2003 4.7 V8. 250K miles. I have had it for 15 years or so. Never had a problem with the starter before. I believe it is original.
Over the last couple of days the starter has started to sound slower. Like it is struggling. And it sounds more "whiney" to my uneducated ear. To me, it sounds like the starter barely has the strength to turn the engine. And it takes a second or two before it starts -- definitely longer than it did before. It hasn't failed to start the engine yet, but I feel like it is getting there. And I don't want to leave anyone stranded.
The battery is only a year old. I pulled the terminals and cleaned them up. I drove down to O'Reilly's and they tested the battery and it was good. Their little machine said there was a problem with the starter circuit. But it did not give details.
So my initial thought is that it must be the starter. But it occurs to me that it might be a problem with a relay or something. What is the chance of that? There are a couple of "starter relay assemblies" listed on the Toyota parts site but I don't know if those are ever the source of a problem like this.
Here are three videos of three starts I did in row. I did these in the morning -- after fully charging the battery. Does it sound like a bad starter to you?
Start 1
Start 2
Start 3
Directory of all three here
Thanks
Jared
PS: For the observant this is not a UZJ100 or an LX470. It is a 2003 Sequoia. But I asked this question in that forum and didn't get an answer. So I thought I would sneak into here and see what people think. Hopefully I will not get into too much trouble.
Over the last couple of days the starter has started to sound slower. Like it is struggling. And it sounds more "whiney" to my uneducated ear. To me, it sounds like the starter barely has the strength to turn the engine. And it takes a second or two before it starts -- definitely longer than it did before. It hasn't failed to start the engine yet, but I feel like it is getting there. And I don't want to leave anyone stranded.
The battery is only a year old. I pulled the terminals and cleaned them up. I drove down to O'Reilly's and they tested the battery and it was good. Their little machine said there was a problem with the starter circuit. But it did not give details.
So my initial thought is that it must be the starter. But it occurs to me that it might be a problem with a relay or something. What is the chance of that? There are a couple of "starter relay assemblies" listed on the Toyota parts site but I don't know if those are ever the source of a problem like this.
Here are three videos of three starts I did in row. I did these in the morning -- after fully charging the battery. Does it sound like a bad starter to you?
Start 1
Start 2
Start 3
Directory of all three here
Thanks
Jared
PS: For the observant this is not a UZJ100 or an LX470. It is a 2003 Sequoia. But I asked this question in that forum and didn't get an answer. So I thought I would sneak into here and see what people think. Hopefully I will not get into too much trouble.