dirtymccurty

my 97 3.4 6cyl automatic tacoma will not start, i just got a click click when i tried, i was told it was the starter so i took it out and got it tested and it came out good, my battery is good, so what else could be the problem in this case?

Tacoclimber

Is your battery checking out at above 12 volts? If it's at 12 or less, it actually might be the battery.

Have you tried jumping it?

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

Here is a quick voltage test you can do to isolate the source of the problem:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...shtml#EasyTest

Tacoclimber

Roger, you da man!

Joe's Toy

Are the batt. terminals tight and corrosion free?

dirtymccurty

update!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so i put the starter back in and now i dont even get the clicking sound all i get is a tiny battery whining kind of sound. i checked all the voltage of the battery and the cable where it connects to the starter and they all check out fine. NOW WHY DOES MY STARTER NOT EVEN CLICK!!!!!! i want to pull my hair out. The battery terminals are all clean, (thats what i thought the problem was before and i cleaned them and it worked fine until now) and i replaced the starter relay because i thought i may have shorted it somehow, but the starter still does not even click like it used to.

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

You need to make sure and check the voltage at the small wire attached to the starter solenoid:


And not the big cable directly from the battery.

dirtymccurty

well if the starter test at checker came back good, then doesnt that mean the solenoid inside the starter would be good?

the only reason i was checking batt cable was to see that the power was getting through. and now something else is wrong because it wont even do the horrible clicking sound.

any ideas?

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

Sure, you may have the best starter in the world, but if you have a defective circuit feeding it (i.e. the small wire), the best starter in the world will not work right. Test the voltage at the small wire. If you do not get within about 1/2 volt of the battery there, you have some issue with the wiring up to the point. That is what causes the solenoid to make up the high current contact that makes the starter motor run. That circuit pulls about 20 amps under normal conditions and if you have a bad connection/switch/relay in that circuit and the solenoid does not get the 20 amps it needs to run, it won't.

SEAIRESCUE

Pull 3 screws off starter solenoid cover and look at the disk that hits the 2 contacts. Should be eaten up on back side. The disk is intermittent and unreliable after many years of use. Replace the solenoid and problem will go away.

dirtymccurty

does this account for the fact that it does not even click anymore like it used to before i took the starter out?

lotalucas

check your wires, there could just be a short somewhere inbetween your battery and the started. that would be a lot easier to fix then a solenoid but if you think it might be the solenoid, I know you can get a used started at a lot of junkyards for like 15 bucks and some will test them to make sure they work before you buy it. This could save you a lot of time and/or money in trying to figure out if it's something wrong with the started.