Weird starting issue...

M

Maxie

New member
I bought a 99 Limited a few weeks ago.

First day I had it, I turned the key and got just a click. Put my jumper pack on it and it fired right up, so I went and got a new battery.

Two days later, same thing... just a click. Got my jumper pack, but this time it did not help. Tried jumper cables to my other car, and still no help.

Called AAA, and when they came the starter engaged, but the engine did not catch. Took the key out and the starter will still going round. AAA guy pulled the starter relay, but still the starter was going round so he pulled the negative terminal to stop it!

Had it towed to a shop, where they diagnosed it as a bad starter relay which they replaced and all seemed fine for a few days.

Went to start the truck tonight, and same thing again - just a click. This time I just kept trying the key, and after about 15 attempts, it suddenly fired into life.

Any ideas?
 
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Any particular grounds I should clean up... obviously the one coming off the battery to the chassis - any others?

The problem definitely seems to manifest itself after the truck has not been started for about 36 hours. Once you get it going, it seems fine.
 
This sounds oddly like a screw up a local car shop made on my scout. I had done the "start 'em up" mod which is a secondary solenoid running off the original starter (which was crap in the old scouts). It wouldn't start at first, but when it got going the ignition would not kill the engine.

Long story short, have you made any changes around the starter? Any loose or frayed wires? The T4R seems to be particularly haunted by crappy grounds and rust so I'd start here.
 
No, I've not made any changes to the starter. It all looks stock as far as we can see.

I'm going to try cleaning the battery cables and ground in the morning and see how that goes. Thanks for the tips.
 
[MENTION=97029]Maxie[/MENTION] dis you pull out the starter and che k out the copper contacts inside? They are cheap and easy to fix. Thats what wrong with mine. All nippon denso starts use a copper contact that will wear down over time.
 
I second the contacts.... Although I would contact the shop you had it in for this issue and they should stand behind their repair and take care of it.

What brand starter did they use? I rarely recommend replacing the starter with anything other than OEM and even then I recommend contact replacement in the original starter far more often than replacing the whole thing.

Best of luck to you!
 
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The shop I took it to only replaced the relay, at which point everything started working again, so they did not replace the starter itself. I rather commend them on not replacing the starter and charging me a few hundred bucks as I wouldn't have known any better.

However, with the tips I have got here, and having watched some Youtube videos of people with the same issue, I'm pretty sure I need new contacts.

I cleaned the grounds and battery cables this morning, but that made no difference.

I've ordered the kit!
 
Hey Maxie, think i know whats up. This sounds almost exactly what just happend to me 2 months ago. Gonna sound crazy but just bear with me.

So same with mine...had new battery 2/2013. problem starts in may or june of 2013. my connections are clean. never had any issue with starting. so my step dad (national gaurd mechanic) figured it was the starter. it would click but no engage. so we replace the starter. catches once, but thats it. replace starter AGAIN thinking its a dud from Advanced. same thing, no start. Then my step dad thinks it could be my battery. who would think with it being BRAND NEW?? so we takes his 6 year old battery out of his 2002 tundra and swaps it with mine. botta boom botta bing problem fixed. so why did this fix it?

The Cranking amps on my 4runner battery, which is the battery that autozone pulls up thats for my truck, is like 600 cranking amps. My step dads Tundra's battery has i believe 700 cranking amps. So for some reason this was the issue. Both of our trucks are still cranking and running to this day. So yeah, Get a battery with larger cranking amps required for our 4Runners.

Hopefully this is your issue bubba.

Hakuna Matata.
 
Thanks for the tip - I'll check how many cranking amps I have on this battery. I have the starter repair kit on the way, so I will do that as well.
 
I agree with few posts above it's the contacts inside the starter parts cost like $25 from dealer not too Bad to swap out either.
 
Just an update to this... I bought the contact replacement kit. When we pulled the old ones, they looked really worn. New ones are in and so far, I appear to be cured. Thanks for all your advice.
 
Maxie said:
Just an update to this... I bought the contact replacement kit. When we pulled the old ones, they looked really worn. New ones are in and so far, I appear to be cured. Thanks for all your advice.
Click to expand...

I have '99 T4R Limited. Was wondering from what parts warehouse or store the contact replacement kits could be purchased from. Having the same symptoms and want to be proactive, not stranded. I live in Springfield, Mo. O'Reilly says I would have to wait to get them from their warehouse in OKC and Autozone says they have zero parts for anything inside the solenoid. I can get them from the dealership, just not sure their parts dept is going to be open when I'm not working. Any thoughts? Part numbers? Thanks in advance.
 
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Thanks, Maxie. Was hoping to do it this weekend, thus avoiding yard work! I just may have to wait a few more days though, and order it. Thanks again for the link.
 
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