Starter Relay(S), 01 Corolla Le - Corolland: the Toyota Corolla Forums

2001 Corolla LE, 220,000 miles. Original starter. This car in recent month or so has begun to have some slight delay in cranking. I mean, when i turn the key to the cranking position, there is a slight delay before the cranking commences. Car will start and run, but this slight delay in cranking (which is slight but over the time period of a month has slightly increased). I understand that a starter relay can be the source of this problem. But if a solenoid is a relay, and if there is also a starter rely in one of the engine room junction boxes, then what is the comparison and contrast between these two relays? Which does what ? never mind any neutral switch or other interlock switch, would it be correct to say the ignition key controls the 'starter relay' that is located in the engines room's junction box? If that much is true, then what, in turn, does that relay control? Thanks is advance for any comment, answers, guesses, online references, etc, etc).

The electrical "path", if you ignore the neutral start switch - would be (in gross terms):

Battery >> Ignition Switch >> Starter Relay (under the hood) >> Starter Solenoid (magnetic switch)

The time delay between the first three are pretty much negligible, assuming that they are all working as designed (all low power, compared to the starter solenoid). The starter solenoid, even when working as intended, will have a very brief delay - as that switch is handling the majority of power, the components have to be robust enough to channel that power and stand up to repeated operation.

But in your case - could be any number ofthings causing the starter to delay cranking over. Could be as simple as a corrosion issue - battery posts making poor contact with the main supply cables due to surface corrosion / deposits, corrosion on the starter contacts (pretty common, as those are exposed), chassis grounds that do not have a solid connection to ground path - could be corrosion forming between the cable lug and the bolt on the chassis.

Could also be a connectivity issue - bad connections, damaged wiring, loose connections. Battery terminals could be loose, starter contacts could have loosened lugs (I've seen some where the nuts are completely missing, backed off over time), loose chassis grounds, damaged wiring, faulty ignition switched (mechanically worn out), loose or damaged starter relay, etc.

Could also be a weakened battery. Might have enough juice to power a relay, but not handle the heavy impulse draw from something like the starter. Could be an old battery, damaged plates in the battery, could be a leak or loss of electrolyte in one or more cells (this actually happened on my Rav4 - bad cell - vehicle started, but had a weird delay before the starter turned off, also had a labored start).

Thanks fishexpo101 for that informational response. A lot to work with there. Much appreciated.