My 92 22RE pickup has sat in the garage for three months this summer. Since I started driving it again, turning the ignition to start will result in one of three things

-only get a click from the relay.
-turn the starter normally and fire the engine.
-begin to turn the starter normally and then sound slow and sluggish for the next few turns. sometimes the engine will fire and sometimes not.

I've never had more than three tries to get the engine running. Once before I parked the truck, there was a no-start issue that left me dead in the water, but turned out to be a minimal amount of battery terminal corrosion.

I've cleaned the terminals again and checked the grounds. I thought that if it was the actual starter on its way out that it would have died completely by now, but I've been driving the truck for over a month and the problem doesn't seem to be getting any better or worse.

 

Clean the starter ground and positive as well. Check that voltage is same as battery at starter positive. Check that the starter solenoid is getting sufficient voltage when cranking. If thats all fine then time to rebuild that starter

 

It is possible while sitting your starter solenoid contacts got a little corroded .

You could also be having issues with a poor ground It never hurts to upgrade the grounds and the positive cable to the starter

loose connection at the starter solenoid or corroded

check one thing at a time.

 

If none of that does the trick, it's probably time to service/replace the starter contacts. Not sure if that's what was meant by rebuild the starter. So I just wanted to mention it.

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/Starter.shtml

 

All^^^ but before you take out the starter or the solenoid contacts, check upstream of starter solenoid. While ign switch is in "Start" position, when starter solenoid is supposed to be thunking and closing its contacts to send power from thick battery cable to starter motor, there should be around 12 amps running to solenoid coil, through the thin wire that plugs (not screws on) into solenoid. If significantly less than that, Probably high resistance from battery, long wire to cabin to ign wire, through start contacts of the ign switch, long wire back to engine compartment, to start relay contacts, then eventually to starter solenoid.
Cranking system and possible flaw in 93 22R-E on my signature.

 

Thought this problem might have solved itself as it has only happened once or twice since my last posting (wishful thinking), but am now wondering if my tachometer issue might be related. Every now and then the tach reading will drop approximately 500rpm and might be while driving or idle. Is there a shared ground that could be causing both of these symptoms?

I do plan to address this very soon now that the temperature is rising and I don't have to roll around in the snow to fix it.

 

Problems do not solve themselves. Otherwise, I'll pay my problems to do so.
If you believe that problems solve themselves, they'll re-occur when you least want them to.

 

I was being sarcastic, although I guess adding a smiley face might be been helpful in conveying that.

 

Still having the slow cranking or click-only issue?

What have you done with your solenoid contacts?
Have you ruled out the Toyota blunder common to 22R-E's I explained here?

 

I ended up taking the easy route and replaced the whole starter with a rebuilt Wilson brand. It was only $100 including the core charge. Is there any reason to hang on to my old one? Pretty sure it is the original as it does say Denso - made in Japan on it. I was tempted to rebuild/clean-up the original, but have never opened a starter motor before and was unsure of the downtime it would require. I have all the time in the world now and am curious for my own knowledge, but if this new one lasts half as long as the original, I won't likely ever need another.

 

You sure you don't want to return it for core refund? If you wanna keep it, It's quite easy to open the side where solenoid contacts are and inspect them. If they're bad, AND you already had the starter relay wiring corrected, but was still not cranking, chances are that the solenoid contacts were your only problem with the starter. Replacing them would by easy, too. Then you can sell the starter, for a reasonable price.

 

Some of the time cable corrosion happens under the cable sheathing where you can't see it. The only way to find it is by measuring the voltage drop from one end to the other or if it's REAL BAD you can see a bulge. With the small stock cable size I don't think it would take much to have a big effect. Test both the Pos and Neg

 

I did do (or at least try) that. I didn't have a helper so I had to wedge the probes in place and use a camera while I turned the key. The reading never changed from 0 though. There should be some minimal voltage drop even in a brand new vehicle, shouldn't there?

 

While I was replacing the starter, I inadvertently pulled off the dust cap of the oil pressure sensor. Inside there is a connector, but I couldn't see what it connected to. I didn't even know what it was until I drove the truck and noticed my oil pressure gauge flatlining so it must be the gauge sender. I don't think i broke anything off, but am not seeing what the wire connects to under the dust cap.

edit: found this pic which looks just like what I have under the dust cap. Where does the connector go?

 

There are different gauge senders for different years and engines.

If yours looks like this:

the sender wire just clips onto the brass terminal.

 

I will check again, but I did not see a terminal of any kind. Exactly what is shown in the pic.

 

On 1986 22RE, wire is screwed into sender. Inspect connectorS, wire and contact at screw.

 

So on close inspection, there is no terminal for a standard connection, but the button/nose of the sending unit is the actual terminal and there is a groove cut on the side of the wire connector for a sideways connection.

Found a pic that gives a good visual (left sensor)

 

Why bother with pictures? Why not get in there, look at what you actually have, look at the actual connector, see what's keeping it from making contact with the sensor, inspect what's wrong with connectors on both ends of the wire, inspect what's wrong with the sender contacts, do continuity check of that wire.... etc. ?

 

I did. The picture is to show how they go back together. At the time that I first pulled the boot off by accident, I didn't know that it was the oil pressure sensor so I just assumed that it was another one of those wires that don't go anywhere. My truck is a base model so I have a few of those here and there.