How to wire Painless Starter Relay 85 4runner

[jaredloganmusic]

So my 85 4runner 22RE has been having issues starting for several years now. Thought is was the battery but I bought another Yellow Top optima and still the same issue...4runner would intermittently start. I came across a couple of threads here mentioning many folks who have had the same issue and have overcome it by building or buying a 30 amp relay to the starter.

So that is what I have done...only I don't know how to wire it to the starter. My starter has the stock Toyota connector and I certainly don't feel right cutting it as the instructions mention. Has anyone done this without cutting the connector? I saw one post where a person wired to the starter wire using a spade connector but I wasn't sure how they connected it to the starter from that point.


Thanks for any help

JARED

 

[KidVermicious]

I saw one post where a person wired to the starter wire using a spade connector but I wasn't sure how they connected it to the starter from that point.

I went to the junkyard and cut a starter connector off an already-trashed harness. I used a short wire with a spade terminal on one end and a ring terminal on the other to connect my factory starter wire to the relay, and I used the junkyard connector with a ring terminal on the other end to connect the relay to the starter.

There's nothing wrong with cutting the factory wire, as long as you make proper splices with solder and shrink-wrap (which you should be doing anyway - heat and vibration are murder on crimped splices). But doing it like I did leaves the factory harness intact, and if your relay ever goes bad you'll be able to bypass it without tools.

 

[jaredloganmusic]

Thanks for the info. S, you're saying it is safe to splice the relay into the existing Toyota wire that connects to the starter? Wouldn't that bypass the relay?

 

[KidVermicious]

Wouldn't that bypass the relay?

Wha-huh? Um, no.

Your factory crank wire runs from the ignition switch in the column to the solenoid on the starter. When the ignition starts to wear out, the contacts aren't sufficient to transmit enough power to activate the solenoid. So you're going to take the crank wire off the solenoid, and instead use it to activate a relay that it does have enough power for, and you're going to add another wire from the starter through the relay to power the solenoid with more juice than the ignition contacts can supply.

Make sense?

 

[jaredloganmusic]

Thanks again for the info and sorry for the stupid questions. It sounds like I still need to find the Toyota connector that fits onto the existing male connector on the starter....right? This way I can crimp the connector onto the Painless relay wire which will then connect to the starter. Unless I can use a female spade connector...a water tight one. I am coming up with nothing when searching for the stock Toyota one. Junkyards aren't around where I am at.

 

[KidVermicious]

I wouldn't use a crimp connection under the hood - solder and heatshrink are the way to go.

All that required is to cut the starter connector off the harness and put on a new connector so that you can terminate it on the Painless relay instead, and then run a new crank wire from the positive battery stud through the relay to the starter solenoid, and there's nothing wrong with doing it exactly the way Painless suggests. Everything else (using a junkyard connector like I did) is completely optional. If you're worried about having a factory connection on the starter, then reuse the starter connector you cut off the harness.

 

[basketcase]

If the problem is just old contacts in the ignition switch, this could also be done under the dash at the ignition harness. Just putting it out there.

 

[RAD4Runner]

If the problem is just old contacts in the ignition switch, this could also be done under the dash at the ignition harness. Just putting it out there.

???
And exactly how do you plan to do that? What would you put at the ignition harness? The 30-Amp relay that O.P. just bought?

 

[RAD4Runner]

... buying a 30 amp relay to the starter....
So that is what I have done...only I don't know how to wire it to the starter. My starter has the stock Toyota connector and I certainly don't feel right cutting it as the instructions mention....

You bought a 30-Amp relay or you bought the Painless Wiring brand relay kit?
Are you using a relay socket, or are you soldering directly to relay terminals?

...There's nothing wrong with cutting the factory wire, as long as you make proper splices with solder and shrink-wrap (which you should be doing anyway - heat and vibration are murder on crimped splices)....

I prefer to keep things stock IF, and only IF, stock is good. However, stock cranking circuit on 1985 4Runner is clearly poorly-made (so is stock circuit on 1986-1988 22RE's), hence our cranking issues. Therefore, I gladly cut that connector on mine.

Disconnect this female spade connector from starter solenoid:

Connect to your 30-amp relay like below:

IF connecting directly to relay terminals (without relay socket), the same 1/4-inch spade terminal that plugs into starter solenoid might fit directly on relay pin 86. Then make additional 12AWG wire, connect one end to relay pin 87 put female spade terminal on other end and plug that end to starter solenoid.

Like KidV mentions^^^, crimp or twist wires properly AND solder.
Crimping makes your connection resist vibration, but it does not make it resist corrosion. Many have seen this problem in harness going to the injectors under the intake manifold.

 

[basketcase]

???
And exactly how do you plan to do that? What would you put at the ignition harness? The 30-Amp relay that O.P. just bought?

Yup. That's exactly what you would use. If I'm reading correctly, the problem is in the actual ignition switch itself, yes? The wire y'all are interrupting and reinforcing with a relay (the way many new cars are wired from factory) runs directly from the ign switch to the starter (and clutch switch). It should not matter whether you interrupt the wire at the starter or the switch. If all you are trying to do is up the current capacity of the worn out ign switch, putting the ign switch main battery feed on 30, the output to the starter at 87, a ground on 85, and the starter wire from the ign switch to 86 will do that. Now, if the problem is somewhere down the line, like the clutch switch or something else, this wont work but you guys stated that the ign switch contacts get worn and this would fix that and make the crank signal as strong as it was when the switch was new.

 

[THOR_runner]

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/showthread.php?t=163274

Check out post # 17. I recently wired up my 86 with the painless ::read painful:: hotshot.
The thick red goes to the post that the battery cable is on. The black wire with the plastic connector on it will be snipped so you you a 3-4" pigtail with a connector on the end, bare wire on the other end. The thick purple wire goes to the pig tail. The other end of the wire you snipped, the ignition wire, gets connected to the thin purple wire. I am assuming your colors are the same as mine. The purple connections I simply soldered and heat shrinked. The photo of the starter shows the wires, the thin purple wire going to the ignition wire up near my hand.

That being said, my truck occasionally has the click no start issue still, which I have traced to the ignition. Yes, I rebuilt the contacts and added the hotshot. Later on in the above post I think kid mentions the use of a jumper wire. If it starts with the jumper wire when you're getting the click no start, it's on the ignition side of the start up rather than the starter.

Good luck