My 1999 Corolla was having starter issues. Typical "click click" and no start. Sometimes it would take 1 try and others 7-10. Prior to me being able to replace the starter, my daughter was driving the vehicle on the highway when the car completely died. Prior to it shutting down, the gauges went nuts. When it died, it died hard. No power at all and smoke coming from under the hood.

I had it towed home and began looking around. Found the the starter had melted down visible by the chunks of melted material on the oil filter. Today I replaced the starter and charged the battery (which was completely dead). As soon as I put the leads on the battery, the starter began turning over without the key in the ignition. Tried it one more time to verify and got the same result.

Next thing I did was remove the ignition wire from the starter and then hooked up the battery. The starter did not try to turn over. Climbed into the vehicle and I had all power (lights, stereo, etc). As soon as I connected the ignition switch, the starter once again began turning over.

The question is, do I have a bad ignition switch or is the wiring to the starter shorted? If it's the wiring, I'm out of my league and will need to tow it to the shop. If it's the ignition switch, great, I can do that. But if I change the ignition switch and it doesn't work, then I'm out the cash for the switch and still have to tow it. Dilemmas dilemmas...

Any advice would be MUCH appreciated. Thanks guys