Hey yall, I went offroading/ mudding this morning with some friends and after about an hour of mud and several large pools of water we pulled over and caught our breath....long story short... whenever I went to start my 4runner again the starter sort of clicked a little but did not even turn over. After calling some people I knew that were into offroading (ranma21 included ) I got several suggestions that I let it dry off and try to restart it later because I likely had gotten the solenoid and/or (?) coil wet. I had already eliminated loose connections as an issue. After coming back and screwing with it for another 20 min, I finally squeezed a start out of it and promptly drove it home for the day. After I got it home I turned it off and tryed to restart it and it took 2 or 3 trys to get it restarted again. My question is....is this going to be an ongoing issue or will it eventually dry up enough that it will restart promptly llike it used to? Thank yall in advance.

 

mine does this too,but i'm not sure why just yet.it happened only a few times and fired right up after it dried out.after it dried it worked perfectly as before.

 

it's very easy to pull the starter, take the solenoid off, and check out its internals (1 hour total at most)...you might find the contacts are worn.

4crawler has a great page on his website detailing starter troubleshooting (including removal and installation of the starter).

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

 

i had this problem once...i just push/pull started it...for a ways..and let it warm up, and it eventuly fix's its self

 

bueno. thanks yall. just curious..if worst comes to worst, how much is a new starter for a 3.4L (3VZ-FE??) i could do some research i suppose, but whats the use with so many mechanical geniuses chomping at the bit to help their fellow yotatechers?? lol CHEERS

 

A new starter would be your last option, and if you do go new, get a real new one, not a rebuilt one. Pull the thing out, open up the solenoid cover and clean it out. Likely it is just dirty or wet inside. If the copper contacts are worn (they may have been and the mud pushed them over the edge), it costs $5-10 to replace them:

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...OnlineOrdering

And check the voltage at the solenoid when you try to start, make sure it is a good strong 12V (or whatever the battery reads). If not, the problem is somewhere upstream from the starter.

 

Like Rodger said ,don't buy a new starter. I think a lot of people have had problems with their starter, I know I have, same issues that you are describing. The contacts wear out and are fairly simple to change and only cost $10.