Pickup won't start, starter inert, I hear a click

Maintenance/Repairs
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21

If you have a shop nearby that does this, it’s definitely something to consider. My father-in-law had his OEM starter repaired on his old VW Golf, they charged a fraction of the price of a new or remen one

22

I just searched near me, found several auto electric shops that are highly rated. I’ll use one of them next time.

23

I doubt a 4-cyl Toyota engine needs a 1.4KW starter and not a 1KW.

24

I suspect mine is a 1 kW, and it’s worked for 34 years, so I probably don’t need a 1.4. But it’s only $15 more. Would it make the car start more quickly, more surely? Would it last longer because it’s less-stressed? Maybe I want more than another 34 years.

I woke up at 4AM - it was still 74°. I got to work by 5 and got it out without lying underneath. It took me 2 hours because I had to work by feel and dropped my tools often. (I put a plastic sheet underneath so I could pull it out to retrieve dropped part easily.)

I tore the plastic cover off the contact of the thick cable. Is it necessary?

25

Stay with what is recommended for your vehicle. More is not always better and should, in the future, your batter get a little weak it may not start a 1.4kW starter but it will a 1kW.

26

The guy at the Zone of Auto told me he couldn’t test my starter because the shaft wouldn’t ‘extend’; he pulled on it to demonstrate that pulling on it wouldn’t pull it out. I think he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. What say you-all?

27

Either replace it or take it to a good auto electric shop and have it tested/rebuilt.

28

This isn’t the case with mine. There’s no solenoid in the part I removed. It appears to be the reduction gear type.

29

The starter solenoid does two things when it is activated. It pushes the bendix gear that is mounted on the shaft of the starter to match up with the ring gear on the transmission. At the same time, the solenoid also connects the main battery lead to the starter motor winding’s which makes the starter shaft crank the engine over using the bendix gear on the shaft. If the bendix gear doesn’t slide on the shaft and engage the ring gear then you don’t get to start the engine using the starter.