Starter Died Out

[BlackSC4]

wondering if anyone have any clue as to why my starter would stop working during a compression test. i hooked up the hose to the plug slot and on my 4th cylinder, it just stopped working altogether. yes, i disabled the ignition system and opened up the throttle.

[AWJ]

It's possible the solenoid just crapped out during one of the crank sessions. Are you sure the battery still has any juice? Also possible the starter itself could be toasted. I doubt it though.

[BlackSC4]

AWJ, the battery is fine, i have two batteries running in my car, one in the back and one in the front. i even jumped it with my camry and revv-ed it while trying to turn over my SC. i hear the starter click...so all the connections are fine...i think my starter just decided to stop working. great. thanks anyways.

[Spyro]

well, anyone know if that's jsut the solenoid i need or the whole starter? thanks

[jzz30]

it clicks? well if you keep on clicking then it will probably catch and turn over. what happens (assuming that you have a sc400) is that the starter is under the intake meaning trappend heat making it very hot so after 10 years or so it craps out the solinoids start to not make contact and well you click for a while to start your car so this is kind of a common problem so you just need to have it changed out it costs about $1100+ so well if you do it your self it costs a lot less

[BlackSC4]

yeah, i'll be doing it myself, i remember seeing the hidden starter when changing my timing belt but i totally forgot where it is. did you say its underneath the intake? is there anything more specific that can help me locate it quickly? i've tried to look for it again, but its nowhere in sight

and damn, $1100 to change a starter? that's overkill considering that an oem toyota starter cost only $300.

[BlackSC4]

jzz, just out of curiosity, is that $1100 including the cost of towing your car to the shop since it doesnt start??

[jzz30]

no i hear just the labor and parts costs $1100 but i dont think towing is included :( and you cant see the starter without taking the intake off like the aluminum intake manifold that splits in to a "V" i changed it on a LS400 and my SC has not gone out yet so im preatty worried. so anyway if your doing it your self then you will have the most fun taking off the two nuts that hold the starter on that are right up against the fire wall.

[johnny3]

Yes' it's under the intake manifold, I took one off last year for my daughter, 110k, took starter to rebuild shop,they replaced solenoid contacts, I told them to repl. brushes also because it's so much labor to remove, brushes were not very worn tho. Has worked fine since. $37 for starter rebuild.

[jzz30]

i didnt take a chance with mine i had a whole rebuild done since new starters were not available so it cost me a bit over $100 to change out and well the bearings were totaly shot from the heat and the soliniods were gone

[BlackSC4]

i finally had the time to pull out my starter and put in a new one this weekend, and i think i just experienced the worst of the Lexus engineering. those bolts holding down the starter, as jzz mentioned, is impossible. it took 4 hours for the whole job and half of the time was trying to take out 2 bolts.

[jzz30]

hey its a neat (as in clean look) to put it and these cars were made for the japanese market where most people dont keep their cars for more than 6-8years. and most of the time they have less than 60k miles on them.

[BlackSC4]

you're right, it's actually 40k miles (the law back in japan). i agree its a clean look, but i do not like the wya the bolts are on BACKWARDS and right against the firewall...that just doesnt make sense. in addition, hoses, wiring harness, pipes and a bunch of other stuff just literally crowds the bolts making it even worst.

[jzz30]

i feel the pain......i have been there too

[BlackSC4]

okay, i well stayed up all night til 6 am in the morning this morning and i finally fixed the starter problem. it was a blown out solenoid, the one not attached to the starter. i couldnt find where that was located, so i bypassed the solenoid and hooked the starter straight to my powercable, like how those american carrs use to be. but now i have a worst problem. a very very bad one that makes no sense to me. the car turns over now but it wont start! so i pulled the covers back out and did another compression test. this is my compression results:

2 of the cylinders yielded 150psi, which is great

1cylinder yielded 180 psi, which is even better

3cylinders yielded no pressure

1cylinder pushed the compression tester to 10psi then back down.

1cylinder actually sucked air in!!

i am gettin fuel and spark and i made sure all the intake chambers were clean, but could something very small fell in and f***ed sh*t up? thanks for any help.

[AWJ]

Cylinders are supposed to suck air on the intake stroke. Even a totally toasted motor will show something on the tester if it can turn freely. The starter job is a pita.

[BlackSC4]

well, why would a few of them work and a few wont? if the starter wasn't in correctly, i would expect it to not spin the motor at all.

[AWJ]

Hmm...

I was referring to the compression test. It needs to be done on a warm motor through several cranks. Compression occurs on the compression stroke. You will see negative pressures on various strokes depending on cylinder. I'm not sure what your question is relating to a few working or not. The starter issue. If it clicks and don't turn, then the contact in the solenoid is not completed. If the motor turns and doesn't fire, then there is a fuel, air or spark problem or both or one or two or the timing is fubared.

[BlackSC4]

you're right awj, it's probably the timing since the valves are opening at the wrong times. i did use a wrench to turn the crankshaft pulley bolt when the starter was just clicking just to get the motor going, thought it froze over. and when i changed the belt, i reused the tensioner. i havent checked the timing yet, but i have a great suspicion that that's my problem.