Ritzy4Runner

iTrader: (1)

About a month ago I purchased a 1990 4runner with the 3.0 V6. I have been doing quite a bit of electrical fixes to this auction find, Paid $1500 including all taxes and registration. Surprizingly there was no exterior damage to the truck, no rust dents pretty much a sleeper. After spending around $100 at local wrecking yards, got some gr8 little items to fix the truck up.

A few days ago, my oldest son who is not too mechnically inclined called me to leave a voice mail that the truck had "died" and would not start. I guess he didn't want to wait for two hours till I got the message as he called his younger brother who is mechaniclly incline and they jumped it and got it home.

After I got home and called, I came over to check on the issue as it still would not start. I checked the battery cable and the main cable to the starter was loose so tighened it up and it started right up for me. Everything seemed to be fine until the following day when he drove the truck to work. He went out to start the truck to go and get some lunch and it once again would just give a single 'click'. I got another phone call and this time he was in a bit of a panic as he had class that night right after he gets off work, needless to say he was terrified he would not get to his class.

I checked here at YOTATECH and searched for starter issues and found a few links that helped me with some basic troubleshooting giving some things to look at, so to all of you who have contributed your solutions and recommendations "THANKS".

Checked the battery for charge and output, 12.26 VDC. Checked the voltage from the starter to ground, 12.24 VDC. Cable is good. Verified ground checks from battery to chassis, chassis to engine and battery to engine. Ended up leaving me with a bad starter or possibly a bad neutral switch (AT). Tried shifting the tranny several times and then also trying to start it in neutral. No luck. Decided to go with the starter as if I get it out and its the issue I can rebuild it. We towed it home the following day.

Jacked up the truck and put it on a jack stand then pulled the right front wheel as was recommended. It does make it easier to get at the starter (sort of) but I was a bit beside myself trying to figure out how am I gonna get that thing out of that tiny little space once I do manage to get the starter unbolted! Got out the trusty FSM and looked up how to remove the starter. NOT alot of help as all it said to do was disconnect the battery (good choice) then remove the starter cable from the battery and then the wire from connector 50 ... Just glad all the fender inner covers were already removed ...

I was really puzzled now as I could not figure or see another wire/connector to the starter and the picture in the FSM isn't very clear as to where this mysterious connector 50 was located. Vision is really obscured from under the truck as well and from the side I could just see the battery connection. Well sure enough I started tracing out cables and found one cable that was about as large as the power cable and it has this small wire with a single connector on it. I ended up finding the elusive connector 50. right on the very bottom of the starter near the back side closest to the tranny. The next problem was the connector housing on the starter was broken, but the pin was still intact.

After several attempts to get my hand up in close enough to position the connctor on the pin, I could just get the female end from the cable on the connector pin then used a long blade screw driver and pushed it tightly into place. The large parent cable itself had a factory tywrap to hold it firmly in position but it was broken as well. To add to the problem, the main power cable to the starter which is where this secondary cable attaches to had a sheared hold down bolt for the power cable. this holds the power cable in place to the engine mount just below the right side exhaust manifold.

I used some heavy duty tywraps to secure the power cable to the motor mount, then positioned the connector 50 cable with a replacement tywrap and secured it to the power cable. It should not be moving around now so as to pull itself from the starter. If I have the same issue again with the same single solenoid click, first place I' m gonna look. End result, started right up

Anyway I know it was a long winded write up but I just wanted to add one more thing to check that I did not see in any of the previous write up/threads. It was a simple thing to fix but tough to find. Hope this helps the next guy

rkonfire

Ritzy, I'm having basically the same problem.

I replaced the battery and everything worked great for a week, but now the "one click" problem is back.

Basically, all the dash lights come on, but when I go to crank it just does one click and then nothing. I've done this repeatedly and once-in-awhile it will actually crank and start up.

Is it a battery wiring issue or is my starter going bad? Do the same suggestions above apply to my situation? It sounds like a connection issue to me, but I guess I need some help pinpointing what I can do with my limited tools.

Thanks Ritzy!

1990yota-pickup

check all your grounds, cut your cable back a little bit and look for corsion in the copper any sign of green go ahead and do your self the favor and buy new cables... power and ground.. you should to get some at advance auto parts or napa, autozone... for under 20 bucks..

if you pull your starter apart there is a plate in the solenoid that only cost about 22 cents that will a bad contact to engage the starter and will only let the starter will click. and not get the full battery amprage..

if you are pretty crafty you ran rebuild it, or pay about 150 up to 200 for a new starter..

a4runnerfreak

Tap the starter a few times with a hammer, to loosen up the contacts inside the starter. After you check to make sure all your cables are connected, and tight. It's the brushes/contacts that wear down and you get the click. But I've read that replacing the brushes/contacts takes less time than pulling the starter, and is fairly easy....lol

1990yota-pickup

rebuilding a starter is actually alot easier than you may think,

phildelfino

i have read that replacing the two copper posts/contacts inside the starter is the fix (rebuild). they wear out. everything else is very durable inside.

https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f2/3...-heavy-105098/

rkonfire

Phildelfino, that is a great link. I don't have the tools to do this myself anymore unfortunately. I wonder if it's worth having my mechanic's shop do a rebuild or just put a new starter in there.

a4runnerfreak

I know that rebuilding a starter is rather easy, I was stating that more time would be spent in the removal of the starter....lol.

1990yota-pickup

about 5 to 10 minutes thats about it

pb4ugotobed

That'd be the exciter. However, most times you'll find that the contacts are just worn. In that case, tapping the starter with a hammer will usually fire it off. Sometimes it is just a bad spot in the starter itself, and there really isn't anything you can do for it.

but I picked up my reman starter for $55. I'll take that over dealing with rebuilding it any day cause it has a WARRANTY

And yes, this starter is a real bitch to do, is the worst with auto and 4wd. You have a lot more room if you take the cooler off going to the transfer case for the rear bolt. The front bolt I use a real long transmission extension and a swivel socket and get it from the front. Then just kinda shimmy the thing out through the wheel well (this would be a BREEZE if you had a body lift...) I guess body lifts ARE good for something...