My '85 245 has NEVER let me down.Tonight I went to start it and the key just turned.Didn't turn over at all.All idiot lights came on, voltmeter read 12V,checked the 25amp fuse.How can I tell if it's the starter?
Thanks as usual, Phil
P.S. It's an automatic, so I can't even jumpstart it.
--
pstone

The first thing I would do would be to try a known, good battery. Mine had the same symptoms last year, the guy at NAPA said my battery was good, I switched the battery anyway and it worked like a charm.

maineac?....had this recently on daughters' '87....was a broken wire at the
connector on the firewall.......after the signal goes thru the neutral safety switch, it goes thru the connector(wires running along the firewall, near the
end of the valve cover..)4 or 5 wires go thru the connector, one is yellow/blue
(i think) that goes to the starter solenoid spade connector (#30), this is 12v
to enable the solenoid....if you disconnect the spade connector at the solenoid
and check the wire for 12v while someone tries to start the brick, 12v will tell
you the prob. is in the starter/solenoid....0v tells you it's in the wiring-
neutral safety switch or further back.....you can also...(with some caution)
pull the spade off the solenoid (#30) and jumper 12v from the battery directly
to it ....if it turns over the engine..then your starter/solenoid is ok..
hope this helps......j.

...maineac...

Let's not start the name calling thing. At least I wouldn't do it if I was vermin.......

You can't jumpstart an automatic? That's news to me. I've sure had more than one occasion to jump my Taurus which was an autobox. Sure you can't push start the thing tho.

Aside from the neutral safety switch (jiggle the shifter a bit to see if that helps).. is the battery perhaps bad? It takes a lot less to turn on the idiot lights than it does to crank the starter. Have a friend with a charger? Put the battery on a charger overnight and try to start the car again? Have another car with a known good battery you can try?

- alex

'85 244 Turbo

what about the neutral safety switch? Can you start the car if you jiggle the shifter? In my case, I had to reach across with my left hand and push the shifter towards the passenger side while I started the car with my right hand.

Greg