Good morning everybody. Well i jusr had to replace the starter. The car was driving fine when it shuts off on the street while my sister was driving. It was out of gas. 🫠. So i drove up there and after adding new gas. The car would not crank at all. And i could see smoke coming out of the starter. I got a replacement swap it up and now i just hear a single click. Any ideas? Im lost here. Any help would be appreciated.

 

You need more diagnostics. Check for stored codes, check the battery, check your starter wiring. Someting else is going on the make it shut down while driving.

 

It ran out of gas and starter was failing already. When i got to the car everytime i hit the start bottom the starter was smoking. I replaced it and tried with a new battery and nothing.

 

Without hands-on diagnosis, I can only hypothesize .. so this is my hunch ... so please verify.

When you hear click and nothing the possible reasons are.

1. Engine locked up [hydro-locked] ... just put a wrench on the main pulley and turn it over. 2 turns takes that thing out. If unable to turn remove spark plugs and try again. [very unlikely scenario].

2. Check the terminals and thick wires are clamped securely and not loose. A bad connection does not allow proper large current flow.

3. Bad battery[listing here, but you have verified]

4. Bad starter, specially the solenoid. Was the old solenoid re-used? The solenoid is the large relay attached on the side of the starter motor.

5. Did some one bech test the new starter. Infant mortality rate is high for these items. New does not guarantee working part.

Salim

 

If the engine has seized, the starter will overheat and smoke. Is there engine oil showing on the dipstick?

 

Yes engine has oil and looks good.

 

Ok will try this pulley thing today. Its weird only has 150k miles. Its a 2015 and oil seems good on the stick.

2. I checked the terminals and wires. They all seems fine no corrotion or loose connection.

3. I swap it with my batery and still no go. And the baterry of the lexus did turn on my car.

4. Got a replacement starter from advance a carquest brand. Could be that it came bad. 🫠

5. No they did not. The stater was sealed on a box..

6. I checked the coolant level and oi llevels and consistency and they seemed pretty good. Why would the engine hidrolocked by itself.

 

What they said, you need to put a wrench on the main pulley and try to turn the engine to rule out a seized motor.

Do you know the maintenance history? How long have you had it?

 

Yeah im gonna try that as soon as i get home. Hopefully is not that. My sister bought it a yeae ago. And was working fine. We checked the carfax. Previously serviced at lexus dealer only and mileage was accurate on the car with the carfax reports from the dealer.

 

Is it normal for this models to hydrolocked? I dont understand.

 

Wonder if there is a starter relay. ?

 

I don't understand how an engine that runs out of fuel would suddenly hydrolock either.

You describe a car that had a starter problem to begin with. Then it's driven until it runs out of fuel. I'm guessing that the driver kept cranking the starter trying to get an engine with no fuel to start until the already failing starter was totally fried. Then you arrive and repeatedly try to start the engine resulting in nothing but smoke from the starter. "It ran out of gas and starter was failing already. When i got to the car everytime i hit the start bottom the starter was smoking."

In any event, manually turning the engine to eliminate the possibility of hydrolock as @salimshah suggested sounds easy enough.

 

Yeah i just got home and the car is here but my sister took the key with her so i cant do anything today. Fmlog. The anxiety of knowing if its locked or not its gonna kill me.

 

Yes there is one. I just ordered it. Should be here tomorrow.

 

check ground under battery for rust. How many times did the starter turn on after installation? Was it poorly installed? Or defective?