Starter Issues/questions For '05 Ce - Corolland: the Toyota Corolla Forums

Starter has begun to fail last couple of weeks. Raise hood and tap starter solenoid gets me "started." I do a lot of deliveries every day and understand this puts extra strain on it. Had my mechanic check it out and he can't find anything wrong. It starts strong in his shop and road test. With me, it is hit or miss.

New Battery less than one month old. Mechanic tells me all connections very secure; getting plenty of cranking amps; everything charging up as it is supposed to. He's baffled at this point.

Suggstions welcomed. Had previous starter replaced roughly 3 to 3-1/2 years ago. Many thanks.

I'm a courier too, and always have them rebuilt at an automotive electrical place.You don't know about the quality of remans. It will sound as tight as when the car is new if done right!

Unless the mechanic took apart the magnetic switch to inspect it, I'd suspect the starter itself is the problem. A bad starter can test good if it has an intermittent problem. Having to tap it sometimes certainly indicates the starter is bad.

Starter replaced Monday. Had old starter bench tested and it was found to have some heat issues with contacts as well as a sticking, hard to turn armature. Inside casing had powdery dirt(like brake dust) packed around armature. Tapping loosened it just enough to restart. Hated to replace so soon but I do place lots of strain on a starter normal drivers do not.

Now, It fires instantly. We're a happy camper now.