For the second time I left the office and turned the key to crank my 1995 Tacoma 2WD 2.4L Auto and nothing happened. The time before I gave the starter a few hard taps with a hammer and it cranked up. I then removed the starter and replaced the contacts. I also checked all connections from battery to starter and grounds. All were removed and sanded until shiny and replaced except plugs obviously. Three weeks went by and all was fine until today. I turned the key and nothing. I gave the starter a few taps with a hammer and she cranked right up. What are the suggestions for the culprit of this? Thank you.

 

what was the condition of the plunger? Grab a multimeter and check the starter signal wire when It won't start. Verify that its getting atleast 10 volts. If not, then its not enough juice to engage the starter. Or try moving the shift selector as you try to start the truck. Sometimes on autos the park/neutral safety switch goes bad.

 

vital22re I think you're right. When I got home from the office after hitting the starter with a hammer I noticed my column shift lever was out of adjustment. It won't go into L gear all the way to the right (clockwise). This apparently can affect the Park/Neutral starting switch as well. Now it all makes sense. Once I adjust the shift cable and the Park/Neutral starting switch I'm sure the problem will be solved. It seems I replaced the starter contacts for no reason. I guess they'll be good for another 100K. Thanks man.

 

Hope that works out for you.

Agree with vital22re. Unless we have too much money, let's understand how things work, why they would not work, trust what others say but verify things (resistance, current and voltage measurements), not just guess and unnecessarily replace parts. After all our trucks are "family".

A multi-meter (Harbor Freight is your friend), and our senses will go along way in terms of diagnosing problems.