Question on solenoid/starter for 99 Corolla

Two years ago I had the solenoid replaced on a '97 Corolla for those same reasons.

"BillyG" wrote

Given the age of the car (not knowing the mileage) I'd want to have the starter tested. In the case of my 97 camry, there was a flat spot on the armature of the starter, and that was what was causing the starting problem, not the selenoid. But your condition may be different.

My daughter's '97 Corolla had 140,000 kms. Since then it never failed to start right away, except last fall when the battery became rather weak and it could sometimes take several seconds to start. After replacing the original battery, everything went back to normal.

"mack" wrote

Ghislain, do you recall if they were able to replace the solenoid on your 97 Corolla without replacing the starter? I think Toyota redesigned the Corolla in 98/99 so your answer might not be applicable to my car but still curious.

A solenoid is a switch capable of switching high current loads. It works like a relay in that there is a coil of wire that magnetizes a metallic core and pulls in the high current contacts.

If the solenoid contacts are dirty or burnt, they might not make a good solid electrical contact and the starter might not turn the engine over, might turn the engine over really slow or they might work properly. If all that happens is you hear a click without the starter trying to turn over the engine then you either have a bad starter or a bad solenoid. If the starter works normally sometimes, then your problem is most likely the solenoid.

But if you hear a series of clicks as long as you hold the key in the start position, then you have either a bad battery or a discharged battery.

Most of the time, the solenoid is part of the starter. You might be able to pull the starter and disassemble the solenoid but I wouldn't know where to tell you to go to get parts for it. It usually isn't something that is field fixable.

Jack

The contacts in the solenoid can be repaired, however, it is easier if the starter is removed from the car, the contacts replaced, and then re-installing the starter.

Here is 1 site of many that sells the contacts:

. The "click but notcrank" is a known problem with the Denso offset gear reduction starters asthe metal contacts and metal plunger ring wear down. If your starter lookslike this: have a Denso OSGR starter. To access the plunger and contacts to assesstheir condition you only have to remove the 3 small bolts that hold thecover on the solenoid, you usually don't even have to remove the starterfrom the engine to do an inspection. If the contacts are pitted and worn itis a good idea to remove the starter as getting the new contacts installedand aligned properly is much easier when the starter is on a bench or tablecompared to trying to do it on the vehicle.

Sounds like good info but unfortunately too late for me. My dealer (Tansky's Toyota off Sawmill in Columbus Ohio) reemed me good by quoting me a price to replace my starter with a new one and then installing a reburbished one instead. I'd asked them to inspect the contacts and just replace those if possible but they claimed that wasn't possible so I ended up paying 473 after tax. The only good thing I can say is they were quick most likely because they only replace starters and never look for cheaper fixes. For anyone in Columbus I'd look elsewhere for Toyota service.

Since you paid for the repair you should have been able to get the old starter returned to you. If you did or still can get the old one I recommend that after the burning pain in your wallet subsides you buy the contact & plunger kit and repair the old starter then keep it as a spare as the factory OE starter that your car came with would likely (given a couple contact replacements as needed) far outlive most any reman starter many times over. If you didn't/can't get the old one I would go to a junk/scrapyard and get a starter off of a car with low enough miles that it would be OE and throw new contacts in it instead. In my case what I did was kept the Denso OSGR starter off of my '92 Dodge Dynasty 3.3 that I junked as a spare for the '95 Grand Caravan 3.3 I have now. I feel good knowing that at the first sign of trouble I can just swap starters instead of having to go to a parts store and buy a reman of questionable quality. Oh yeah I kept the Dynasty's Denso alternator too for the same reason.

When you turn the key and hear a loud click and nothing happens, on some cars it could be the electrical solenoid but on Denso starters it often are worn plunger solenoid contacts.

Typical Denso starter solenoids typically have two big copper contacts that wear as the plunger repeated impacted on them. These contacts are replaceable items, for about $20. See:

Rebuild your starter for less than $20:

Well if it's a rebuilt then the old part is considered the "core" for rebuilding.

Given how easy it is to change the starter on these engines nearly $500 is really too bad, because I'm sure the bearings and brushes should still be in reasonably good shape.

The plunger solenoid contacts are considered wear items like alternator brushes. I"m sure Billy can use the links to help rebuild the next one, for about $20. So it helps to learn how to do some of these simpler things. ($$$$$)

On Jun 18, 7:31=A0pm, "Daniel Who Wants to Know" > Since you paid for the repair you should have been able to get the old