Starter? issue

[mis_piernas]

Howdy, 4runner gurus,
My girlfriend's 97 4runner has had starter issues in the past. It was replaced about a year ago and has been working fine, but now the car will not start. The headlights will turn on (not dim at all), as well as the cabin lights, but the electric locks do not work, and the various warning lights under the speedometer, etc. do not turn on when the key is first turned in the ignition. I can hear a click in the engine compartment when the key is turned, but nothing happens. I tried to jump the battery, but nothing. I gave the starter a few taps with a ratchet I had handy but was not able to give it a solid whack.
She told me that the mechanic who replaced the starter said that the started may need to be replaced again before too long due to an oil leak of some sort, but I didn't get a good look at the connections because it was dark out and I wasn't prepared to climb under the car where it is parked/stranded.
I plan to attack the issue tomorrow morning, but I am hoping to get a few suggestions on where to start. I read a few posts where people siad they installed a relay or replaced the contacts. I'm a but confused about the way some electrical components seem to work fine and others don't at all. Any thoughts?
Thanks in advance!

 

[DC runner]

While she may have a starter problem, that doesn't appear to be the issue right now.

It sounds electrical. Wiring, fuse or ecu. Not sure from your post. For example, the computer system post (when the lights show on the dash for everything) is the cars pre-start state. Power is being fed to the computer/electronic system. THat is totally independent of the starter, so you not having those is an issue.

You could have blow several fuses or have loose/fried wiring. This bad electrical system could be impacting the power to the starter.

Or, you may have a bad battery. It takes significantly more juice to crank the engine than it does to have a light. Depending on the quality of the light and the ambient light; you may not be able to tell if the light is weak. A weakend battery that is able to show light but not even able to attempt to move the starter (and engine) is possible. Happened to me a couple times...

Seeing the light "dim" is one indicator, but not always present and not always true.

You should see how much power is coming from the battery. Also, if there is corrosion or bad wiring from the battery, attempting to jump start through it can have 0 impact. Are your terminals clean? Free of battery corrosion?

Anyway. You may very well have a bad/weak starter, but you also have an electrical issue. Whether this is caused by a bad/weak battery, bad ECU, blown fuse or rotted/fried wiring has to be determined by you.

Tracking down electrical issues can be one of the most annoying this. It could well be at the harness or any other place on a wire...

You can grab a multimeter and start by seeing what the battery is giving you.

 

[mis_piernas]

Thanks for the reply, DC runner.

The battery connections are actually a little sketchy. The alarm went off on me at one point while I was under the hood, and I was able to disconnect the positive cable easily with my hand only. I will scrape on the terminals and connections and reonnect them snugly to see if that does anything.

I'll probably go ahead and buy a multimeter on my way over to the car so I can check the battery. I've been looking for a reason to go ahead and buy one of those.

I will also take a look around the forum and figure out how to use it, as well as how to check the ECU.