Starter issues. Can water damage a starter?

[KingSpence]

Alright, I purchased a new re-manufactured Toyota starter in April of this year, and everything has been great until a few weeks ago. Sometimes, usually when the truck has sat for a few hours and dead cold, whether it is outside or in my heated garage when I crank it, it cranks like the battery is dead, very slow and sluggish. I had the batteries checked and they showed almost 1000 CCA's each, all the connections have been cleaned and tightened, and the batteries are fully charged.

So here is a scenario, this morning I had the truck plugged in, I charged the batteries over night, all the connections are good, and it was -8C (18F). I ran the glow plugs 3 times, and when I went to crank the starter it lugged about 2-3 rotations of the engine, and stopped, while I'm still holding the key to start it, about 2-3 seconds later it's almost like the starter broke free and starter spinning quickly, how it normally should, and the engine fired right up. At this point I can shut the truck off, and restart it and the starter cranks fine. Almost every morning I have the issue with the slow, sluggish cranking, but this is the first time the starter actually stalled itself momentarily.

What worries me is the warranty procedure with Denso. They want the starter sent in, and they check it to determine whether it is faulty or not before a refund is given, but the starter works fine once the truck is started, so I'm worried it will test fine on their bench and get sent back to me. I would need to buy a new starter to keep the truck driving for the 3 weeks they quote turnaround time, and I would hate to be stuck with two starters; especially when they run for $300 a piece.

All I can think of is I crossed some deep water a few months back. The truck stalled out when I dropped into the rut, I think I slipped off the clutch, and I had to re-start the truck in the water. I'm thinking water may have poured into the starter upon engaging it? I attached the video below.

I took the starter to get checked at Canadian Tire, they put 12v to it and it engaged on the bench. They could not tell me how many amps it was drawing on the no load test, which I found useless.

Basically, everything leads to the starter, but as stated its not a consistent issue that happens all the time. If water has damaged it, am I able to pull the cap off the motor and tell? Will there be anything I can check myself to give an indication if it's damaged?

Thanks
Spencer

YouTube - SOA BJ60 Land Cruiser. Hitting a mud pit with water up to the windows. Pt.1

YouTube - BJ60 Land Cruiser. Hitting a mud pit with water up to the windows. Pt.2

 

[RockDoc]

My vote is to take it apart to clean and dry it. Muddy water has given me intermittant trouble before, but with time it dried out and cured itself (summer).

 

[Elbert]

sure...water can damage any of the electrical components.

 

[Mark W]

Water and silt are the most common "damage" cause for a starter.

But if it is an intermittent thing, I would first check all connections and cables. Even if they look good at a glance... disconnect and clean all contacts... ground cables too. And check the cables themselves. I had a positive battery cable fail during the trek this year. The cable corroded INSIDE the cast on cable head. I thought the starter was the problem. Charla pull started me for two days before I tracked the real problem down!


Mark...

 

[KingSpence]

The alternator in my truck puts out 12.8 volts on idle, 13.8v at 1400rpm I was told it was too low. I have a spare alternator that I had tested, and was told it was charging at 14.5v at 55amps. Last night I install this new alternator and start the truck, and it is only putting out ~7 volts!! What the hell? To make matter worse, I started and shut the truck off 3 times in about ten minutes, and each time the starter got more sluggish. The fourth time it didn't have enough juice to start the truck; I tried, but it just couldn't turn the engine over quick enough, soon not even being able to turn the engine over. I had the batteries tested, they were almost dead, but after the machine charged them they showed 985 cranking amps each. I brought them home, fully charged, and this is where my problem sits as of now:

With the batteries in the truck, they both read 12.5v. Running the glow plugs they drop down to 12v, but when cranking the starter over they drop down to 3-5 volts, and the starter cannot crank the truck over. Can someone confirm for me what the battery should read upon cranking the engine over, because I've got a feeling 3-5 volts is unacceptable. Where the starter cable leads to the battery, gets very hot when trying to crank it over a few times.

 

[shancerlelby]

3 to 5 on any 12 volt rig is not good. There has to be some issue. With a good 12 volt charger on the system crank it over and see what it drops to then. 12.4 at rest to 11.4 on crank is good much more is suspect. It's Ih8mud for a reason. Mud wreaks havok on parts lol.

random thought here but could it be leaking fuel into one hole and creating a hydrolock? I tryed to pour diesel into a 60 once and got alittle crazy and hydrolocked it, wouldnt crank over, pulled a glow plug to crank it over and get rid of the excess fuel and it fired right up. live and learn :S

 

[Randy88FJ62]

Starters are easy to disassemble and clean. Check the two copper contacts and plunger to make sure they are in good shape and then reassemble. You can also disassemble the coil attached to the starter and confirm that the two bearings are in good condition. Regrease them for insurance, especially since you had the starter in mud. The whole disassembly, inspection, and cleaning should take less than two hours going at a slow pace.

 

[Elbert]

Any alternator has to put out above 12v to charge the battery. So normally the output of an alternator is around 13volts. Anything less than 13volts and the alt needs to be fixed or replaced. Need to look at the voltage regulator. If both batteris passed load test and show 12volts or better than I don't think the batteries are your issue.