- Joined
- Jul 17, 2016
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- 2,505
One of my "hobbies" is keeping my dated fleet of vehicles road worthy at the least possible cost. The latest effort in this series involved replacing the starter of my 2001 Toyota Tundra pickup (See shitty photo below). The vehicle, at the most inopportune times would fail to start. Turn the key. Nothing, no grinding, no whirling sounds, nothing. Seems the leads in the solenoid (the doodad on top of the starter motor that kicks the starter gear into the fly-wheel and delivers electricity to the motor) were, after 17 years, almost entirely burned or worn off. No contact, no power, meaning no nothing when turning the key to "start." (See shitty photo #2 below. The big part on the right with the gear sticking out is the solenoid.)
To get the truck to start required beating on the starter solenoid with the small end of a 2X4 while turning the key. With luck, eventually what was left of the points in the solenoid would get jarred enough to make the electrical contact; the solenoid would push the starter gear into the fly-wheel while the starter motor rotated the gear and the truck would start. (Eventually this method would cease to work.)
A Denso solenoid (original Toyota electrical equipment) repair kit available only from Hong Kong costs a paltry $10, but takes three weeks to arrive. The cheapest Stateside starter at $48 is a no-name aftermarket piece of junk, but it will start the truck for at least a few month and comes via UPS in a few days.
Solution: buy both the kit and the after market starter; install said starter & wait for the kit to arrive from Hong Kong. The picture above is the Denso starter, cleaned up a bit at the car wash, waiting for the kit. So far the no-name starter is working great and is unlikely to fail before the Denso is fixed and ready to go back in.
How did you spend your Saturday afternoon?
To get the truck to start required beating on the starter solenoid with the small end of a 2X4 while turning the key. With luck, eventually what was left of the points in the solenoid would get jarred enough to make the electrical contact; the solenoid would push the starter gear into the fly-wheel while the starter motor rotated the gear and the truck would start. (Eventually this method would cease to work.)
A Denso solenoid (original Toyota electrical equipment) repair kit available only from Hong Kong costs a paltry $10, but takes three weeks to arrive. The cheapest Stateside starter at $48 is a no-name aftermarket piece of junk, but it will start the truck for at least a few month and comes via UPS in a few days.
Solution: buy both the kit and the after market starter; install said starter & wait for the kit to arrive from Hong Kong. The picture above is the Denso starter, cleaned up a bit at the car wash, waiting for the kit. So far the no-name starter is working great and is unlikely to fail before the Denso is fixed and ready to go back in.
How did you spend your Saturday afternoon?
