The Terjunken won't start

[deejay1272]

After letting the Terjunken sit for a while between jobs while I have been waiting on parts and busy with other things, I went to go fire her up tonight - no bueno. I hear one "click" when I turn the key, but the engine doesn't turn over. I then tried to jump it, but was unsuccessful there too...

I suspect that this is the starter motor, but could it be something else?

Thanks for the help!

[splatterdog]

Battery cables or starter solenoid contacts.

[Bluebelles Mom]

It sounds like the same reason there is a new starter in Bb.

[deejay1272]

I'll check the batt cables tonight in case it's the easy case. But nothing's ever easy, so I'll probably be heading out to the boneyard once again to nab a starter motor from something with relatively low miles. If it ain't on thing, then it's the next. Ah well - this is why we have these cars, gotta keep us busy with interesting little projects...

[deejay1272]

So is it a fairly easy task to replace the starter motor? The FSM doesn't really give much info on this...

[tercel4wdrules]

The difficulty level depends whether the two bolts holding the starter in are able to be removed without too much of a hassle. I had trouble removing the bolt closest to the firewall, I couldn't get it off from above with my ratchet alone.

[Petros]

It appears that some Tercels have less room between the back of the engine and the fire wall than others. I have seen it very difficult to remove a trans, not enough wiggle room, where most of the time it just falls free. If you have a lot of trouble getting a wrench on the starter bolts, do it from under the car. You can even remove the two rear cross member bolts (17 mm) and lower the rear of the trans, without removing anything else. IT will give you a better angle to get the socket on the starter bolts.

Usually the starter is not a problem at all. Removing the distributor will give you better access (only one 12mm bolt and a connector, vac lines), but than you have to reset the timing. If you are good with getting tools into hard to reach places, than you do not need to remove anything else to get the starter out. If not, I recommend removing the distributor.

[deejay1272]

Thanks, Petros. It sounds like a fairly straightforward job that I can do relatively easily, but the first part of your last post gives me some worry.

I have seen it very difficult to remove a trans, not enough wiggle room, where most of the time it just falls free.

I won't have to remove the transmission for any reason will I? I assume that I can simply unbolt the existing starter and slap a new one in the old spot (accompanied with some typical "tight spot" challenges). Do I understand that correctly?

[Petros]

You should not have to remove the trans at all. My only reason for posting that is an example of how occasionally you can not drop the trans on some Tercel4wd, while most of the time there is not a problem. the only thing I can attribute that to is for some reason some of them have less room between the back of the engine and the firewall.

Even so you should not have to remove the trans, but you may find that there is not a lot of room to get a ratchet wrench on the starter bolts. If that is the case, try either removing the distributor, or dropping the back of the trans by unbolting the cross member. I have never had to do either to remove the starter, but usually I remove it from under the car, but I have also done it from under the hood too when I had the distributor off for another reason anyway.

[Bluebelles Mom]

Petros will back up my claim to almost zero mechanical ability but I put a new starter in Bluebelle with very little trouble.

[dlb]

i've removed a few and never had any issues. two 14 mm bolts and a plug or two, if i remember correctly. you might want to clean up around the starter before you remove it so crud and crap doesn't fall in to places it shouldn't be.

[solarlord]

CHECK your battery is 100% before you rush off to get another starter give it a full 24 hrs charge- it could also that the bendix type gear on the starter to ring gear is worn try rocking it in 3 rd gear to free it -derek

[deejay1272]

Thanks for the tips, everyone. I'll check things first, then hit the junkyard if I need a new starter...

Stay tuned to see how this one ends!

[deejay1272]

New starter motor installed over the weekend. Easy! After taking one off of a junker at the boneyard, I got to work on the Terjunken. A total of about 25 minutes later I had a new (used) starter motor that worked perfectly. Awesome when things go according to plan.

Note: this has to be the first time anything has ever gone completely according to plan when auto maintenance is involved!

[danzo]

Glad to hear it went smoothly. A T4wd starter swap is one the few that can be done with a sammich in one hand.