1981 Toyota Corolla won't start/crank when hot, starts when cool

Anyone out there still driving and loving their older Toyota? My 1981 Toyota Corolla wagon is beloved but developed a problem wherein when it gets warmed up and it is turned off, it may not start again until it cools down. When I say start I mean no crank, the starter will not turn over. All other electrical functions continue to work. The required wait is usually about 20 minutes and it will start again. I replaced the ignition switch in my steering column about four times (why four is another story) and the problem persisted. Web research indicates the starter motor should be replaced, that because the starter is close to the exhaust manifold it can get quite hot and the phenomenon is called ‘heat soak’ where the electrical conductivity within the starter becomes overwhelmed by the heat, raising the resistance to the point where it will not conduct adequately. But I just replaced the starter motor and the problem is still the same! I am quite perplexed. I was so sure that would solve it. Any wisdom?

There was a call on the show just withing the past few weeks with this exact same problem and Ray said to put a bag of ice on the starter to cool it off. I think he was just kidding, later he said the solution was to replace the starter, as this is a common problem with Toyotas. Sounds like replacing the starter didn’t work for you. hmm … well, you could complain to Ray and Tom I guess … lol …

You may have got a bad replacement, not an uncommon thing, or a installation problem (more common), those are always a possibility. Auto parts stores will often test a questionable starter if you take it to them. I have an early 90’s Corolla and have had starter problems, never the “won’t crank when hot” though. But I’ve investigated what all needs to be working for it to crank.

  • Battery must be good, pass a load test, fully charged, and the connections clean.

  • Both terminals on the starter (main power from battery, and start terminal) must measure at least 9.6 volts during attempted cranking. If either is below 10.5 volts during attempted cranking, your best bet is to find out why first. Measure between the terminal and the starter case.

  • If a manual transmission, the clutch safety switch must be working and have low enough “on” resistance. Likewise with an automatic transmission, the neutral safety switch.

  • On manuals, sometimes there is a separate small starter relay under the dash area. That must be working correctly.

  • Ignition switch must have low enough “on” resistance.

That’s something to start with anyway. Best of luck.

Okay, similar problem, different vehicle (hope it was ok to revive this thread, if not, admin please delete and I can start a new post).

2002 Nissan Frontier, the starter (could be original, not sure) “started” acting up on me in 2020. I noticed that after driving for awhile, then shutting the engine off for a few mins, and restarting, it would crank the engine slower than normal. Didn’t think too much of it, but over time, and shorter drive times, it got worse. To the point of where it turned the engine over once, then completely gave out.

I replaced that starter with what I thought was a new starter, but later found out it was a reman. Well that starter was ok for about 2 years (which “coincidentally” is the warranty on the starter), then it started showing the same symptoms.

I assumed the problem was heat soak. And I concluded that maybe the original starter was built with higher quality components and was able to handle heat better, and that the reman starter probably has cheap components that are breaking down faster.

So I put a starter wrap blanket on to see if that made a difference. Nope.

I bought a NEW starter shortly after the reman started acting up, but haven’t put it in yet because this thing is a PITA to remove, so I would like to “conduct” the proper tests to make sure I have the correct diagnosis. @George_San_Jose1 gave some good recommendations, is there anything else I should look for?

Thanks!

The old rear wheel drive toyotas had a ground connection on the firewall to the rocker arm cover. Detach the firewall end and scrape the paint off the firewall where the wire connects and that usually fixes it. Reattach the wire.

Would that be due to vibration of the ground connection at the firewall, and not heat-related?

Ground is on a painted surface. After years of use… That used to be a cure on 76, 78 and 79. It might work on 81. Clean that ground and you may not have to walk. Sorry about going back to this old thread.

I think you missed the part that the new OP is driving a 2002 Nissan Frontier, and not a 81 Corolla…

Your 1st starter lasted 18 years, sounds like you just bought a junk replacement starter (If bought from AZ, there is your problem), I would just buy a quality starter from Advance or Napa and be done with it…

Make sure all your chassis to engine and battery grounds are all tight and free of corrosion, and no corrosion on the battery pos wire either…

When it acts up, you can try using one cable (jumper cables, pos or ground don’t matter, but only one) hook one end to the battery neg terminal and the other end to a metal part of the engine (bracket or something), see if it helps, if it does you are loosing ground from the battery to the engine, if it doesn’t help, then do the same thing but instead of the engine hook the cable to the chassis (non painted)… If you can get to it, you can even run the cable straight to the body of the starter case… you can also run a cable from the engine to the chassis… just a few quick tricks to see if it is a ground issue or just a junk starter… I can generally do all that in a short period of time, so not a long process…

Or you can break out the DVOM and start chasing grounds and checking resistance to see which one if any have too much resistance when hot… But I would try the cable trick to test and see where you need to be looking 1st…

Just my thoughts…

Now that I’m up to date, some Nissans and Hondas had a problem with a relay that wouldn’t work but I think it failed on a sunny hot day. I could not fix the Nissan minivan but I tried.

You want to perform a starter amp draw test to determine if the starter is being effected by heat.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/innova-3347-digital-multimeter-inductive-amp-probe:-standard-multimeter-test-leads-measures-parasitic-draw-1860592?cid=Shopping-Google-Organic_Feed-Product-1860592&srsltid=AfmBOoqU1kJb8Y7qMnnaoYTWF4xIl9WaklrZeiG0HxwTjG5OY_jhcch25xg

Tester