4AGE starting issue

[AE092]

Hey guys,

Lately I've got an issue with the car starting and it's very intermittent; some days it'll fire up fine and other days I'll be sitting there switching it to the on position half a dozen to a dozen times before she starts. I'm thinking it may be the starter motor playing up but don't have a definite answer, has anyone had a similar issue?

Abit more info: On the occasions it does not start and the key it turned to the 'On' position, I can hear the fuel pump prime and the necessary starting lights come on but it won't start. After I turn it off and on for a few times then it'll work.

Any help?

[timgte]

my old ae82 4age used to do that too.
does it actually crank over but not start? or does it just like tick when you turn the key?
If it just ticks then its your starter relay i had mine replaced in both ae92s i had.

In my ae82 i played with starter motors cold start injectors filters etc etc and could never find the fault.
I did find that if i turned the key till the starter kicked in then let go before it started then the next time i turned the key it would always start on the second attempt. weird huh.

[TERRA Operative]

Starter either has a sticky solenoid or sticky gears.

My brothers Sera did the same, so I replaced the solenoid which almost fixed it. Now I just gotta relube the planetary gearset so you don't have to flick the ignition on and off repeatedly to unstick it so it will start.

[privatealpha]

In my ae82 i played with starter motors cold start injectors filters etc etc and could never find the fault.
I did find that if i turned the key till the starter kicked in then let go before it started then the next time i turned the key it would always start on the second attempt. weird huh.

Same exact thing happens to my 4age.
It would crank for half a sec, stop , and then crank again, then car fires.

[timgte]

Lets just call it :character:

[privatealpha]

Does the fix require removal of the starter motor?

[AE092]

Good question privatealpha, do I need to replace the entire starter motor or will I get away with just replacing the solenoid? Wheres' the solenoid located?

Also, thanks alot for the reply guys!

[TERRA Operative]

You could probably get away without replacing the solenoid. I just did ours because we were rebuilding the rest of the car anyway.

There is a guide in the Toyota repair manuals on how to rebuild the starter motors. It's not too hard and consists mainly of a tear down, clean out, relube and reassemble.

[LeeRoy]

You could probably get away without replacing the solenoid. I just did ours because we were rebuilding the rest of the car anyway.

There is a guide in the Toyota repair manuals on how to rebuild the starter motors. It's not too hard and consists mainly of a tear down, clean out, relube and reassemble.

When I had some intermittent starting problems on my 4AGE i pulled the starter apart, cleaned it, then reassembled and it was as good as new. Brushes and everything else was still in good shape, it was just full of dust dirt and grime, and the contact inside was fairly dirty too.

[MR22ZZ]

yep, need to pull down teh starter motor and clean the guts out then re-install it.

I've had to do it to mine and it's 1000 times better after.

[AE092]

Thanks alot for the feedback guys. Not looking forward to taking the headers off though that's for sure!

[MR22ZZ]

you don't need to take the headers off... but it does make things easier

[LeeRoy]

I had aftermarket extractors and had to remove them to get the starter motor off. Not remove them intirely, just undo the head flange bolts and slide it off. The flex join had enough movement to get enough space to remove the starter.

[AE092]

I've got aftermarket headers as well but the collector pipe it bolted to where the 4-2 section merges. Bugger!