Sandman

ok..no flames, but alot of smoke...luckily I pulled over and it subsided.

ok..here's what happened.

Started the truck in the morning, started driving. The parking brake light was on, so I stopped, double checked the brake - it was all the way down. So I kept going. I engine felt a bit sluggish, and I thought that maybe the e-brake had perhaps seized. I drove about a mile and pulled over again. This time there was a whining noise coming from the engine compartment and now smoke from under the hood. I shut off the engine, and the smoke started to get worse and the whinning noise was still there. While I scrambled to find a fire extinguisher the noise slowed and stopped and the smoke started to die off.
Looks like the electrical connection to the starter was burning/melting. Everything else looked ok and no brake was seized. All electrical seems to be shorted out now - remote locks, lights etc would not come on.
I'm guessing the starter motor got stuck in the engaged position and grenaded?? The truck is sitting as I had to grab a bus to work so I'm trying to figure out what happened.
(although I like to work on my truck myself, I might have to tow it to a shop, as this is my daily driver)

Anybody have advice/wisdom/or insight to help me out?

BajaRunner

Yeah, that sure does sound like the starter was "starting" the entire time, and just went kaboom!

My buddy had this problem with his Jeep. Turned out it was the selinoid that had gone faulty. Of course, this was a simple engine from 1973. I wouldn't know where to look for the electrics in a newer 4runner.

What engine do you have? Hopefully someone more knowledgeable will chime in here..

Sandman

this is the 3.4 engine- what can explain the noise after the truck was turned off?? (whirring/whining noise)

OSU4Runner

The starter killing itself...???

BajaRunner

Yea, that would be it. The electrical connection either TO or inside the starter was connected. Either the switch burned out, or a wire crossed. Thats a LOT of amps being drawn from your battery too. So, if your battery is dead, that is a good chance that it was the starter.

I'd take to a mechanic and get a new starter. If it then has problems, then you'll be trying to trace another electrical problem. I've never changed my starter in either of my 4runners (never had to) so I don't know what kind of job that would be.

Lastly, I know most chain-store auto part stores have devices to check starters, so if you can get yours out, go get it checked. It sounds like this is the problem though.

OSU4Runner

Change it yourself, its not that hard. There is a write up in the tech section. I did mine, took me about 2 hours. The hardest part is getting the bolts loose

Sandman

I've taken the starter out on my 2nd gen - I'll give it a shot myself and post back my findings

Ritzy4Runner

iTrader: (1)

Sandman, Dude you are a bit lucky with that issue. As mentioned should be the starter. The whining/grinding seems to have been the solenoid trying to engage the flywheel. If it has shorted, then it would keep drawing current from the battery and would big time short out and then meltdown everything close. Usually an electrical fire will ensure shortly after, so you my friend were being watched out for. You stopped just in time to let your Angel catch up with you! Pull the starter, check your battery then check to see if the other electrical systems come on. If not, check your main fuse panel in the engine compartment to see if your main bus fuse did its job as that would cut power from the entire vehicle. Also check any other fuses identified in association with the starter. Hey I can figure out electrical stuff but clips for the grille, forget it! Good luck!

Sandman

I replaced the starter - problem fixed! I think the contacts were shorting or arcing out to the ignition wire inside. Thanks for all the responses! I'll post a few pics of the starter when I get a chance.

DSN46

Thank God that's all it ended up being!

I'm glad you were able to take care of it without having to trace every damn wire under your hood and dash to see what got burned up.

Congrats.

James

rearviewmirror

That happened on my RX-7 once, it was my fault, the car was running already and I hit the starter, apparently the flywheel grabbed the starter gear and kept spinning the starter. It smoked a bit and the starter was shot.