I'm very familiar with the ford relay trick. I drove old air cooled vw busses for years and they all had voltage drop problems at the starter solenoid.
Never had that problem in any other vehicle... so thank you for pointing me in that direction!!!
I used to have to run the starter in old bus (i was really young) with a screwdriver quite often to get it to start (before i knew about the relay trick). I'd just bridge a screwdriver between the + and - posts of the starter and run the starter for a second and then she'd start right up. I climbed up underneath my little celica to do the same but I didn't see a negitive post to bridge to (I was in a rush, digging through cobwebs under there, and was using my phone as a flashlight). Can I run the starter motor without engaging the solinoid by bridging the + to the starter body?
I also would have jumped the + to the solenoid quick to bump it, but the connection is buried under the plastic connection.
