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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

Clifford Alarm issue .... or the car itself ?


keith 73tt

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hi Folks,

 

So I went to start the car yesterday morning and with the key fully turned - i did as i usually have to do and press the fob to get get all lights up on the dash and lift off !

The battery is brand new and i checked the voltage for good measure.

There is just a loud ' click ' in the engine bay local to the turbos....sounds like a relay engaging or maybe the starter motor ?

 

There was a decent clifford alarm in the car when i got it and it has never given me any jip , it has anti hijack and all that lark.

I dont know enough about alarm/immobilisers or the car if im being honest to have any idea what the issue is here...

 

i attached 2 pics...the red arrow indicates the area the clicking is coming from.

 

thanks in advance for any help.

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Sorry lads the pics wouldnt upload.

 

thanks for the replies, the battery is only 1 month old and is reading 12.5 volts when I stick a multimeter on it.

i will try to jump it with a booster pack just for good measure.

 

maybe it is the starter motor as Squiffy suggested.

 

i think i will need to throw an auto electrician at it :rolleyes:

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Bad earth.

 

cheers Pete, yeah somebody else actually said that to me...

my dash is bringing up a full display of lights as it typically would just before start up..

but ive noticed the amber light that indicates a brake light bulb gone is staying on .

 

where would you start looking for a bad or broken earth ? sorry if that's a stupid question... im not half as hands on as most of you guys on here !

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Start with the battery positive - that’s what has been disturbed ,the positive supplies - the alarm,the car ignition , and the starter motor , all three need a good positive connection -

 

cheers mate, so just give to clamp on the lead a good filing to remove any possible corrosion you mean ?

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cheers Pete, yeah somebody else actually said that to me...

my dash is bringing up a full display of lights as it typically would just before start up..

but ive noticed the amber light that indicates a brake light bulb gone is staying on .

 

where would you start looking for a bad or broken earth ? sorry if that's a stupid question... im not half as hands on as most of you guys on here !

 

Needs a good connection to crank it. I had a fail in a supermarket carpark a few years back - called the RAC and he came and undid and reconnected one of the big earth straps - job done.

 

As said above - if the person fixing disconnect the battery maybe the cables were disturbed.

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http://www.dragoncaraudio.co.uk

 

They are quite a way from you but these guys are spot on with Clifford. The owner used to own a Supra and was a member on here years ago.

 

Might be worth a shout, thanks for the share.

 

My mate ended up selling his car because of one. Clifford alarms are w@nk. Same problem as OP too, battery would die every few days.

 

Yea same issue here. It’s just a pain in every way. The only good thing with them was the remote start and letting it warm up in the morning fully defrosted but I’m not fussed about that anymore as I don’t use it in the winter.

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FYI Clifford’s are crap. Mine is currently having issues and no one wants to touch it

 

I've been really impressed with My Concept 600 and had no issues at all.

I love having the Cliffnet Wizard software to customise my install, auto wind up windows, cold remote start - all that jazz.

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Thanks for all the feedback guys.

 

I had an auto elec look at it and straight off the bat he tells me its the starter motor .

Then he said he couldnt confirm that was the problem because he couldnt get access to it....said the car was too low !

unable to drive the car up onto ramps and not be able to get a trolley jack underneath leaves me in a bit of a pinch ....

 

anywho , the blame then switched to the clifford immobiliser to which he said there no way for sure and recommended he just rip it out and stick in a new alarm for me for 500 quid.

 

Is this just laziness on his part or should i bite the bullet and get the alarm changed out.

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Sounds like the starter motor to me. Loud click being the solenoid, it's fairly common on the supra for the solenoid contacts to fail over time.

I have the same issue with one of my supras being too low to get a jack under it, i drive it the front wheels onto a couple of pieces of 2x4 planks of wood and the jack goes under ok then.

You can buy the solenoid repair kit from toyota for £20ish, takes a couple of hours at worst to remove, fix and refit the starter motor. I've done it a couple of times now on supras.

http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?51682-How-To-Overhaul-starter-motor-contacts

Edited by Marty (see edit history)
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Sounds like the starter motor to me. Loud click being the solenoid, it's fairly common on the supra for the solenoid contacts to fail over time.

I have the same issue with one of my supras being too low to get a jack under it, i drive it the front wheels onto a couple of pieces of 2x4 planks of wood and the jack goes under ok then.

You can buy the solenoid repair kit from toyota for £20ish, takes a couple of hours at worst to remove, fix and refit the starter motor. I've done it a couple of times now on supras.

http://www.mkivsupra.net/vbb/showthread.php?51682-How-To-Overhaul-starter-motor-contacts

 

We did that, same issue.

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Sounds very much like the starter contacts are burnt. Once the motor is off (10 minutes on a ramp, with the right sort of wobble impact socket and long, very long, wobble extension or ages and a trip to A & E for skin grafts if done on the floor), they are easily changed, I keep kits in stock. A multimeter and access to the starter terminals on the car is all that's needed to verify if this is the issue.

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