The Toyota Landcruiser Owners Club

[MikeJak]

So I had for a little while a bit of a delay on cranking after the key was turned in the ignition. a couple of seconds but was still firing every time. I put it off thinking was just the battery being a bit low.
back from a 2 week holiday the engine wouldn't crank... nice solid tuck of the starter pinion engaging but no crancking. Time for renewing the starter solenoid...

I read a bit around and most of the videos and write ups are for the diesel model. the petrol is just as awkward, simple enough job in concept but the execution was pretty hard.

I did it with the vehicle on the ground, disconnected the batery, turn the wheels to full lock to the passenger side and you get enough access driver side to take off the rear flap.
there are two things in the way, brake lines and the autobox dipstick. removing the two brackets of teh brakeline allows plenty of movement to have it out of the way, for the dipstick there is a bolt (awkward one to put back in!!) that holds the top of the dipstick attached to the engine block. remove that and you can slide up the top part of the dipstick. I plugged the bottom part of the dipstick with some rag so no carp would drop into the transmission.
with those removed you can reach in and disconnect the main battery feed and the solenoid control cable (tis is a bit awkward but reachable)

to reach the two bolts holding the starter in place I accessed from under the vehicle, I had to use a deep socket (14mm) with a uni joint and all the extensions I had to try and keep as in line as possible. it's tight but doable, the exaust pipe is a bit in the way but you can work just to the side of it.
with the bolts undone the starter is free.

it's heavy to manouver and awkward to reach but through the weel arch you can twist it upside down and come right out pushing the loose brakelines back.

I installed a new NON OEM starter, about 90 quids, planning on refurbishing the original one to have as spare. the oem unit is well built but maybe not sealed as well as the factory one.

installation is reversal of all the above.

if you have another set of hands available is much easier, one person can hold the starter in place from the wheel arch and another one can do the bolts up from under the vehicle. doing it on my own that was the hardest bit... the starter is heavy after a while holding it up!

all closed up turned the key and the engine purred nicely as usual... win!

I opened the solenoid on the originlal starter and the contacts are a bit worn both on the side contacts and on the plunger but mostly is the oxidization to blame for the non engagement... it's 21 years old after all!
gears and motor looked still perfect though so will be rebuilt and carried as a spare.

hope this may help someone as I had read all sort of stuff with people removing the steering link and undoing the power steering lines... definitely not needed.

as I said a simple enough job in concept...pretty intense in practice, not one that I'd look forward to repeat any time soon.

[Google]

[locodriver65]

Hi
I have just done the starter motor on my 3ltr diesel.  I worked from under the truck. It almost killed me lifting it at my age.(73) Should be good for another 25 years.


Paul

[MikeJak]

Hi Paul, well done at 73 years young, and I think on the diesel is a bit heavier then on the petrol... a lot of respect!