Starter time! I think.....?

[abracadabra]

Folks=

I've been getting intermittent non-action from my starter recently. In the past 1st thing in the morning, there would sometimes be a hesitation, just a second or two, from when you turn the key to when the starter would hit. Then it would be fine from then on, never had an issue with a warm van.

Now 3 times in the last week 1st thing in the morning I turn the key and there's nothing. The battery is fine, I get under and bonk the starter w/ hammer for a bit, get in, try it again and again, it always starts again within 5 minutes, and then its not a problem the rest of the day.

If there's something else to check on this let me know, otherwise I'm shopping for a new starter.

Which leads me to the question: when I look at RockAuto online I see 5-6 different Reman. starters ranging from $92-100 something. Are these pretty much all the same? I'd like to have one here for the time when the thing just won't start.

Thanks!

Mark in Maine

[timsrv]

Mark,

When I owned that van I had the same problem. Just before you purchased it I put a good starter on it and replaced the contacts. sometimes the contacts get messed up prematurely but are still salvageable. Take the starter off and inspect the contacts. Look very closely at the mating surface of the plunger as well. The last time I had this issue (different van, different starter but with fairly new contacts) all it required was a bit of cleaning and surface work. In this case my new contacts were fine, but the plunger had irregular wear along with some molten copper material deposited on it. I took the plunger and chucked it up on my cordless drill and had my son spin it while I used my die grinder (counter rotation) to clean it up. I used a 2" 180g sanding disc on my die grinder and this only took a minute or 2. The end result was a beautiful finish and the total cost of $0. That starter has functioned perfectly since.

You can go the route of a new (rebuilt actually) starter if you wish, but I fear you won't get one as good as what you have. I've found the "rebuilt" starters are often of poor quality. The one you have now is an original Toyota starter with about 180k miles on it. IMHO with a little TLC this one will likely outlast your average "rebuilt" starter. Here's a thread that talks about starters. Tim

http://www.toyotavantech.com/forum/showthread.php?126-Ignition-switch-question