Could it be the starter? (99 4 cyl camry please help)

[toyboy]

My girlfriend has a 99 4 cyl camry with ac. She went to start it & thought it was the batt. When I went there I heard a clicking sound. So I whacked the starter with a rachet and guess what, it started! LOL The alt charges fine and batt seems fine as well. The car starts now but sounds a little weak when it does & takes about 2-3 seconds longer to crank ( holding the key forward ). Maybe the starter has lost torque? She has went to start it while it is running a few times ( ouch ).The car has 50k on the odometer. I am about to buy a new one, could it be anything else? Thanks guys.

[DrtySthV6SE]

Could possibly be the starter but we had an old boat that would not start unless you beat the solenoid (sp). im guessing they are made pretty much the same way but maybe someone else could confirm this. Solenoid/Starter ??

[TypeZer0]

i had a similar problem. soon after i bought it, it failed to start sometimes and it took a little more time to get it started. at first i thgouth it was this chapman device to disables the starter if u lock it but it wasn't. the relay that powers the starter had some corrosion on the prongs. after struggling with it to pry it apart, i filed away the corrosion until i saw bare metal. i did the same to all teh prongs and on both sides. i plugged it back in and it started almost instantly when i turned the key.

[TRDragoon]

your solenoid is working, since you can hear the "clicking" sound...

its either a bad brush contact in your motor, or what typezero said, a bad electrical connection on the starter..

[toyboy]

Thank you so much guys
The connector (relay) your speaking of is what plugs into the starter right? Not the power cable with a bolt but the one that goes on top of the starter?? I will try to clean that first. Then if its still strange I will bring the batt to be tested. Finally I will swap the starter. I just got it today so i dont want to put it on until I am sure thats whats wrong. This way I don't buy something I do not need.

[TypeZer0]

well, i was able to follow the wire coming from that chapman device (which btw, failed twice to keep my car from starting after i forgot to unlock it so i consider it useless to me now) and it led me to the relay that was ziptied to the valve cover on the driverside of the engine, approximately in the middle of the whole engine compartment. u'll see a black cube or two there, those black cubes are the relays.

oops, sorry, while i was typing this i realized you have a gen 4 '99 car, mine is a gen 3 '92 car. it may or may not be in the same general location, i dunno.

[toyboy]

Thanks anyway. I am thinking it could also be a contact on the starter itself. I will post my results tommorow. Sal

[88 LE]

Sounds like the starter contacts are bad.

The starter on my moms 95 Corolla did the same thing. I took the starter apart and replaced the contacts, its all good now.

Heres some pics:

http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4289640479