99 Toyota Tacoma: Grinding Noise on Cold Start

@TACOMATRON
Thanks For The Update. That Was A Good Decision To Leave Your Vehicle At The Shop So They Could Experience The Problem For Themselves
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It is good to know you’ve found a shop that will work with you and that you can trust to get the old Tacoma back to normal.

I’m curious, was this the same shop that recently installed the first replacement starter?
Did they stand behind their work?
Did they charge you any additional money to correct this?

CSA

I’ve been going to this shop for almost 20 years. I will mention that when I had my starter replaced about 10 years ago (which was the only other time I did replace the starter) there were other mechanics that worked on it and it seemed like they knew what was going on when I described the problem the first time (slow to crank, or wouldn’t crank until around the 2nd or 3rd turnover). The starter was replaced and everything was fine. 10 years later, pretty much all the mechanics are newer. They didn’t charge me because the starter is under a lifetime warranty as I purchased the starter through them. They do stand behind their work since I’ve been going there for the last 20 years but since the newer mechanics more than likely didn’t know what was going on and they needed to hear the actual grinding noise, that tells me that they are still learning. I decided to get my transmission, oil change and door handle replaced while my Tacoma was over there from November 11th thru the 16th. The total bill was 290 dollars they knocked it down to 250. Every little bit helps. They know I want to take care of my truck as I’ve expressed this to them when I had the issue with the starter this go round. They did mention that they respect that I’ve been going there for the last 20 years. :smile: