First gen Tacoma slow to start starter barely turning.

I have an 01’ 3.6l V6 Tacoma 4x4 double cab. Lately the the truck has barely been starting and Ive even stopped driving it worried itll strand me somewhere. When I go to start it I dont get any clicking or anything like when the battery is dead and its still holding a charge after sitting over a week, however the starter seems to turn extremely slow like its barely alive. Tomorrow I plan to have the battery and alternator checked but it does have a relatively new battery about a year or less. So assuming battery and alternator are good is there anything else I should check before pulling the trigger on a new starter?? I did notice the issue seemed to start or get much worse when we got some extremely cold weather for a couple days -8°F. Thanks in advance!

 

A few thoughts- I am not sure what battery you're running, but not all batteries fair well in cold weather. This is especially true for the cheap batteries, or the free AAA batteries. They may not produce their advertised CCA but still maintain the 12v+ that you're reading.

Things you should check before going crazy are- corrosion on the battery terminals and cable connections. Additionally corrosion can "rot" a wire from the inside out if moisture gets in the cable and sits over time.

Also- Before purchasing a new/reman starter- You can pick up a rebuild kit and keep your OEM starter. I would highly suggest this route over a questionable china-made auto parts store models.

 

I second the idea of replacing the starter contacts. I think the kit is like 15 bucks. Hardest part of the job is getting the starter out of the wheel well.

 

Have the battery cables every been upgraded?? Even clean and tight battery terminals can have corrosion unseen by your naked eyes. Give them a good cleaning.

Some real world voltage numbers would really help.

I hope you have a place the techs understand what they are doing .

While the parts may test Good Your still back to wiring problems.

Best of Luck

 

Thanks all for the replies do you know what this kit is called or the best place to find it? Im not worried about removal and install I do all my own maintenance starter should be an easy swap.

 

This would be my fist thing to check. My truck would do the same until one day it just wouldn't start. Ended up being some corrosion inside the coating of the negative battery cable. Cut the end off to some fresh copper for the clamp and all is well.

 

All cables are factory I know battery side terminals look good. As far as numbers I got some buddies at my local Oreillys that I trust to test battery and alternator just cause they have the fancy gizmo thatll test all the cells in the battery and cranking amps and what not.

 

You can get a new plunger and copper contacts from Toyota or you can get a complete kit from Amazon or other places online for a little less. It's just copper plates, so I don't think OEM is strictly necessary. Someone has a thread on here documenting the process and what they used.

 

I’d do a voltage drop test on power/ground at the starter before I pulled the starter.

 

Thanks all for the info! Sounds like it may simply be a bad battery even though its new. Its holding charge even sitting for weeks at 12.6 volts but it failed a load test at oreillys however my buddies werent there at the time so I will be going back to double check when I know for sure theyre working. I think I may also do the starter rebuild kit sometime this winter for an easy project as I have had times still even when it seems to just start a little slower than it should when I know the battery and alternator are perfect. I will post an update once I confirm the issues and solve the problem, thanks again!!

 

Just subbing to the thread and curious if there is an update.

 

Yeah so for some reason it just totally stopped giving trouble been driving it daily for a couple weeks again without issue. My opinion is that the battery just had like a cold shock from the negative temps and was causing the problem but resolved the issue on its own.

 

What weight oil are you running?

A combination of extremely cold temps and heavy weight oil will produce the symptoms you are describing and those same symptoms will disappear or lessen with warmer temperatures.

 

I run castrol 5w-30 higher mileage synthetic. But this issue remained for several days even after temps had come back up to 30s and 40s. but then all of sudden quit giving any issues even now on days where its back down in the teens and 20s.

 

Since the weight of the oil you are using is not an issue, it points more to the corrosion issue that other posters have mentioned. I have also seen problems arise where the cables look fine on the outside but have had corrosion slowly build up in between the copper wire and the outer sheathing, gradually adding to the resistance.