5th & 6th Generation (2002-2006 & 2007-2011)Toyota Camry Discussion for years: 2002-2006 & 2007-2011
Topics of discussion range from fuel economy, safety, modifications, performance all involving America's favorite family car, the Toyota Camry.
Unfortunately, I'm here to figure out some maintenance stuff (vs. mod stuff)
I have a 2002 Camry LE V6 with almost 90k miles on it, and it didn't start 2 days ago. The events leading up to the failure was a hesitant crank or two with the first two attempts, followed by a successful third attempt; this happened on two occasions 3 days ago. So I was stuck at the mall and had the car towed home (2 jump starts to no avail).
The culprit looks like the starter solenoid/motor assembly.
The brushes inside of the starter motor are worn; more specifically, the two brushes towards the battery/solenoid terminal (towards left of pic) are worn. The other two brushes towards the starter motor (towards right of pic) end look fine.
I'm going to replace all the brushes in the motor. While I have the starter out, I want to check out the well-discussed solenoid contacts.
My question is, there are tons of threads on replacing the solenoid contacts; my starter solenoid is the last picture below.
How do I get to the inside of that solenoid to see the condition of the contacts?
My solenoid part number is 28100-28041, seemingly a starter used in many many cars.
Sorry for the big pictures, it's not letting me drag in the corners to make them smaller.
Starter motors aren't particularly expensive as complete replacements, call some auto electricians in your area who should be able to supply a third party starter motor assembly.
Otherwise I'd just shove some new brushes in and clean up the commutator (particularly try to clean the carbon out from between the segments). If the solenoid is still working okay for the moment just leave it.
Thanks for the input guys! I just bought some replacement brushes for the motor off of Ebay ($24.50), so I'll just wait for those to come in and hopefully things will be up and running. If I still had an income, I'd just go ahead and get the new OEM replacement, because, yes, the hundred or two isn't bad at all relative to the problem. But I'm a poor med student now and will have to get by with dollar-stretching and elbow grease
Quote:
Originally Posted by njerald
That part number is your starter part number, not the solenoid.
New starter part number is 28100-2804184, $201 + shipping on line Toyota.
I was wondering about that too; I couldn't figure out a part number for the solenoid alone and figured they just considered the solenoid and the motor as a single assembly. Think I'll go ahead and leave the solenoid alone.
So I've created a new hurdle, but thought I'd ask in this thread before making a new one.
In removing the starter, the battery (negative) was disconnected. The car was locked and the hood was then closed. Now the metal key won't open any of the doors or the trunk; a feature I was completely unaware of.
Now where do I go from here? Do I need to get under the vehicle and see if I can reach the negative cable and reach it back to the battery? Not sure how possible this would be, but sounds like quite a challenge. I imagine maybe some of you have had a car in storage, later finding the battery dead on retrieval and then you were unable to unlock your car with any of the keys?
I had a mechanic at a workplace I worked at once open my hood from the outside with needle nose pliers. He pinched the inner cable through the grill and pulled it, Voila it opened to the safety position where it was then opened by hand. I had left the engine running and locked the keys in.[in love]
Anyway he pulled the neg. cable to stop the engine till Motor league arrived to slimjim the door.
The Following User Says Thank You to CJCride For This Useful Post:
I had a mechanic at a workplace I worked at once open my hood from the outside with needle nose pliers. He pinched the inner cable through the grill and pulled it, Voila it opened to the safety position where it was then opened by hand. I had left the engine running and locked the keys in.[in love]
Anyway he pulled the neg. cable to stop the engine till Motor league arrived to slimjim the door.
Thank you very much! This turned out to be very helpful advice! I was initially trying to find the disconnected negative cable to reach it back to the battery, at which point I'd use the keyfob remote to unlock the doors. No luck in finding the negative cable through the obstructions. So I looked for the hood latch cable to pop the hood from underneath (I can't get through my grille without damaging it); looked for the latch and the single cable leading out of it, removed a plastic cover to expose the bare cable and pulled on it with a wire hanger So do not lock your doors or close your hood without reconnecting the battery! In my case, the battery wasn't reconnected, because I'm waiting for some parts to come in the mail and I don't have a garage.
I received my starter motor brushes, swapped them into my starter today, put everything back together and the car started up on the first key turn
The brushes were purchased off of Ebay for $18 + 6.50 shipping.
$60 to tow my car home from the mall + $24.50 for starter brushes = $84.50 to fix a starter issue; not bad at all
I think I'll call the dealer to see what their $$$ estimate is for kicks
Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnGD
Also, I hope the starter doesn't stay engaged too long. I'd expect brushes to last longer than 90K miles.
I don't know what the life expectancy for starter brushes are, but I did purchase the car with 40k miles on it and have no idea of what the first owner's starting technique/habits were - maybe they wore out the brushes quicker for me
Overall, I'm glad I got to learn where the starter is, how it works, and some more anatomy about my engine bay
I have the same exact problem on my 2003 Camry 4cyl ! The car will not start, but when I hit the starter with a hammer, it starts up but the starter is getting progressively weaker. I wasn't sure if it was the solenoid going bad or the starter. I pulled out the starter but wasn't sure how to proceed. I am going to look at the brushes and order some new ones. Looks like a common problem. I will let you all know how it goes !
Google Toyota Parts East,plug in the data for your car and look at the illustrations. I believe you will find starter under the "engine" category. Toyota doesn't list repair parts for the solenoid so it is probably not field repairable. I always use Toyota Parts East as a starting point looking for parts. Their illustrations are very helpful even if you don't buy your parts there. Thanks to another member for putting me on to Toyota Parts East. Glad to here that you are in med school. Be a good doctor. Regards
I have the same exact problem on my 2003 Camry 4cyl ! The car will not start, but when I hit the starter with a hammer, it starts up but the starter is getting progressively weaker. I wasn't sure if it was the solenoid going bad or the starter. I pulled out the starter but wasn't sure how to proceed. I am going to look at the brushes and order some new ones. Looks like a common problem. I will let you all know how it goes !
Just logged in randomly and saw this thread at the top!
At least you knew to hit the starter with a hammer to get the starter going - that might have saved me from the tow truck. Chances are the starter solenoid is fine. Replacing the brushes is a pretty easy fix. Be careful not to break the black plastic piece that holds the starter brushes when putting the new brushes in. Good luck!
Actually, I called AAA for a tow and one of their techs figured out the problem by tapping the starter and that saved me from a tow. So far I have taken out the starter and opened it up. There was a lot of powdered carbon and I cleaned it out with brake cleaner. Tomorrow, I will look for some new brushes from a local auto electrical shop. I have the Camry factory manual and it just says to do some continuity checks on the solenoid. So far it appears to be ok. I think that by adding new brushes, sanding the commutator with 400 grit sandpaper according to the manual and regreasing the planetary gears should resolve the problem. By the way, I have 95 Camy with almost 200k miles with no problems with the starter (thank goodness). I think that the old Camrys were much better.
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Denso Starter Solenoid Motor Repair 28100-28041
So do not lock your doors or close your hood without reconnecting the battery! In my case, the battery wasn't reconnected, because I'm waiting for some parts to come in the mail and I don't have a garage.
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