Starter Removal??? Need Help!

I have and '03 xCab 4x4 and have got the starter unbolted, unplugged, and have got the trans dipstick bracket unbolted as well and still can't wrestle the starter out??

I have tried going out thru the bottom of the truck but the sway bar is in the way, have tried going out thru the wheel well but the brake lines and exhaust is in the way.

I am I doing something wrong here? Missing something? Do I really need to unbolt the exhaust to get this thing out???

Thanks, Peter

 

yeah it is extremely hard to do this lol i did it a little while back and didnt take the exhaust off at all i think i got it through the fender well. you just really gotta wrestle it and bust out your tetris skills and turn it and i think i bent my fender a little

good luck

 

I recently changed the starter on my 96 4x4. It took 1/2 hour to remove and 41/2 hours to get it out of the engine compartment. I did not loosen the exhaust. Just keep turning and pulling. I did have to remove the insulation on the firewall to get it out.

 

Never done this...but removing the sway bar isn't all that big of a deal...If you did that would it be easy to get the starter out?

 

I finally got it out in a few minutes by removing the brake line bracket and moving the brake lines ever so slightly!

I hope it goes back in easier than it came out!!!

Laying on the ground outside in my driveway when it is 30 degress with snow on the ground really sucks!!!

Peter

 

So I got the starter out, took it to the auto parts store they tested it and 6 times it tested good???

Now what? Have not ruled out the battery? But what I have also read is a corroded cable from the battery to the starter?

Is that a part I should buy from the dealer and how big of a job is replacing that?

 

Take the battery in and have it load tested. OEM Batt??

Check connections, both ground and pos. terminals clean?? no green corroded strands of copper wire, if so strip back to clean copper if you have the room, if not enough room, wire brush the hell out of the wire s best you can.

Cold weather kills battery efficency drastically.

The OEM terminals on my 99 are all ring terminal ended, just recenty stripped back the corroded copper leads, replaced the ring terminals, and added some Marine style battery post terminals, that you can really crank down tight. Extra thick with a large clamp bolt and wing nut with toothed lock washer for the ring terminals.

Had a old stump jumper Corrolla, that I fought for a slow or non start, replaced everything I could think of,, last thing to replace??,,crappy battery terminals,,started right up like OEM. lesson learned.

 

kinda off topic...my starter popped out today. went to the store parked the truck came back and truck couldnt start up. checked everything heard a weird noise coming from the starter so i checked it out, figures out both of my bolts came loose. dont know how or dont know why? got under pushed the starter bac in tighten up the bolts then another problem the threads on the starter were stripped! or the bolts not sure which ones. anyone seem to know what could of cause this?...btw my starter works perfectly if the threads are stripped should i buy a new one or just re thread the holes?

 

Got everything back together and the thing started up right away. Decided that as long as I had the starter out I would replace the contacts since everyone here says those are about the only thing that wears on these and sure enough they were pretty well worn, perhaps I should measure the wear with a set of calipers just to post my experience with 151K miles on my '03.

Just going to post some of my experience for future reference to others:

I personally worked from underneath the truck:

Removed the 12mm nut for the cable to the positive from the battery.

Wasn't quite intuitive which bolts to remove to get the starter out, I did start by trying to undo the 10mm bolt on the starting housing, and decided those were wrong. Referred to this diagram to discover where the 14mm bolts were. I had to soak the 14mm bolts overnite with PB then use an extension and flex attachment to get them out. Once soaked they freed up pretty easily.

Unclipping the second smaller wire than was much easier with the starter free.

From there I worked on getting the starter out from the wheel well. Had to unbolt the trans dipstick bracket and unbolt the brake hard line bracket from the frame. Moving both of the aside still took a little while to wrestle out and just as TanSR5x4 stated above you really have to test your Tetris skills. For some reason I didn't note which way it came out, kind of exhausted at that point and my forearms were a little tired, BUT, going back in it HAD to go back in gear side first, if that helps?

Went to the stealership first thing on Saturday morning to get new contacts, which they were absolutely worthless!! First told me they didn't have anything like that, then when we finally got to the right diagram, they told me it would take at least until Wednesday to get them!! And that's here in the Chicago area!!! Although, they were more than willing to sell me a whole new starter?

Figured I would check the local PepBoys, which they didn't have them either but, referred me to a local alternator/starter rebuild shop, which was open and he sold me some contacts for $10. I didn't have them with me and he didn't have the internet at his shop so he took a shot and sold me what he thought would be correct based on his experience with NippoDenso.

To get the contacts out, had to remove the 3 bolts, on the plate where the plunger is, I believe they were 8mm. It was easier to get this plate off after first removing the 10mm through bolts and 2 screws then removing the "end frame" in the diagram.

Contacts come out after removing both the 14mm nuts on both sides of the housing.

Only one of the contacts that I bought matched what was in the starter, the one for the cable side didn't match exactly, the new one was close enough and at that point I was putting it in anyhow and taking a shot.

Putting the starter back in required going back through the wheel well, as I said before going gear side first. Which didn't seem obvious, as you really think you need to have it oriented properly to get it bolted back up. Actually there is enough room in there to spin it to get it back into place properly.

Made sure to reconnect the clipped wire before I bolted it back in...same thing as coming out, used the extension and flex head on the socket. Pretty simple.

Tried my best to wire brush the connections, although mine really didn't look that bad at all.

Going back in took about 45 minutes for me.

Cleaned the posts on the battery, cleaned the connections on the battery and ground strap, reconnected everything and it started right up.

I will add that while I was letting the the bolts soak with PB I completely disconnected the battery and put it on the charger, just for a little added reassurance.

Hope this helps for anyone who is searching for this in the future.