I have a 1990 4runner and it has a odd symptom. every know and again when you start it nothing happens and then you have to get out of the car tap the starter with somthing ( not even hard ) and it kicks right over. I bought the thing and the starter seemed new. I got home it wouldnt start so i asked the guy to replace it. he was there that day and i watched him put the new one in and it made no difference! any ideas what it may be????? I was wondering if it needs to be shimmed. i have looked all over and i cant find anything about it.

thanks!

 

Was it a genuine toyota one? Or one of those pep boys oem ones?

 

its from advance i believe... i know they arent that good of quality.

 

Use Roger Brown's trick of running battery power directly to the starter - it worked for me. You can find it at the end of his 'starter' page. You can get all of the materials at Radio Shack for less than $20. Toyota starter relays are 10x that.

 

Better late than never......

A starter that is revived by tapping on it is a starter that is on its way to the great beyond! Very common.......

 

Very very true. You either have it shimmed wrong, or the solenoid is acting up. Typically pounding on a starter that has a bad solenoid will get it to crank over. I did this for almost 3 months before mine ended up being completely useless....maybe clean the starter contacts, check for loose connections. Oh yeh, and most of the time it is cheaper to just buy a whole starter than replace the solenoid...at least on older GM models.