Someone just told me that if I mess up on doing the starter I could blew up the car to ashes. So, I just called a local service shop that a friend recommend and they will come and tow it in on Wednesday and take a look at it. I guess I will see what happens next...
Did that someone tell you how the truck will blow up if you disconnect the battery and follow the FSM????????????
or was it one of those "I knew this guy............." type of things?
Anyway, good luck and hope your pocketbook is deeper than mine(not very hard BTW)
Nope, nobody told me that yet but I will keep that in mind if I ever need to replace the battery. I guess I am more of a nerd then a mechanic and didn't want to take the chance of something going wrong with it. Its a good thing its tax time and Uncle Sam is giving me back some of my money!
The good news is that you guys were RIGHT on the money and that it was a starter problem. Not sure if just replacing the contact would fix it since the serviceman just said I need to replace the starter.
The bad news was that they try to charge me $700 to get the job done. Oh, they said that included tax. I was in shocked. I ask them to break down what everything costs. They said $75 for towing, $20 for oil change, and $40 for doing the diagnosis. I told them okay, that is about $135. I ask them how much is the starter and they said $415! I told them even the dealer was giving me a lower price then they were so how can it be that anybody else could charge more then the dealer? They try to tell me that my truck had 4 different starters and that other places may have only one year warranty while theirs is lifetime warranty. I then ask them if I could just bring in my own starter since I can get the original from C-Dan for half that price. They said that they only take their parts from Napa since that their company. I told them that I would call them back. I then call Napa Parts and ask them how much their starter cost and they told me $249. I ask the Napa Parts how many starters come for that year and model and he said only one. I told my guy friend that and have him call the service repair and he told them that they were off the left field for giving me the total price of $700 but that if they make it to $600 including tax then we will get it done. They agree but boy I am still boiling from it all. I figured I already lost $75 for towing and it would cost me another $75 to have it tow out of there, plus they already did the diagnosis. No wonder my girlfriends won’t take their cars in anymore and make their boyfriends or husband do it. I guess live and learn.
Okay, now that everything is said and done. I want to say THANK YOU to everyone for all the help and advice that you have given me. I really appreciate it. You guys/gals are AWESOME! Have a great weekend and see you guys around here!
You, nor do I, have the starter motor in front of us....
Pretty difficult to assess this from here....
Had a '92 for a while, starter would just click, did not ever get engaged with the engine running, thankfully. Yes, I just changed out the contacts in the solenoid, and it was fine. I would have a hard time re-using a starter motor, and having any faith in its longevity, knowing that it was engaged to a running engine for a period of time long enough to cause what was described in this situation. But that is just me; to each their own.
Glad to hear that you are getting your truck fixed. Drop a note if you ever make it to Minneapolis, MN.
So...did you have the dealer/mech do this very expensive job? Or are you now willing to tackle this yourself (pretty easy)? It's not hard to do--in fact extremely easy...just takes about 1-2 hours of your time.
I took it in to an All Pro Service Center (Napa). A friend of mine recommended them because him and his wife took one of their truck to get it repair and since it was her truck, he said they actually talk to her instead of to him so he like that, plus they gave her the best repair price anybody else had given them. Everything that this place had told me seems right with their pricing but I just don’t know where they came up with a $415 starter? Then to tell me that there were 4 different starters for my model/year? It’s a good thing I did my homework by going to this website so I know what things are suppose to cost. (Thanks Scamper for telling me about this awesome website.) So, I just had a guy friend call them up and have him deal with them and they agree to the $600 since I was screwed either way. Anyway, I got the truck fix and got it back today and boy does it feel good to be driving it again.
It’s a small world so if you guys ever happen to come to Iowa, let me know. Thanks again to everyone!
Sounds like you might have been better off getting a quote from your local Toyota dealership in this particular case.
Glad to know that it's now resolved. Without reading the earlier posts, I don't recall what year LC you have, but as far as I know, there are only 2 different starters for most 80 series (I'm not sure of the 91/92 FJs).
Yeah, it would have been cheaper for the dealer to have done the job this time but who would of throught that another place can charge more then the dealer! Everyone knows that the dealership is the biggest rip off place to take your truck to. I quit taking it to the dealership when my warranty run out. I call the dealer and they said there is only one starter for my model/year. I also call Napa Parts and they said there is only one starter for that model/year also. My truck is a 1994 and not that it makes a difference but I said I had 120,000 miles on it but I look today and it has 108,000 miles on it. Just a baby compare to what alot of people have on their trucks.
I guess I am more of a nerd then a mechanic and didn't want to take the chance of something going wrong with it. Its a good thing its tax time and Uncle Sam is giving me back some of my money!
I was sure hoping for the $30 fix...
