Starter Problem?

your problem will be in the starter, have it o/hauled.

mark (mhpautos)

165,000 miles on a 2010?! Wow. If you have the little silver Nippendenso starter, worn solenoid contacts are real common and will cause that kind of loud clunk from the starter. They can be replaced for 20 bucks but most people just replace the entire starter.

To verify that, if you can reach the large terminal on the starter that is under the rubber cap, and across from the battery cable, poke it with a test light while a helper turns the ignition switch to "crank". You should have voltage there during cranking only. If not, check on the other side on the battery cable. That one should have voltage all the time. If you do but it goes to 0 volts when you hit crank, look at the battery cables.

caradiodoc

mistake. It is a 2001. I removed the starter and had it tested at the parts store. It passed. Since I knew the battery was ok I focused on the terminals, although they appeared clean and that was the problem. Uhh. All that work on the starter for nothing. Thanks for your help, anyway.

For future reference, it is highly inaccurate to test starters off the engine. With no load, those little Nippendenso units only need to draw less than 50 amps. Worn solenoid contacts will still be able to pass that much current. They WON'T be able to consistently pass the 150 amps needed to crank the engine. Also, these contacts always become intermittent for weeks or months before failing completely. It will crank eventually if you cycle the ignition switch enough times. It just takes longer and longer before it cranks.

Happy to hear you solved the problem.

caradiodoc