Starter problem

[nagh1610]

The Car : Camry, SV21, 4 cylinder, 1990, automatic transmission.
It used to intermittently, say once in 2-3 weeks, refuse to get started. It used to keep clicking. Trying several times or waiting a few (5-10) minutes used to resolve the issue.
After reading the threads about changing the contacts etc I decided to give it go. I got a starter from wrecker as a replacement. Bench tested it and found it working ok. Then I replaced the old one with this one from wrecker. Old one had got ‘stuck’, so had to hammer it out. The old one also got cracked by the hammering.
I could start the car 2-3 times without any issue. Then I took it out for a 2 km drive. On return found that water was leaking from pipes which had come loose as a result of all the hammering. I had to disconnect some pipes etc. That spilled a fair amount of water. Finally fixed the leaks and tried starting again.
Now the starter does not work. It gives a loud click and dims the lights on the dash board. There is also some kind of humming noise (could it be the motor spinning without engaging the fly wheel?). What could it be? Could the spilled water have caused any issues? Please help.
I had checked the contacts and they did not look too good, but I had decided to give it a go without replacing because bench testing was ok, and finding replacement contacts had proved difficult. The new contacts people are willing to provide only for $40-$45. Is it worth giving a try?
Thanking in anticipation.

[96paseo]

Originally Posted by nagh1610

The Car : Camry, SV21, 4 cylinder, 1990, automatic transmission.
It used to intermittently, say once in 2-3 weeks, refuse to get started. It used to keep clicking. Trying several times or waiting a few (5-10) minutes used to resolve the issue.
After reading the threads about changing the contacts etc I decided to give it go. I got a starter from wrecker as a replacement. Bench tested it and found it working ok. Then I replaced the old one with this one from wrecker. Old one had go ‘stuck’, so had to hammer it out. The old one also got cracked by the hammering.
I could start the car worked 2-3 times without any issue. Then I took it out for a 2 km drive. On return found that water was leaking from pipes which had come loose as a result of all the hammering. I had to disconnect some pipes etc. That spilled a fair amount of water. Finally fixed the leaks and tried starting again.
Now the starter does not work. It gives a loud click and dims the lights on the dash board. There is also some kind of humming noise (could it be the motor spinning without engaging the fly wheel?). What could it be? Could the spilled water have caused any issues? Please help.
I had checked the contacts and they did not look too good, but I had decided to give it a go without replacing because bench testing was ok, and finding replacement contacts had proved difficult. The new contacts people are willing to provide only for $40-$45. Is it worth giving a try?
Thanking in anticipation.

Yes, I'd say the new contacts are worth a go. As for the flywheel, your going to need to remove the starter from the bell housing to see if there is damage to the flywheel teeth.

[atobe]

you can get new contacts or sand down your old one http://www.startercontacts.com/ i don't know how much shipping will be but it can't be that much. may be you should dry out the starter the water could be causing some internal short inside the starter.

[nopain00]

When you say water was leaking, do you mean coolant? And from where?

If you hear "humming", that is the starter trying to spin against a fixed load, like a seized shaft of flywheel. Spinning without engaging the flywheel would sound louder, more like a whine.

I'd first try taking the starter out and bench testing it again.

When I had starter problems, I ended up replacing it with a remanufactured one. Ones from junked cars were unreliable, and I had to dismantle them to check all of the parts and replace them. It was cheaper and quicker for me to get a reman. The car has started up on the first try ever since.

[Jimnist]

Slight hijack, but i've replaced the contacts in my starter and it was going great for a few months. But now, every so often i'll get that click-no-crank, usually happens when cold. My remedy is to frantically turn the key from 'on' to start' until it start cranking.

It's always been successful, but i;d prefer to get it cranking every time without having to do that.

[dem2757]

make sure your battery terminals are nice and clean and tight.

[white90dx]

All of you with intermittent problems should also add an extra starter relay using the directions that Dr. J put together - you can find the link in the sticky at the top of this section of the forum. Before doing that, I would sometimes have to turn off the radio, take my foot off the brake, etc. before I could get the car to crank sometimes (which is another thing you can do to help it start...).

-Charlie

[nagh1610]

After the initial success when water leaked I disconnected battery to fix the leaks. After fixing the pipes I wanted to check the leaks with engine running, so I reconnected the battery but did not tighten the connections hard enough, thinking I would keep that for the last. It so turns out that this was the culprit!!!! I tried jump starting with my wife’s car battery and it started immediately. Then I ‘charged’ by racing the engine for 10 minutes. Disconnected jump-start wires and tried restarting, only to find ‘no response’. This is when I realized that not tightening the battery terminals hard enough was the issue. Did that and it started readily and has been going ok for past few days.
So thanks everyone for all your help.