Post by steve on Feb 17, 2016 17:35:42 GMT -5
I thought I'd write up a resolved problem just because it caused me so much grief troubleshooting it.
This occurred on a Toyota Tacoma pickup but the same thing could happen on other vehicles. I looked at my Toyota Matrix and it has the same style of battery connector so it's definitely not unique to the Tacoma.
The symptoms:
On a very intermittent basis it would act as though it had a bad ignition switch or bad starter solenoid (relay). Turn the key and nothing would happen. Turn the key again and it would start as though nothing was wrong.
It could have been quite a number of things but I talked with a guy who was a Toyota mechanic and he said it was definitely the starter. The vehicle had well over 100k miles on it so I replaced the starter. That was not a trivial repair and it didn't resolve the problem.
The diagnosis and repair:
The battery connector on the positive post is a clamp that then connects to the rest of the electrical system. It has a flat area with a bolt through it. The cable connectors go over the bolt and are tightened down with a nut and washer. The connection was tight but there was a small amount of corrosion between the battery connector and the cables that connect to it. A quick wire brushing and cleaning off any leftover dust before reconnecting and the problem was solved.
This isn't to say that it could not have been a bad:
ignition switch
ground connection
starter
solenoid(relay)
connection at the starter
This occurred on a Toyota Tacoma pickup but the same thing could happen on other vehicles. I looked at my Toyota Matrix and it has the same style of battery connector so it's definitely not unique to the Tacoma.
The symptoms:
On a very intermittent basis it would act as though it had a bad ignition switch or bad starter solenoid (relay). Turn the key and nothing would happen. Turn the key again and it would start as though nothing was wrong.
It could have been quite a number of things but I talked with a guy who was a Toyota mechanic and he said it was definitely the starter. The vehicle had well over 100k miles on it so I replaced the starter. That was not a trivial repair and it didn't resolve the problem.
The diagnosis and repair:
The battery connector on the positive post is a clamp that then connects to the rest of the electrical system. It has a flat area with a bolt through it. The cable connectors go over the bolt and are tightened down with a nut and washer. The connection was tight but there was a small amount of corrosion between the battery connector and the cables that connect to it. A quick wire brushing and cleaning off any leftover dust before reconnecting and the problem was solved.
This isn't to say that it could not have been a bad:
ignition switch
ground connection
starter
solenoid(relay)
connection at the starter
