After getting off work, I went to a gas station to fill up. Afterwards, when I tried to start it… it wouldn’t start.
I called AAA and they had a roadside assistance guy come out. He banged on the starter as we tried to get one last crank and it didn’t work. He called for the tow guy and an hour later, the Previa was brought back to my house.
Upon looking at the starter, I was kind of upset that it was not a ‘newer’ starter. 10yrs prior, I had the engine, transmission and S/C rebuilt. When the shop was putting together the final bits, I asked them to order a new starter.
How I knew it was the older starter was that it had undercoat/bedliner overspray, which the previous owner did to protect the van from rusting. Anyways, a new starter was ordered and a day later, it came in.
I spent a few hours getting it all changed out (a lot of reaching up to reach the top bolts and removing some brackets to get access to the main bolt holding the starter).
Finally, after changing it out, I tried to start it. NO START. I also noticed there wasn’t a click.
Upon research, it could possibly be the starter relay. After looking where that is, it was behind the instrument panel. So I spent time DELICATELY taking off the center dash and driver side vents as they are fragile.
Right behind the instrument panel, was a green relay.
I ordered one online and 2 days later, it arrived. I put it in and it started right away!!!
A quick update. I started to have starting issues again. Thinking it might be an issue with new parts, I again started to look at connections to make sure they were good. Battery terminal looked a bit more corroded than before, so I removed the terminal and saw that underneath was corroded. After cleaning everything, the Previa started right up.
Side note, I checked the terminal when things 1st started to be an issue, but now I think that corrosion on the underside might have been the culprit. Nonetheless, I always take the approach of if it is old and there are issues, it’s okay to replace it.
Now the Previa starts up like new!
