Starter motor difference Tacoma/4runner

[St Runner]

I was having long start issues with my 2002 manual Tacoma, gave it a tuneup and then changed the fuel pump with no result. It started to get slower turning over and then finally stopped turning over at all. Battery was good and a year old and connections all looked good. So I decided to pull the starter motor off the 98 auto 4runner and swap it out. I figured they were both v6 so they should interchange. They were almost the same. the motor for the 4runner was bigger but the mounting and connection points are exactly the same. The tacoma cranks over way faster now and starts right up. Not sure if the motor size difference is a auto/manual or a 4runner/tacoma thing

 

[pluton]

Good to know about the swapability. The size difference may be explained the fact that the 4Runners (and probably the Tacomas) had 2 options for starter: Regular and cold weather, the cold one being more powerful and presumably larger.

 

[3bears]

Good to know about the swapability. The size difference may be explained the fact that the 4Runners (and probably the Tacomas) had 2 options for starter: Regular and cold weather, the cold one being more powerful and presumably larger.

agree with this, the bigger is the cold weather one. otherwise they swap