hey guys(and girls) -
now that is gotten colder out here in ohio my starter has been acting up . some time it will start and sometimes it wont. it will just click(relay) and click and then eventually start, so im thinknig brushes worn out, ok well i get a reman one from autozone. luckly my neighbor saved me some money autozone wanted 175 for a reman.

i recently did an r&r on my 89 3.0 starter. all in all it wasnt a bad job tought little space yes but enough to work in, well my neighbor is a toyota master tech and he offered to "rebuild" the starter i have(original i believe). so once i pulled it out and cleaned it the best i could i dropped it off to him.told him to replace what was bad and let me know what it cost me, he said cool ill have it back to you in a couple days. so i get home from work 2 days later and the starter is back sweet! he told me all that was bad was the brushes everything else looked fine(not sure if he bench tested it or not)

well on to today, i cleaned up all the connections as good as i could and reinstalled it back into the truck,with the help from my mom's boy friend. hooked up the battery and it fired 1st time just as my neighbor suspected. so i turned it off and restarted it , it fired again. so i did it once more and it fired right up im thinking sweet i can put the celica away finally(snows starting to fall) wel a few hours later i went back out and nothing! nothing at all! same issue as before.

does anyone here have any ideas ? im gonna try and track down the wiring diagrams tomorrow. the truck does have a remote start that was professionally installed talked to them and they said its nothing to do with that(the remote start has been installed for years)so please try not to condem that as the culprit right away.

thanks for your help, hope i get it working right before the snow really hits

Tom

Most of the starter issues as you described are due to the starter contacts wearing out, which causes the clicking sound when the plunger is making contact.

I was ready to change the contacts. I tried to get the starter out of a '94 truck 2WD V6 automatic with no luck--got it loose and off the bell housing. But there just wasn't enough space to get the whole thing out. The shop said they had to tilt the engine, which I'm guessing they lifted the engine slightly after loosening the passenger side engine mount to drop the starter.

Try these two links,
Toyota/Chrysler/Mitsubishi - Nippon Denso Starter Solenoid Repair
Starter Contact Repair

If it's not the contacts, then you're out $10 for contacts. Worth trying first IMO. The other could be the starter relay.

Contacts are a common problem. The 3.4L V6 is notorious for having the contacts wear out in the starter. They should have been replaced in a rebuild, though, if your friend did a complete job. The plunger is another wear part inside the starter that also would have been due to be replaced.

When the contacts are bad, you can turn the ignition key and hear a click like a relay has been turned on, but the starter doesn't crank in response. It's seemingly random; you can turn the key once and nothing, and then turn it again and things are fine.

Another thought is a loose/bad wiring connection either at the starter or at the battery.

I would disconnect the remote starter for troubleshooting (just to rule it out) until you solve the problem.

That's exactly what it is doing. Went out before bed just to try again and it fired right up

Thanks I will look into the relay today and check all my voltages and grounds.
I actually found those links a couple of days ago helped me figure out how to get it out

Just so were on the same page- the contacts and "brushes" are the same thing rigt?

No, the brushes give voltage to the starter motor commutator. The contacts are part of the solenoid system which pulls a copper washer across two contacts which gives 12 volts from the battery to the motor.

Hmm ok well its been a while since I've messed with an inside of a starter. Once I get it back out again ill take it apart and see if those got replaced. If not ill order em form my dealer

ok well its started every time now since i posted this.....but then it decided not to when i went to leave work. luckly my fiance was still awake so she came a got me. also looked in the toyota epc and theres no "contacts" listed just brushes for the starter and a brush holder.

heres what i found so far
http://http://www.toyotapartszone.com/online/Page_Product/PartDetail.aspx?model=4RUNNER,TRUCK&year=1989&catalogCode=671450&VAID=3521&selectConditions=(10=USA;1=3VZE;3=2D;5=ATM)&subModel=JPP-4%20WHEEL%20DRIVE&sectionID=1&componentsID=19-04&componentsIndex=26&pictureName=NE5352B&ZoomGrade=3&XScroll=79&YScroll=440&isBigPicture=False&isDisplayAll=True&isAdd=false

idk so im taking the car out tommorrow and gonna take a hammer with me and see if i can get it started to bring it home. look at my link and tell me what you think i should order.

im thinking maybe plunger but idk my neighbor said only the brushes were bad

ill also check all my connections once i get it home

Buy the kits.

Dude what about your battery? Whenever I've had weak batteries you get that same clicking noise.

Last time I had it checked the battery was good and that was about 6month ago but once I get it started today ill have one of the guys at work check and test it again

Did you notice this?