My 78 Hilux does not want to start easy. Its always a hard long start. I bought a rebuilt starter from a rebuilt shop near me over a year ago. The first 3 months it was great then it started taking longer and longer to start, the engine would turn over a while before it would start. Really long in the morning or if the truck has been sitting for more then a day. This week it did not want to start at all, I took the battery out and got it checked at auto zone, they said it has 80% charge 12.8 volts. Truck just turns at a long dragging speed the starter does not spool up fast.

Can any one recommend a starter that lasts longer then a year?

 

Unless you got a bad lemon, its probably not the starter. You can pull it and get it tested at a parts store.

Id check all your battery connections for fit, clean metal and no corrosion. Make sure your main ground is clean and tight. Use a multimeter to do a couple voltage drop tests along the starter circuits.

Have you worked on your ignition system recently?

 

If you got a starter at AZ, then disregard everything I said and get a new starter somewhere else.

 

@swampedout I got the starter at a local rebuild shop around my house. Went and bought a new battery, it starts the same but now I got more juice to turn the starter. I think my carburetor needs replacing. It runs rich and I got black sud coming out of the tail pipe.

 

Well you can tune the carb. A basic screw can adjust your mix.
Whats the Idle speed?

 

A new battery can hide your problem for awhile but its not the solution.
get a cheap multimeter and do some tests

 

@swampedout I got the alternator checked at AZ right after I got the new battery, all is good chargers at 12.8 volts. I thought the same think you said about tuning the carb, the funny think is turning the idle screw in either directions does not change the rpm. And wait this gets better taking the idle screw out completely does not change the rpm.I should of taken a video of it also there is gas being dumped from the top of the carb. I got the carb rebuilt by a shop and it never ran right afterwards. Argued with the guy for a week straight and still could not get it running right, got half my money back. But the truck still runs like ˟˟˟˟, wont pass smog. In the morning its hard to start and then it smokes for a few seconds, smells like gas heavily and runs rich till engine gets hot, then constantly sputters at the lights. At this point im looking at it this way a new weber is $289 or something like that from lce engineering. No one around my house within driving distance knows anything about these carbs. But every one wants to touch it cause its a custom truck and they think I'm willing to dump $$$$ in to it to make it run. At this point its cheaper to just replace parts till it runs right.

I took it to a performance shop, thought to my self if these guys cant figure it out why it runs like ˟˟˟˟ no one will be able to. Did a compression check on all cylinders and heat comparing between exhaust pipes right out of the engine block. All are good and within specs, told him nothing of the carb issue and he showed me the same issue gas being dumped from the top and carb not being able to be tuned.