I completely tore my 81 pickup down due to a rotten frame and put every back together with a donor frame and now I've got an intermittent no start which I'm having problems figuring out. Sometimes it starts up perfectly and sometimes i just get a click. I assumed that the click was a relay but I checked my manual and the net and from what I gather my truck shouldn't even have a starter relay. Can anything else cause a click? I've checked the connections at the battery and all the grounds seem good as well. What else could be the problem? Could it be that my ignition switch has decided to crap out a bit? The starter is only less than half a year old but I guess it could also be a solenoid problem? Thanks

 

There is a heavy-duty contact that the starter solenoid operates once the starter gear is engaged with the flywheel. Sometimes this contact can become damaged by hard starting with a weak battery (bad connection, faulty charging system, weak cell in battery, etc) over a period of time. Or you just could have been unlucky enough to get a marginally good starter when you bought this one. It happens sometimes...

Can you change just the solenoid itself? I'm not sure about this particular model year of Toyota, but on my 1995 4Runner, I know I had to change the complete starter motor.

Hope this helps you, maybe you got it figured out by now.

 

I had a spare started that I got with my new frame. Threw it in there and works fine now so I guess it was just a crappy starter I bought. I should have checked the starter earlier. I just figured ripping the entire truck apart it was probably a bad ground or a loose connection or something that I had done.