2000 Tundra starter contact replacement write-up

[fustercluck]

Write-up imminent...stay tuned.

[fustercluck]

Haha! Well just as I sat down to upload and sort the images from my digicam, Mrs Fuster appeared and asked if I would go on a date w/ her. In most jurisdictions, accepting such a solicitation will get you arrested and perp walked down town. But since we're married and I'm usually attention starved, I dropped everything and went out with her. Sadly, the date was to Ikea wherein I spent the last few hours moping from pseudo room to miniature kitchen. Anyway I'm back to upload and comment.

[fustercluck]

So about three weeks ago I turned the ignition of my 2000 tundra and got the familiar started contact fail click. I had changed the contacts in my 97 runner before, so I wasn't alarmed and knew I could still start my truck by turning the ignition until the starter would engage and fire the engine. This only works for a while.....skip to last night. Being chronically slothful, I procrastinated the repair until the bump the key method failed to yeild what I wanted. Last night while not far from my house, I could not get my started to engage.

This morning I called aroung to the Toyota parts dealers for price and availability. Each dealer rep tried to tell me that a certified yota tech should handle the job. They also tried to convince me that I needed a whole new starter. Undaunted, I found the parts I needed and picked them up.

The bay of my shop is occupied by my glacially progressing runner build, so I had to use the garage. It was 25 degrees F this morning so I set up my propane jet heater...

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/1fustercluck/tundracontacts041.jpg

While the garage was warming I built a scaffold to better access the nether regions of my engine bay. I'm too old to crawl into the bay anymore. Note the C-clamps tying the plank to the stands. They're important because while stretching to the firewall my feet push the plank off onto the floor and I fall down go boom...

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/1fustercluck/tundracontacts065.jpg

[fustercluck]

Yes Ikea is the devil... :rofl:

[fustercluck]

First things first, Disconnect the battery...

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/1fustercluck/tundracontacts063.jpg

And remove the throttle body cover

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/1fustercluck/tundracontacts062.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/1fustercluck/tundracontacts061.jpg

In the above photo the air intake hose is the black 3" tube that stretched from the air filter box the the throttle body. Remove that and all of the hoses attached to it. There is a wiring harness anchored to the back of it on the left side...

[fustercluck]

Since my short term memory can be unreliable I always alpha/numerically flag any hoses that I disconnect. This eliminates the possibility of forgetting to reconnect and misconnect.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/1fustercluck/tundracontacts060.jpg

[fustercluck]

Next we remove all of the vac noses connected to the intake manifold. Flag if you wish, beware if you don't.

See the little blue plug at the 1 o'clock position of the oil cap? That's one of eight fuel injectors. Disconnect those at the plug.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/1fustercluck/tundracontacts057.jpg

Below is one having been removed. The best way to do it is insert a flat screwdriver between the hump at the top and the ribbed tang.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/1fustercluck/tundracontacts049.jpg

In the image below I show how it should go. Once the screwdriver is in position pry it until you see the tang move and pull the injector free. Try to ignore the fungus ridden snuffleupagus trunk holding the screwdriver....

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/1fustercluck/tundracontacts048.jpg

Now is a good time to remove the throttle cable

[fustercluck]

Edit: there's really no fungus. That's just a distorted image of my thumb...

[fustercluck]

With the injectors and water temp sensor pigtail off. It's time to remove the throttle body. It is positioned directly in front and center of the intake plenum. It is secured by 2 bolts at the bottom and two nuts at the top. I believe they are 12mm...

Dang, my throttle body pic sucks. Here's a pic of the plenum. The big hole in the front is where the throttle body lies. Figure it out.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/1fustercluck/tundracontacts045.jpg

[fustercluck]

Next we remove the fuel supply line. It is located at the rear of the plenum on the driver's side. The pic below illustrates what the fastener looks like. The line has already been removed though. Note the wrench size is 22mm. One thing to watch for is the washers that sit between the fastener and the fuel line. There are two. the notched one rides on the fastener and the flat one sits between the fuel line and the fuel rail.

The small nipple in the lower left of the pic is the fuel return. That hose gets removed too leaving the nipple as shown.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/1fustercluck/tundracontacts047.jpg

It should be mentioned that there was very little pressure in the fuel lines when I removed them.

[fustercluck]

Some instructions say to remove the fuel rails, but that is unnecessary. Some instructions say to remove the water jacket at the throttle body, but that is also unnecessary.

[fustercluck]

At this point one can remove the six 12mm bolts and four 12mm nuts that secure the plenum to the heads. If as they are being removed, one drops into the valley of the block it can be removed after the plenum is removed. These bolts are located at the base of the plenum. I had to join a few socket extensions to to reach them.

in this image you can barely see the shiney surface where the intake bolt has been removed. It is right next to and partially eclipsed by the upper woven section of the hose on the right.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/1fustercluck/tundracontacts054.jpg

[fustercluck]

Now we lift the plenum out...

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/1fustercluck/tundracontacts039.jpg

It's important to note that there will likely be some sediment in and around the valley of the motor. You can see it in this pic. It is also consentrated close to the intake ports so I stuffed some rags into the ports and vacuumed the dirt with a shop vac.

Also not the screw at the eleven o'clock position of the port closest to the firewall on the left head bank. That screw secures a wiring harness anchor. Now would be a goo time to remove it and it's corresponding fastener on the other side (Follow the harness to the right. you'll see the anchor point)

[fustercluck]

At this point we can see the starter....almost done.

Just above the starter, running horizontally and just under the recently freed harness, is a coolant bridge. The techs I spoke to suggested that the starter can be removed without disturbing this piece. However, for me and those without a lift and fifty socket extensions to reach from under and behind the bell housing, will find the path of least resistence is to remove this piece. There are four nuts to remove and the bridge comes off easily. In doing so I lost about 1/3 cup of coolant.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/1fustercluck/tundracontacts052.jpg

[fustercluck]

Thar she blows! Finally, the starter has surrendered to me....kinda. There sre still two very difficult bolts to remove. Difficult, because one cannot be easily seen and the other (passenger side) must be removed with a box end wrench 1/16th of a turn at a time....

remove those and the last harnes bolt on the starter housing.


http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/1fustercluck/tundracontacts051.jpg

[fustercluck]

With those and the harness anchor bolt removed from the starter, tip it, turn it, flip it etc to expose the driver's side of it. The pigtail and the positive battery cable from it (12mm socket).


And we have lift off!

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/1fustercluck/tundracontacts042.jpg

You may notice that the silt and muck have been cleaned from the block and heads at the ports.

[fustercluck]

Here's the starter, remove the three 8mm bolts to access the contacts and plunger.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/1fustercluck/tundracontacts050.jpg

The plunger has been lifted out and the contacts exposed. Note the semi circular wear pattern in the copper tangs

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/1fustercluck/tundracontacts040.jpg

[fustercluck]

It's mildly important to pay attention to the series of parts that comprise the contacts and the poles they ride. note where each piece belongs in the sequence and replace them so.

Here are the contacts replaced

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/1fustercluck/tundracontacts044.jpg

[fustercluck]

This picture sucks my butt. It was intended to juxtapose a new contact with the tired one. Oh well. What you can clearly see is the little wad of pocket lint I left out that made it into the pic...

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/1fustercluck/tundracontacts043.jpg

[fustercluck]

Replace the plunger and resecure the fasteners. The starter is ready to re-install. The order of re-assembly is:

secure battery cable to positive pole of starter.
attach exciter pigtail.
install starter mounting bolts
attach harness anchor to starter and tighten mounting bolts
secure coolant bridge.
secure larger harness anchor bolts
install manifold gaskets (right and left)
put manifold in place
secure manifold bolts and nuts
install fuel line and fuel return
install throttle body
reconnect injector plugs and water sensor plug
secure vacuum lines and ancillary pigtails as well as the throttle cable
replace TB cover and reconnect battery cable.

I forgot to mention that when I removed the intake manifold, I was careful not to damage the intake gaskets. I cleaned them and dried them with compressed air between the metal sandwich plates.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/1fustercluck/tundracontacts053.jpg

note the carbon build up on the first port and the clean port next to my hand...

[fustercluck]

One last word to the wise. You may remember I mentioned that if one dropped a manifold bolt into the motor valley upon disassembly, it was no big deal. Well upon reassembly it is a big deal. So to avoid having an unfortunate mishap, I filled my socket with a dab of modeling clay. You might be able to detect it in the end of this socket. It has taken the reverse shape of the previous bolt.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/1fustercluck/tundracontacts055.jpg

The reason I do this is to prevent the bolt from slipping out of the socket and falling into the valley. If that happens....bummer for you.

Here is a bolt secured to the socket.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/1fustercluck/tundracontacts056.jpg

[fustercluck]

The whole project would have taken me 3 hours had I not taken a Wendy's break and stopped to take pics. It was nice to hop in the truck and start it right up without coaxing it with clicks and bumps...













an encore pic for your viewing pleasure...

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e201/1fustercluck/ConfidenceFail.jpg

[fustercluck]

Nah, it's not weeping. That's residual coolant from when I removed the bridge. I neglected to wipe it before reassembly. I drove it hard today and then filled the tank and gave her a good wash. Funny how a clean truck with a full tank and new contacts seems to run better....hehe.

Thanks for the tip on the digi-cam. Being almost seven years old, I doubt it's sophisticated enough to have the adjustment you describe. I'll check though.