happy monday everyone,

when i was trying to leave for work today, i went out to my 3rd gen and turned the key to start it only to find the engine was not turning over. the electronics and everything worked fine but the engine would not crank. tried again and the starter engaged for a moment but still nothing. i replaced the starter in february so i want to rule that out but i am still going to check the starter regardless.

the real kicker is that when i got home from work in the evening, i decided to see if it would start just for the hell of it, and sure enough it cranked right over like usual and ran just fine, a little rich but nice and strong as it should. so thats where i am a little confused. could i have put in a bad starter or maybe the starter is not consistently getting power? where would be a good place to start? thanks everyone & have a good week.

Battery cables and starter connections clean and tight?

What brand did you replace the starter with? Parts store starters (not OEM) are notorious for dying quickly.

for the starter I would only use Denso...on other vehicles I have had crap luck with autozone and orielley brand starters....but wont use them on my 4runner....only on the chebys and fords in family....but that said. The last Denso reman i had went over 100k.

as spartacus mentioned. check your cables...make sure good , clean and tight.
also check your cables on starter, you want them real clean and tight.
next time your starter wont start, stick a piece of wood in between fender to starter contact and hit it with a hammer....if it starts...its the starter.

and lastly....the grounds going from battery to fender, I remove and clean to bare metal when I get a new 4runner. the one right next to the battery.
there is also a small ground on block that goes up on firewall behind pass side valve cover..clean that connection too....and the next 2 steps...
(a)some people ( and I have in the past) done the big 3 wire , and to be honest, I dont know if that really helped me much....
(b) I ran an extra ground from the battery to the alternator top bolt, last time did this b4 doing the big 3 wire set up, this time that might be all I do. Assures me I have a real good ground for engine...but thats prob overkill and redundant.

Cleaning cables and grounds and adding an extra ground is one of the first things I do with a new to me 4runner...or any friends that have me help with doing anything to thie rig...I take the time to clean grounds and battery positive...of course then they have to re-program radio...wahhh
but like you...I have been stranded b4 due to a poor ground ( not on this 4runner)


oh yeah....checck your starter relay...make sure its clean and tight

As stated check the positive and negative connections first, then the neutral safety switch or see if you are getting voltage at the started relay. You can also bypass/jump the relay and if it turns over you will know it isn't the starter. I had a similar issue where I wasn't getting power to the relay and bypassed/hot wired it for 2 weeks until I could get the issue resolved.

No Power To Starter Relay

update on the runner i confirmed it is the starter that is bad. i checked the battery and got 12.6v and the starter relay was receiving power as well. i made sure the starter connections were tight and secure and still no start so i tested the starter and sure enough it was barely spinning. it is NOT an oem denso starter so i have learned my lesson there. the one time i don’t use an oem replacement it bites me in the a$$. looks like ill be waiting til i get paid to drop in a new starter…probably going to do the external trans cooler so i can haul stuff without burning my trans fluid. thanks for all the help it is greatly appreciated. have a safe 4th of july!