Recurring Problem with 62 - Electrical

[mwood5]

Man, this is making me crazy....

I've got what's now becoming a recurring problem with my 89 FJ62, where it will simply not start sometimes. It happened a few months back and I had Young (here in dallas...used to work at Cool Cruisers...basically a great mechanic) replace the alt for me. At the time, he thought that's what was needed.
I guess I should back up a bit. Here's what's happening....
New battery...voltage meter is showing just under 12v on the dash. That's down a bit from a few weeks ago when it always was well over the 12v mark. I can drive around and it's fine. Make a stop for lunch...as I did today...and come back out to leave and the key turns to nary a sound. I sit for a few more minutes and try again and it starts. Meter shows the "just under 12v" that it did before.

This was the same issue that was happening before and he changed the alt for me. That fixed it until just about two weeks ago when this started again. It did it once about 8-9 days ago and then again today. I guess I need to put it in his shop, but was wondering if you guys had any ideas. Just to recap....battery about 4-5 months old...as is the alt.

later,

m

 

[Wile E Coyote]

1st place I'd look for with a hot no-start would be at the starter. Does it seem to only happen after the motor is hot or been driven?
Based upon your description above, no way would I have replaced the alt to fix this. Don't rely on the in-dash voltmeter for diagnostics, get your voltage #'s with a voltmeter/multimeter.

 

[Front Range 4x4]

Sounds like the Neutral Safety Switch to me. I had a recurring issue where the truck wouldn't start (nothing when turning the key) periodically for no apparent reason. Seemed to go in spurts, fine for a month or so then gave me fits for a couple weeks then pass, etc.

New NSS and all's been fine since - expensive part so make sure that's the problem before laying down the cash. Sorry, I can't recall the testing procedure but it's in the FSM.

 

[mwood5]

Yeah, Young checked out the NSS a year ago and it was fine then. I think that was another problem...oh, that was the fact that my reverse lights don't work. We thought that might be the NSS and looked into it then. But, at that time, it tested out fine. I guess I could look at that again.
As far as the alt last time, it was bad. I think I've more than likely had/or got a few different issues. The alt might not have been causing this, but it got changed as well. I also forgot to mention in the last post that about a year ago, I had the starter replaced at the dealership. So, I'm hoping it's fine.

m

 

[Ming89FJ62]

I like the NSS scenario. Have you tried jiggling the shifter when you get a no start - or try moving the shifter to Neutral and and starting? Had to replace ours a few years back to correct the reverse lights no coming on. Ran around $180 then and took about 45 min to replace - not a big deal.

Also a simple thing to check is your battery connections.