jonmagnum

hello everyone, upon leaving work today i had encountered a problem with my rx 1st gen. upon starting my car, i notice i had left something inside at work so i turned the car off (key was out of ignition) and when i did, the car attempted to start (just attempting, didn't start). it kept trying to start for a couple minutes (5-6 mins or so) until the battery was drained and then there was no power (everything was off). so i thought it should be fine after i jumped the car, however when i tried to jump it, there was no power but it kept trying to start, i can here it cranking. however the (cranking sound) was low cause the car didn't have much power. i am concern, don't know what to do. has anyone ever encountered this problem? is this a known problem?

code58

Jon, I can't tell you what the problem is but the 1st thing I would suspect would be the ignition switch. The actual starter contacts in the ignition switch. There is always a possibility it's the starter solenoid itself, but that's pretty rare. You could charge the battery, which you need to anyway, and when you reinstall the battery, unplug the plug on the starter solenoid. Just push the clip to release it. Then connect the cables on the battery and use a jumper wire to the contact where the unplugged plug goes. If the starter runs when you connect the jumper to the + on the battery and the contact in the unplugged cavity and stops when you disconnect (just need to touch and remove) then the starter solenoid is OK. I believe it is most likely the contacts in the ignition switch (not the key tumblers, but what the tumblers operate), although there are definitely other places that could be shorted. You may want to check your starter out also because to run until it ran the battery down could have overheated the starter and solenoid and have been VERY hard on them.

The starter isn't supposed to be run for more than 30 sec. at a time without giving it a rest to cool, which would be 5 or 10 min. at least.

jonmagnum

one thing i forgot to mention was that when i tried jumping the car, there was no power (lights and everything else off) but the starting kept turning. also, there were sparks coming from the battery terminal. when i took the jumper cables off, i also notice the cables were extremely hot. btw, this morning i unplugged the ignition cables that goes to the ignition switch and tried to jumped; got the same results, no power with the starter turning. i'm anticipation on changing the starter/solenoid soon. im praying it will resolved the issue and that nothing else is wrong.

code58

Jon- it's not completely clear to me exactly what cables you're referring to. (see below) IF you are referring to the small wire that plugs into the solenoid (there are only the 2 cables and the one plug in) The one hot comes from the battery and goes out the other side of the solenoid into the starter motor. The small wire with the plug in is the trigger wire for the starter solenoid. IF that is what you disconnected and the starter still ran when you jumped it, that means the solenoid is stuck inside. The solenoid isn't very cheap and also not readily available from parts stores. IF it is only the contacts and the plunger, they can be obtained quite cheaply from an online source. (I just recently replaced them in my DIL's RX- very high quality and very cheap) Let me know. The starter is easy to remove and the contacts pretty easy to replace.

Happy Thanksgiving!

BMBLBEE

We had a problem with our about a year ago. The starter would stay engaged for a few seconds after the car started. It was an intermittent condition and the engagement would last anywhere from 3 to 8 seconds. I picked up a rebuilt starter (common toyota part) from a local rebuild shop for less than $100 and changed it out (quite an easy job) and no problems since.

The guy at the rebuild shop said sticky solonoid was fairly commom. Suggest you try a new starter & hope that fixes your problem.

jonmagnum

thanks for the help and support guys. i figured out what the cause was. i changed the starter and that was all she wrote!!