Here's some wisdom from the MKIV list about starters. Bottom line: they are a PITA to get to, thus the high labor charge, but a competent DIYer should be able to do it.
Chris,
Take the starter out and take it to a local repair shop that rebuilds starters._ Ask for new contacts._ You will see that they get very worn._ Cost me $5 for parts._ I did the labor myself._ They told me what to do._ It was_actually quite simple._ I was replacing my clutch at the time so I had the starter out._ Removing the starter is the hard part._ See the clutch replacement article for further directions on removing the starter.
I've also included a longer post on a starter problem.
Good luck,
Steve
-----Original Message-----
Subject: [mkiv] Dead Starter Fix -Long
_
I had a issue with my car not starting. Turn the key and all I had was a
"click". I let go of the click and I had another click.
Checked battery. 13 volts.
I crawled under the car and removed the hot wire, starter wire and the two
bolts holding the starter in. I took my battery and grounded the starter
chassis with negative and hooked the positive upto the hot wire stud and a
small jumper from the hotwire stud to the black plastic connector on the
starter.
The gear would engage (solinoid) to push the gear out but it would not spin.
I removed the three screws on the back of the solinoid (part where gear
shaft extends out of) and pulled the spring loaded shaft out of the solinoid
housing.
When power is applied to the starter there is a copper ring along the back
that energizes and becomes a magnet. This forces the shaft out when that
happens it completes the circuit to turn the starter motor. This turns your
flywheel to start your car. When you let go of the key the solinoid
disengages and lets the gear fall back down into the starter to get out of
the way of the flywheel and breaks the circuit so that it will quit
spinning.
That copper ring in the back of mine was *highly* coroded. Also were the two
copper brushes in the top of the solinoid.
I took a metal "tootsie roll" and attatched to a drill press and let it spin
to clean the insides out. Sand paper is way to coarse and will pivit the
soft copper. You want a nice shiny smooth finish.
The "tootsie roll" as I call them are the round disc's with metal whiskers
hanging off.
I then removed the motor housing studs. Two 8mm studs. This allowed me to
remove the starter housing. Here you will find the gears. I cleaned them and
applied a heavy gear lube to ensure smooth operation and get rid of old
dust. From here you will find the motor armature. It is suspended inside a
coil with bearings at the back. There are also two brushes at the bottom
here.
I found very heavy corosion here as well. I took a small screwdriver and
literaly scraped the corosion away then tootsie rolled the rest till it was
clean and shiny.
Anywhere you see a solder joint or where contact is made be sure these are
very clean. Re grease all of the gears. Also there are two rubber gasket
o-rings where the two housings close back down on each other. Be very
careful. I took some white lithium grease to these areas to condition the
o-rings and ensure water tightness.
Re assembled the starter and it works like its brand new. Around 2 hours of
work to make sure everything was perfectly clean and assembled properly.
**REASON FOR FAILURE**
I got lucky. This failure was from a corosion. Usually the brushes are
burned/wore down and those have to be replaced. Which you can get at any
starter/alternator repair shop and do it yourself.
I found (by tracing the stains) where water had been entering the starter.
There is a copper cable that is jumpered from the starter motor to the
solinoid housing. Where the jumper enters the starter motor housing there is
a rubber grommet. When the two housings are joined together the metal of one
housing has to slide in between the grommet. When this starter was built a
lip of the grommet had been tucked under. I know it has to have been done
like this during assembly because the grommet was creased. That makes me
think it had been like this for a long time. This is where water entered.
I took and pushed the crease over and held it for a while. Stuck it back in
the housing and made sure the metal was in between. This makes it as water
tight as possible.
Just to again inflate the quality ego of the entire 2jz-gte system the
starter housing was machined 100% all the way through. The motor armature
was balanced!! You can actually see where they removed less than 10th of an
ounce of metal to balance it on the shaft.
So, the next time your car will just click, and you are sure you dont have a
dead battery... Do this and it will work fine and save you a bench charge at
a starter repair shop.
Quite impressive. Pictures are to follow.
Brandon
-----Original Message-----
Subject: [mkiv] starter problem
This morning I went out to start the car and it clicked just like a car with I bad starter solenoid. My HKS timer said that I had good voltage (12.45v with pump running) so_ bumped the starter several times until I got it to turn over._
Do our cars have the solenoid built in to the starter? ( I_assume they_do)_Do you_have to replace the entire starter_or_can you just replace_the part that is not working. This sounds like a job for (gasp) Toyota, but I_thought I_would poll the list.
I looked on the FAQ and tech and did not see_any information. Please direct me if there is a link_concerning this issue. Also, is this common for a 90k mile supra?
_
Chris
94 TT
bpu auto
