intermittent ignition problems

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D

deacon blues

10 Year
Joined
Aug 4, 2013
Threads
2
Messages
6
Location
Four Corners
I have a '99 with 185k miles, and turning the ignition at times does not start, engine doesn't turn over. Very intermittent and no specific pattern. New battery, no difference. Dealer checked wires and connections and starter seem ok. Could it be the ignition switch? Turning the key to accessory lights up normal. When it doesn't turn over, I twist the key on and off a few times and it eventually turns over and starts. Any thoughts ? Thanks in advance!

Chuck
 
deacon blues said:
, Thanks for the thread reference. Dealer said starter was next thing to inspect. And, they did say it was time-consuming to get to it.
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Yes, a bit of a PITA to get to, but from my experience, I'd almost guarantee that it is the source of your problem.

I just got through addressing this issue (last month) on my son's LC, and it's one of the few times I want my 1FZ back. I think I'd like to kick the engineer, that decided where to locate the starter on the 2uz, in the privates.

Every time I have had to deal with this (on 80 or 100 series), it has been more likely to act up on "cold" starts and the failures to crank slowly get more frequent and require more tries before it will start.
 
Look for dash lights to dim when trying to start. That is a sign starter on way it's out. Most times but not always will dash lights dim.

Assuming good battery throughput of over 12.6 Volts. No immobilizer issue. Try this also:

When you've a no start condition. Slip transmission to N and try again. If each time shifting to N it does start. Then likely switch on transmission.
 
Sounds almost like my issue that was definitely starter. However, my starter has been replaced with a reman'd unit a number of years ago, got approximately 40k miles on the reman'd before it started having issues. Biggest thing for mine was the fact that I determined it was very much temperature related. When we would get cold snaps during the evening (getting blew about 40*) the next morning I would have issues with the starter. Above 40* or close to that during the night would yield little to no issues with the starter. It would only ever intermittently give me issues when warm.

New starter definitely has a different sound to it when kicking over, but I do feel like it was definitely the starter. I have the old one (paid to keep it) as I had a shop take care of the job for me, and will dig into it to see if the contacts were actually worn or not. Seems like that majority of the last 5-10yrs of my cruisers life was a driveway ornament so that could play into why the contacts were giving grief. If nothing else, I will have a rebuilt spare starter should the new reman'd ever decide to go out.
 
i agree. same thing happened to me. intermittently started. occasionally i could get it to start by hitting the starter switch rapidly until it finally cranked. i bought starter contacts trying to save money but turns out once i got in there that one of the bearings in the starter had also failed. had to buy a denso which wasnt too expensive but killed an extra day waiting for the starter from napa. definately it's just time consuming and uncomfortable to work on. here's how i got to my work space.
20191021_120842.jpg

uneven wear on starter contacts is the problem
20191021_130419-jpg.2243236

part numbers for contacts
20191021_130158-jpg.2243238

my grenaded bearing
20191021_132821-01.jpeg

i was thinking of ordering and replacing the bearing as well on my old starter. so for future reference this is the new denso starter bearing number which should fit the old one when i decide to get around to it.
20191022_085650-01.jpeg


20191021_130419.jpg


20191021_130158.jpg

edit... not sure why it keeps posting pictures twice. can't seem to delete. sorry.
 
NICE!!!! Will be writing down those numbers (all parts) so that I can do this in the future. Hopefully the new reman'd doesn't ever decide to crap out on me but you never know. I definitely use the truck more than the last owner, but it was a "toy" to him and is my DD so that is a huge difference in usage right there.
 
Keep in mind we've two different starters. 98-02, 03-09. The contact are different and not sold by Toyota, for 03-07.
 
2001LC said:
Keep in mind we've two different starters. 98-02, 03-09. The contact are different and not sold by Toyota, for 03-07.
Click to expand...
Good to know... that question was rattling around in my head.
 
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