Offroad-Express

Gidday all,

Right so it was pay day today, thought to myself "sweet as, order my new shocks, get the cruiser nice and sorted, stop the bouncing" but turns out it has other ideas, B%#tard

So the NEW problem is, 4 times today, I've gone to start it and it wont start, just makes a clicking noise, like a relay clicking on and off really fast. One of the times I got it to start pretty quickly, the last time I was stuck at the petrol station for 40 F&#$ing minutes while it sat there doing its best impression of a 2.5 tonne cricket.

I tried "percussive maintenance" on the starter motor with a pair of pliers to no avail.

My question is, what the hell is wrong with it this time? haha. could it be the starter motor has shit out on me/is shitting out on me? Is it a relay dying?

I hope someone on here can help me, I need this truck to start reliably, not worrying every morning or every time I go to start it if it will start or if I'll have to invest in a good pair of Nike running shoes.

Any advice is appreciated, cheers fellas
Mike

just sounds like the solonoid craping out in it,pretty common.

battery could need a proper charge on car charger. low battery does this also. check battery leads clean and tight

could also be contacts.. it's like my truck.. clicks every now and then and I know its the contacts..lol one day i'll replace them..

Yeap, starter solenoid contacts. Common as problem. Whip starter off then whip cap off solenoid, you'll see the burnt contacts. Easy enough to fix yourself too

Battery is well charged, leads are nice and tight mate.

Do your contacts cause it to click over and over and not start for round 40 minutes or is it a click, release key, turn key and it starts?

Thinking I may have to get another starter or solinoid for it, does 150 sound right for a second hand starter???

cheers for the suggestions fellas

if it is the contacts the starter will give one click per turn of the key to start..rappid clicking would point to poor voltage,either battery or on the excite wire or failed hold in coil in solenoid.

skidmark wrote:if it is the contacts the starter will give one click per turn of the key to start..rapid clicking would point to poor voltage,either battery or on the excite wire or failed hold in coil in solenoid.

Bang on, battery terminals, battery on last legs or the cables loose. Have you had the battery tested? Did you try jump starting off another vehicle?
All the symptoms say volt drop under load.

Cheers,

Id bet contacts. Common as on those.

the only time ive had the starter to rapid clicks is low voltage. and the one time i had a bad starter was 1 click only per turn of key

earth leads on the back of the motor is a known problem, these wear with vibration ...

You guys are F%$king awesome

I'll whip the little bastard off this weekend, check out the contacts, check the earth lead isn't broken or anything and get the battery tested. Its reading around 13.4v when not running (after 5 mins to let voltage stabilize)

if you cant fix it i'll give you 100 bucks for the truck

When I had these symptoms i took the starter motor apart only to find it was in perfect condition. It turns out my problem was poor connection at bat terminals. They both felt good and tight but when I took them off to have a good look there was heaps of build up on the contacting faces of negative. Cleaned them up and started first pop. Check your started motor leads, earths etc.

Funny Bastard Jerry hahaha Nah I love driving the Prado, planning on actually keeping this one (will see how long this plan lasts )

axel wrote:When I had these symptoms It turns out my problem was poor connection at bat terminals. They both felt good and tight but when I took them off to have a good look there was heaps of build up on the contacting faces of negative. Cleaned them up and started first pop. Check your started motor leads, earths etc.

I had the same problem years ago...
Drove to gas station, filled up and then, click click click...
Got out and wiggled terminals a bit..
Vroom....Went home and removed and cleaned the battery posts and clamps.
Bit of grease and never had a problem since.

All the pointers are valid but honestly batterys die in winter and a surface voltage isnt an accurate pointer. eliminate it. jumpstart from a another just to be sure.

Save the energy of pulling the starter out. put ya meter on the bat and have someoe else crank it for you. youll prob see all the volts dissapere. fast clicking of the starter has alwase been a sign of power suply problems for me.
If the bat is more than 4/5 years old even more reason to suspect it. get it to a proper bat tester to have tested.
Check ya bet terminals are clean on the contact surface of the posts and tight.
quick way to check the engine earth is in good order is to use jump lead from engine straight to bat terminal if it starts every time like this then ya know the earth strap is gone.

let us all know what ya find.