"98 Legacy -Starter won't turn over if I have foot on brake

[vintagejoe]

Anyone ever experienced this?

As soon as I remove foot from brake, car starts fine.

Ya, I know--- duh "then just develop the habit of keeping foot off brake when starting"

I'M just asking and wondering if this is a sign of an imminent starter failure.

Thank you

[BoostedLegacy]

Thats pretty weird. That sounds like your not getting enough power. Try running some interior lights, radio, or something else to draw power and see if it has the same effect.

[johnceggleston]

Anyone ever experienced this?

As soon as I remove foot from brake, car starts fine.

Ya, I know--- duh "then just develop the habit of keeping foot off brake when starting"

I'M just asking and wondering if this is a sign of an imminent starter failure.

Thank you

 

maybe has something to do with neutral cutout switch or something similar that's gone bad.

 

try starting it in neutral with your foot on the brake.

[Cougar]

I assume you are saying the starter motor dosen't work when you have the brake pedal pressed. If that is correct then check for a bad ground connection. A bad ground between the battery and frame could cause this. When the brake lights are on and the current is running through a bad ground connection this will cause a voltage drop across the bad connection. When you then try to use the starter solenoid there is too much voltage drop across the bad connection and the solenoid can't turn on due to the reduced current that can flow through that bad connection.

 

One easy thing you can do to prove this is to tie a fairly heavy jumper wire between the negative battery post and the frame. Then see if it works. Be sure to clean the battery post connections also as the problem may be right there.