Recently I have had trouble starting my rig. It turns over just fine if it sat over night. But if I run into a store or get fuel and try to restart it, she turns over very slowly.

My volt gauge also does strange things. While driving or anytime the motor is running I get a quality 13.5v+ So I'm ruling out an alternator issue. When I kill the motor but leave the key on, the gauge drops to about 12v for a second or two and then down to about 10v.

I originally thought it was a battery issue, but as I said if I leave it overnight she starts faster than if I try to restart immediately. I'm thinking it might be a bad starter with a bad winding or something that gets worse when hot, but I don't have any experience with Toyota starters and don't know their normal shortcomings.

Any help would be great.

 

*bump*

 

I used to have problems starting my car after driving for a few minutes, after putting on headers. My solution is probably something that not a lot of people will want to pursue. Here's what I did, bypass the oem starting circuit with your own starter switch and a Ford remote solenoid with a direct battery connection. Haven't had a problem since.

The list of things I did to try and fix the problem (that didn't work):
1. New Starter
2. Starter Heat Shield
3. Header Wrap

 

My truck shows 17 volts while driving, on the volt meter in the instrument cluster, 13.8 is what your battery is supposed to run, but charging (running engine) is usually higher, right? It appears am guessing, but I am anxious to hear that I am wrong, so I can worry why mine is charging at 17.

 

well, a fully charged battery should be at about 12.9, your alternator should charge it at 13.5-15v not any more

 

yep its sound like the battery with the the engine off put volt meter on the battery and if the battery reads less then 12 its probably the batt

 

Sounds like a battery to me. A cold starter does not need as much power to turn over.

 

I use my lawn mower battery to start mine when I forget to turn off the lights! I am sure my neighbors (and maybe you guys) think I am a wacko.

 

Food for thought. I'm going to pull the battery and see if Advanced can put a load test on it. Too bad there isn't a load test or draw test for starters.

 

there is a test for starters but the only accurate test is done with the starter off the car....I had similar problems with my runner 95 3.0 5 speed...i was having chargins issues and it was very tepermental to when it would start with the key...I ended up putting in a new starter and so far (knock on wood) it starts no problems and it is charging at 13.5 - 13.7 volts with the car running....Tip (for V6) if you have downey headers you can pull the starter out the frt over the front axle and under the motor mount you just need to remember to remove the support that goes from the block to the bellhousing it has 4 total bolts holding it on...with that removed it should slide out...hope i helped


It seems my 91 22re had the same problem you can replace the starter or replace the contacts they only cost around 20 bux at the dealership