Dead starter leads to day-saving discovery. (1 Viewer)

[Doc]

My starter has been acting up lately, and finally decided to call it quits. So, I pulled the starter yesterday ( factory!) and took a look around while I was in the area for any potential issues.

Guess what......

It's a good thing my starter died because the infamous phh is bulging and seeping. I don't know how much time I had left on that hose, but it wasn't going to be too much longer.

Silicone phh on order.

One more thing, the factory starter is a 1 kw piece- is there any real reason to upgrade to the 2 kw version? I've never really had any issues with the factory unit, and no longer live in the land of -20 temps. I can get the rebuild kit for around 45 from Beno, or a new 2kw jobby from Oreilieys for 130$.

The actual starter gear looks pretty good, some wear on the teeth after 20 years of starts.....

 

[lugueto]

If your car has a manual trans, the more powerful starter can save your a** once or twice.

A friend of mine went on a deeper-than-expected crossing on his LC and to prevent damage by water admission, he turned the engine off, and cranked the starter while on gear and got out. The engine didnt suck up much water, but once he was out we pulled the spark plugs and cranked the engine, got the water out, oil change and keep on going!

He is now more prepared, has a snorkel and winch.. But we worked with what we had at the time.

 

[greentruck]

Sadly, very, very few manual tranny 80s in the Land o' the Free.


I've had a time or two when I used the starter to move one of my previous manual tran vehicles. Don't think I'd try a water crossing with it unless it was a matter of life and death, although I suppose being submerged might help cool things for a few moments.

Good reminder, though, about checking your PHH if you haven't put an eye on it in awhile or replaced it already. That could ruin your whole day -- and the summer sun is pretty harsh to be sitting dead by the trail with the coolant all puked out.

 

[Doc]

So, apparently the 1KW starter is no longer supported by Toyota, that seems like as good an excuse as any to upgrade, right?