Hello, I have a 97 corolla manual with around 115k (kms) and was fine for startups till day before yesterday. It has happened twice that when i start it up in the morning, The dash lights and seatbelt beep lights would turn on (very normal), i could hear the starter go a round and stop. when i turn the ignition off and turn it on again it would start. Once i drive the car a little bit - this problem doesnt bother me and the starter seems to be just fine after the first attempt but everytime i let it stand for a while and restart i run into starting issues. I donot really drive it very often ! What could this be !? Am i looking at big $$$ to fix this ? please advice ? thanks.

I'm having a very similar problem with my '95. I have been told that it is probibly the starter, but there is real reason that the problem would be spurratic if it was the starter. Unless your getting dead batteries its probibly not the alternator or battery. I have noticed that if I leave it in the on position for ~10 seconds prior to starting it starts easier. A refurbished starter will cost you ~$90, which you can put in yourself but that may not be the problem. The only other things I think it might be are the celenoid($?), or the ignition switch ($65new, $15junkyard). Reguardless of what it is I dont think that you are going to have to fork over a large ammount of $$, unless you are trying to replace every part in the system.

I had a similar problem. In the morning it would start up fine, but in the afternoon I would start it up it would be OK, but if I immediately turned off the engine and tried to restart it it wouldn't. It was time anyway so I changed out the spark plugs, wires and battery and haven't had that problem since.