QuestionHi, this is a great forum, got a lot of my questions answered already about my camry's starting problems. It's a 1994 Camry 4-cylinder sedan and automatic. I bought used from a dealer a month ago. It has 90,000 miles. I dont' know its repair history.
Like others on this board, my car has problems starting first thing in the morning, when engine is cold, it takes a few clicks, but it seems to be getting worse, with more clicks and more time to get going by the day. It only happens when the engine is cold, so it's only upon first attempt to get it going that it has problems. The rest of the day it is usually fine. (tho it's also erratic, today went out after noon, and the weather was hot in LA, so it started without any problems whatsoever). I plan to check the starter contacts to see if they are dirty before taking it in to get the starter replaced (is this hard to do? I'm a complete novice with cars).
My main question is--how long can I keep going like this with an erratic starter? and what might be the consequences--if it is a bad starter, does this mean it will eventually stop working altogether? I had one mechanic tell me that it would be $320 to replace the starter and that if I didn't do it soon, I could end up with the starter getting stuck and not being able to turn the engine off, and that the engine might just burn up. Is this true or is he just trying to scare me into spending a lot of money?
thanks for your patience with this long post.
AnswerThe mechanic was correct, the starter may eventually develop an internal short and not release from the flywheel, if the engine starts the starter will be forced to spin at a rate it was not designed for and will literally burn up, I have seen this, there is no harm to the engine however, I highly recommend having the starter replaced and try to use the one from the toyota parts department if at all possible because of their very low failure rate compared to aftermarket starters.
