the engine started normally.
I do almost all of the work on this thing myself, and would prefer to address this one on my own as well. The potential culprits that spring immediately to mind are:[ul][li]the starter itself (but I don’t hear the solenoid operating, so my first instinct is to doubt this is it)[]the starter solenoid[]the ignition key cylinder/mechanism[]the switch that confirms that the clutch pedal is depressed[]something else[/ul]Obviously, a diagnosis-over-the-internet is unlikely, but can anyone suggest a most likely suspect based on the symptoms? Any easy methods of checking the health of said suspects?[/li]
Like I said, the problem is very sporadic. The frequency of occurrences does seem to be increasing, although the truck has never actually failed to start after a few seconds.
I had a similar problem in my SUV and it turned out to be a starter/solenoid. They are one unit in mine and they may be in yours as well.
Someone explained what happened later on these boards. I remember them saying that there gets to be bad spots on the unit and it won’t start immediately if it last stopped in one of those spots. Instead, each key turn moves it a tiny amount until it isn’t on a bad spot anymore. At first it isn’t so bad then it can get really bad. I sometimes had to turn my key 50 or 60 times before it would start before I got the unit replaced. Now, it is fine.
Your list of suspects is essentially correct, with these corrections: the starter and its solenoid should be considered a unit; and it’s the ignition switch (an electrical part) which is suspect, not the lock mechanism that physically moves it. In general, I would say that 98% of the time it’s the starter, 1.99% of the time it’s the ignition switch, and .01% of the time it’s the clutch safety switch. With automatic transmission vehicles that have a neutral safety switch instead of a clutch safety switch, change those percentages to 93/2/5.
With the specific symptom described, the starter is almost certainly the culprit. To test it, connect a test light to the starter “trigger” terminal (or the wire to it), with the light where you can see it when you start the truck (jumper wires may be needed). You’ll now see the test light glow when the starter cranks. Then if the light ever glows when the starter doesn’t crank, it’s a faulty starter. If the light fails to glow with the key in the “start” position, then similar testing must be conducted on the switches mentioned.