Hard start when engine is cold.

Hi its been a few days and my truck is been acting up. When I crank it up in the morning I makes a click click sound and then it starts. I replace the battery yesterday and today it had the same problem no click sound tho, it just took a while yo start. Could it be my starter going bad?? Any ideas??

 

I got a stupid question, is it freezing cold in the morning?
Cause that deffinitly makes a difference.

 

Could be the starter solenoid wearing out. The cold could be making the contacts shrink juuuuust enough to compromise it's ability to start. I had something similar happen on my Hilux some years ago.

And just because I watched this last night and your post made me think of it...not implying that anyone's stupid, I just thought it was so funny I wanted to share. check out 0:28
http://youtu.be/U7_3xxQXgFs

 

Not at all maybe 65 degrees

 

Thats what im thinking the solenoid. How hard is it to replace it?

 

Well, I know you can buy an overhaul kit for them, but I was lazy and just bought a new starter and replaced the whole thing so I can't say how hard it is to fix the solenoid. Replacing the whole thing was dirt simple. 15 minutes, done!

 

Easy job to replace the solenoid contacts (do a search).
Hard part is removing the starter from the vehicle (do another search).

The copper contacts only cost around $20 the last time I got some
from the dealer. Be sure and remove the old worn contacts first, since different
starter manufacturers may use a different style of contacts.

This same issue has existed with Toyota starters for at least 30 years.

 

The weird thing this only happens when engine its cold. When engine its warm no problem starting.

 

one tip it could be, the motor to battery grounds, on mine there is 2, and the one by the battery to fender was gone when i got the truck, and she was very dirty and the engine ground was just caked. got a new ground wire from advance, and got a small wire brush and really cleaned the ground area on the motor, and it hat the fender ground, and mine cranked much, much better

 

My Vibe starter did this recently. I brought it to a starter/alternator shop instead of buying new. Armatures wear on Densos. He relplaced amature and rebuilt sol. It's good as new for another 150K miles. for the same cost as a rebuilt from an auto store, where you never know what your getting.

 

Similar issue with my 1st gen tacoma. Bought a brand new starter from carquest for like $120, replaced it, and problem went away. $120 to me is peace of mind when compare to rebuilding your own. Also, check the contacts on your battery terminals.