Potential Gear Reduction Starter Woes, 12H-T FJ62 (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Joined
Aug 7, 2020
Threads
3
Messages
12
Location
Roseville, CA
Hey Mud,
I've had my FJ62 with a 12H-T Swap for a little over a month now, Driving the thing is a blast.
Unfortunately, every 5-6 starts or so I get a click, no crank situation. It is one loud click, voltage meter drops as if it has a large draw, but the starter doesn't spin. I can sit there and trigger the key over and over with no success to get the motor to turn. This seems to be triggered only after the engine has been running, it is an all or nothing situation whether the truck will crank or not.
At this point every time it has happened I've been parked on enough of a hill I can roll, dump the clutch, and this shifts something which will allow the starter to function as normal. The first time I might have been successful with smacking the starter with a crowbar, but that didn't seem to work after that.
The starter battery seems fine, wiring is all good with dedicated leads to and from the starter to battery, and the swap was done by a reputable shop.

Any thoughts? Is this just my starter starting to show that it is on its last legs?
 
Most likely. All you need to do is stick a voltmeter on the solenoid when it happens, If it's receiving 12v when the ignition is turned to start, then it's the solenoid. You could rebuild or replace with a reman'd starter from Toyota.

You can jump the solenoid with the big power pole on starter to bypass ignition and skip the ignition test initially.

If starter is not receiving power during test, you need to back up the line to see if there are wire breaks all the way up to ignition switch. Lastly would be testing the ignition switch on the truck, you'd need to tap into the plug with a voltmeter to verify if power is coming out of switch. for the starter circuit.
 
Had a Honda in high school that would act like that. When it wouldn’t start I had to roll the car a few feet and then it would start. For some reason there was a place on the starter that wouldn’t engage or something like that.

I’ve helped a few people start their cars over the years by just pushing their car a few feet. Weird
 
That's the exact situation I'm running into.
I'm not 100% sure how these starters work, but it almost feels like the solenoid is trying to push the pinion forward, but it's binding up and not actually closing the contactor to the motor. I was about to pull the starter and look at it and then realized how deep in the bay that top bolt is. Looks like a project for this weekend to pull it out and tear it apart.
 
Mine was doing that. Pulled apart the solenoid and replaced 3 parts.

Screenshot_20200916-163900.png
 
I got the starter pulled and ordered that rebuild. Im not sure how worn this actually is, but for $15 it might as well be done.
IMG_20200917_161432.jpg
 
I got the starter pulled and ordered that rebuild. Im not sure how worn this actually is, but for $15 it might as well be done.
View attachment 2438642
Your contacts are not nearly as worn down and look nearly new. However that ring (I don't know the correct terms) on the moving part, looks much worse. I'd like so see what would happen if you filed the copper parts smooth. Then swap their positions on install. But for $15, I wouldn't waste my time.
 
When you tighten the lugs on the side of the starter, you can twist those copper contacts so that only the corners touch your solenoid plunger. Note your photo.

Tricky to avoid, but best to avoid this. I think your contacts are significantly twisted, and cannot deliver the current they should if they were co-planar with the plunger. I would replace the plunger and twist those lugs until the contacts are closer to flat.
 
Quick question...are you running a starter relay? I’ve had similar issues before and changed the relay fixing my issue.
 
When you tighten the lugs on the side of the starter, you can twist those copper contacts so that only the corners touch your solenoid plunger. Note your photo.

Tricky to avoid, but best to avoid this. I think your contacts are significantly twisted, and cannot deliver the current they should if they were co-planar with the plunger. I would replace the plunger and twist those lugs until the contacts are closer to flat.

So in the end, Amazon or USPS lost my package. I reassembled the starter solenoid and took this into account tapping them flat against the fiber spacer, and have had a successful start every time.
Thank you Steve, starter issue solved, now onto the leaky axle!
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom