Hello all!

I'm sure you have seen quite a few of these threads and would be able to point me in the right direction.

I own a 1995 ES 300 that has been having issues starting in the winter. The vehicle was running fine last night when I went to the grocery store which is about two miles away. I also had the car running for two 30 minute trips on Saturday night. This morning when I went to turn on the car, it doesn't start (not a single sound from the engine trying to turn over); however, the radio, lights, and dashboard lights all came on. I've had this problem off and on for the last two winters. Two weeks ago, I went to NAPA to use the pro-rated warranty on my Interstate battery and received a brand new battery.

If you need any more description of the problem, please let me know!

Thank you for your time and suggestions.

Regards,
Taur1ne

 

Well it's def not the battery then. Did you get any clicks or anything when you turned the key? I'm guessing you have 1. A starter solenoid that is starting to take a dump on you. or 2. Possible corrosion on the positive wire where it connects to the starter. It's probably the solenoid or brushes in the starter if it was completely silent when you tried to turn it over.

 

I don't hear any clicks when I turn the key. Thank you for the information!

 

Next time that happends tap the starter several times with the end of a broom stick, or something similar. You can tap it rad but not too hard.

See if it will than start. If it does, your problem is the starter.

Also check your battery cable terminals for looseness.. See if you can twist them on the battery post by hand.

Phil

 

Definitely check your terminals for good connections and corrosion.....

I was having problems starting a little while back and when I checked my terminals I was surprised how corroded they where, replaced terminals & battery haven't had a starting problem since...

 

Hello all again,

Thank you for your tips and suggestions. Last night my roommate and took my starter out and brought it to Advanced Auto Parts to replace. We had them test it and their tests come back as the starter not being the issue.

Here's some more information on past troubleshooting:
When I've ran into this issue before, we would jump my vehicle and we would wait only 10-15 seconds before trying to start my car. The car would start fine, so I believe this indicates that the connections are fine. We would monitor the voltage readings while attempting this. My old battery was chillin' at 12 volts while idle, but when I attempted to start the car, it would drop to 4.5-5 volts. We then replaced the battery and it ran for two weeks before doing the same thing. We tested the alternator while doing these other tests by unplugging the battery when the car was running. We had the car running only off of the alternator for 5-10 minutes with the defroster going at full blast and the radio / lights were on as well. I believe this indicates that the alternator is not the culprit.

Please let me know if there are any other tests that we can do with the voltage readings that would help identify the issue.

Thanks again,
Taur1ne

 

You should never run any car without a battery. You stand an excellent chance of ruining your alternator, and possibly other electronic equipment by doing so.

Phil

 

How do the battery cable terminals look?? Any corrosion / rust etc? Are they new / old?

 

+1

Are you sure your battery is at 12v at idle? That would indicate that your alternator isn't putting out enough as normal idle readings are above 12.6v because the alternator is charging the battery at 13.5 to 15v. The only case where 12v might be acceptable at a high idle (2000 RPM) is if you just jump started the car and were checking the the voltage then. Thats because as the battery becomes charged and the battery voltage increases, the charging voltage will also increase, until the voltage regulator limit is reached.

If you truly want to test your alternator and you've got a voltmeter, the easiest way to do that is to check the charging system voltage at the battery. Set your voltmeter to DC volts and place the red meter lead to battery + terminal and the black meter lead to battery ground. Make sure the reading is 12.4v or higher. If its higher than 12.6 (maybe car was recently driven) you may want to remove the surface charge on the battery by turning on your high beams for 1 minute. Then when the voltage of the battery is at least 12.4v start the engine and bring the RPM up to about 2000 and record the charge voltage. As previously stated, the charge voltage should be between 13.5 to 15v. If the voltage is higher than that you need to check that your alternator is properly grounded though in your case I don't think this will be a problem... If the voltage you recorded is lower than 13.5 then there is a fault with the wiring or the alternator.

Honestly I'm leaning towards a starter problem. Intermittent electrical problems are always a pain to track down. I mean if your not hearing any click when trying to start your car it could be a number of things related to the cranking system. Such as potentially defective ignition switch or neutral safety switch, or open in the starter motor control circuit; theft deterrent system fault; possible defective starter solenoid.

Anyways hope this information helps you out in some way.

 

Forgot to also mention one last thing about your old battery, dropping to 4.5-5 volts upon starting is WAY too low. A good battery with at least 75% state of charge (12.4 volts) should not drop below 9 volts when starting the car. However, you've replaced your battery so this really is just informative rather than helpful for your current problem.

 

I had the same problem, i took starter off and got it tested from PEPBOYS(where i bought it from) they said it was good, i clearly know it was bad, and they refused to change it. 3 different pepboys later and alot of complaining they replaced it. seriously a waste of my time. i went home slapped it on in 5 mins and car turned on

 

Toyota (nippon denso) starters are probably the best in the world, I have seen original starters with over 200k miles on the car have brushes that look like new. The only problems they ever seem to have is the contacts in the solenoid. I have seen on rare occasions internal wire corrosion in the signal wire (small wire) in the wire jacket at or near the connector. Have someone hold the key in the crank position while you jiggle this wire for a good test. On the other note, you should check your alternator, it sounds like you have some issues there.

 

You should always keep your oem starter and replace solenoid/contacts when they wear out.