We have a Toyota forklift at work. We like it but the engine was shot, so I had a new one installed. Ever since (about 1 year) we?ve had starting problems. For about 4 month it started reliably, now it is very unreliable. We are on the 3rd starter (the shop said they had a batch of bad remanufactured ones). The last one was OEM and lasted about 3-4 months before displaying the same problem. At that time they jumpered out the ignition switch, so we could start it with a separate push button. This worked for a while. Last week we put in another starter and it started reliably for one day. Now it will start or not depending on who knows what.
The symptoms are always the same: Turn the switch to start, click but starter will not turn. Battery 12.5-12.7 volts. Voltage: Battery positive to negative post on the starter is the same. When it won?t start the voltage drops to 11.9 over about 10 seconds. Current: Peak of about 700 amps when it does start, about 20 amps while holding the key when it doesn?t start. Positive cable to starter looks good, but I could not measure the voltage when trying to start since the connection is on the bottom of the starter.
Neutral safety switch doubtful since the starter clicks when it?s in neutral and nothing happens when it?s in gear.
My guess is the starter is not being installed correctly and it is not meshing with the flywheel properly.
That said many supplies of rebuilt starters supply junk.
When I had the same problem on my Ford I added a jumper cable from the positive post of the battery to the starter relay. No joy, it still would’nt crank.
Added the jumper from negative post to engine block & it fired right up. Replaced the last 6 inches at the battery end of the cable with a pig tail. Problem solved.
Add a jumper to the ccables & see what it does.
Thanks, I think it’s coming down to the positive cable, but I hate to keep replacing things and hoping. When you had your problem did you measure voltage at the starter?
Adding the jumper to each cable is all I did.
If you do find that the positive cable is bad, you can pick up a 5 or 6 inch battery pig tail at any auto parts store for 7 or 8 bucks.
The cable should be OK other then where the battery acid eats it away.
I have a 22 year old cable spliced to a 3 year old pig tail & it’s working fine. Quick & simple fix.