I recently bought a company used diesel engine Toyota Condor in serviceable condition. The problem is that whenever I drive it for some distance and off the engine it won't start immediately until after 20 to 25 minutes. My electrician said it was the kick starter which he opened and changed some components. It remained the same. I changed the entire kick starter two times but to no avail. Am suspecting that something else is responsible for my predicament. I live in Bonny Island and the electricians here don't seem to have solution to my problem. Pls help.

You have not really said anything, because your post contradicts the topic.

What exactly is the problem with the car? Is it that the car doesn't crank or it cranks but doesnt start? Engine crank and start are two different things.

Ikenna.

Ikenna351: You have not really said anything, because your post contradicts the topic.

What exactly is the problem with the car? Is it that the car doesn't crank or it cranks but doesnt start? Engine crank and start are two different things.

Ikenna.

Thanks for the response Ikennaa. The issue is that the kickstsrter won't even turn fine. It only makes a ku..ku..ku..ku a kind of noise, as if the battery is weak. That is it appears very weak to turn the engine. The engine won't even crank. And my battery is sound.

Wait a minute. Is it that when the engine has worked for some time and u try to off and start again it doesn't start. There are different things to trigger that. It could be the coil. Tell the electrician to check d coil. Or better still scann that truck of yours to get the exact problem

Everfrank:
Thanks for the response Ikennaa. The issue is that the kickstsrter won't even turn fine. It only makes a ku..ku..ku..ku a kind of noise, as if the battery is weak. That is it appears very weak to turn the engine. The engine won't even crank. And my battery is sound.

From your description of the symptom, the issue seems not to be from the starter.

There are 3 ways of finding out the culprit with such symptom and also know if your starter is the culprit.

1. Run a direct wire or bypass wire from ignition switch to starter solenoid from the + battery terminal. If the engine cranks when you do that, then the starter is not the issue. But if it still does the same, then the problem could be from the starter motor or solenoid. But since you have refurbished the starter and replaced it twice and the problem persisted, then i rule out the starter.

2. Check the battery negative terminal (-). How clean it is? I would advice you replace it, even if it looks good. What about where the ground wire from battery negative terminal is bolted on the engine block? Unbolt it, sand-paper it and bolt it back. Make sure the two surfaces are not corroded before bolting it back. If the starter doesn't get enough ground on the engine block, you will have such symptom.

3. Like i mentioned in the 1, there is a wire on starter solenoid that comes from ignition switch. But it first gets to a relay before stopping on the solenoid. Get a DMM (Digital Multimeter), set it to 20volts, pull out the socket of that wire that comes from ignition switch from the solenoid, place the red lead of the DMM on the wire from the solenoid and place the black lead of the DMM on battery - head (or simply ground it on any metal surface of the car or engine clean enough), have someone crank the engine for you (which wont crank anyway). As soon as the person turns the ignition switch as if he is cranking the engine, the DMM should display 12v (12.60 v or so). If it displays anything less than 12v, then starter is not getting enough required volts to turn the starter motor. If you get such value on your DMM, i would start with the relay starter.

If the relay starter is not getting enough volts on the relay pin 3, then it wont send more than 12v to the starter solenoid and you will get such symptom you are having now. It could be that the wire has burnt or has broken partially.

If the pin 3 relay of the starter is getting the required volts from the battery + terminal, yet the starter solenoid dont receive upto 12v from the relay, check if the wire from the relay (pin 4 or 5) to starter solenoid is in good condition. If its burnt or broken ineternally, you will get a similar symptom too.

Make sure the 2 battery terminal heads and the wires on them are not corroded. Clean them well with water.
The starter would manage to crank the engine when is cold. But once it becomes hot, it would need the required volts to crank the engine, which it isnt getting. Also, when engine is hot, the corroded wire sockets tend to lose contact or pass less values to the other socket attached to (male & female sockets).


I have had similar issue, and the 3 steps i stated above was i how i diagnosed, found the culprit and fix it. Goodluck.

Ikenna.

It is the rotor head of the injection pump. It costs about 35k for the toyota 5L engine. the rotor head is worn.
How much did you buy the car ?

Thanks men. Am gonna try these out.

Thanks Ikenna. Your post is educative and am confident that those tests will nail the culprit responsible for the inability of the kickstarter to crank or start the engine when its hot. I'll follow religiously.

@Obua
Your prediction is equally helpful cos the injector has finally packed up yesterday afternoon. The engine suddenly started jarking and then offed. They had to tow the car to the mechanic. So am starting from there. I bought that car for 600,000 from the original buyer after he refurbished it. Thanks

[quote author=Ikenna351]

From your description of the symptom, the issue seems not to be from the starter.

There are 3 ways of finding out the culprit with such symptom and also know if your starter is the culprit.

1. Run a direct wire or bypass wire from ignition switch to starter solenoid from the + battery terminal. If the engine cranks when you do that, then the starter is not the issue. But if it still does the same, then the problem could be from the starter motor or solenoid. But since you have refurbished the starter and replaced it twice and the problem persisted, then i rule out the starter.

2. Check the battery negative terminal (-). How clean it is? I would advice you replace it, even if it looks good. What about where the ground wire from battery negative terminal is bolted on the engine block? Unbolt it, sand-paper it and bolt it back. Make sure the two surfaces are not corroded before bolting it back. If the starter doesn't get enough ground on the engine block, you will have such symptom.

3. Like i mentioned in the 1, there is a wire on starter solenoid that comes from ignition switch. But it first gets to a relay before stopping on the solenoid. Get a DMM (Digital Multimeter), set it to 20volts, pull out the socket of that wire that comes from ignition switch from the solenoid, place the red lead of the DMM on the wire from the solenoid and place the black lead of the DMM on battery - head (or simply ground it on any metal surface of the car or engine clean enough), have someone crank the engine for you (which wont crank anyway). As soon as the person turns the ignition switch as if he is cranking the engine, the DMM should display 12v (12.60 v or so). If it displays anything less than 12v, then starter is not getting enough required volts to turn the starter motor. If you get such value on your DMM, i would start with the relay starter.

If the relay starter is not getting enough volts on the relay pin 3, then it wont send more than 12v to the starter solenoid and you will get such symptom you are having now. It could be that the wire has burnt or has broken partially.

If the pin 3 relay of the starter is getting the required volts from the battery + terminal, yet the starter solenoid dont receive upto 12v from the relay, check if the wire from the relay (pin 4 or 5) to starter solenoid is in good condition. If its burnt or broken ineternally, you will get a similar symptom too.

Make sure the 2 battery terminal heads and the wires on them are not corroded. Clean them well with water.
The starter would manage to crank the engine when is cold. But once it becomes hot, it would need the required volts to crank the engine, which it isnt getting. Also, when engine is hot, the corroded wire sockets tend to lose contact or pass less values to the other socket attached to (male & female sockets).


I have had similar issue, and the 3 steps i stated above was i how i diagnosed, found the culprit and fix it. Goodluck.

Ikenna.[/quote

@Ikenna351
You finished work for me man. Thanks. After the injector was fixed,it was dirty anyway, and the tank dropped and washed the problem still persisted. I now changed the battery terminals and cleaned the ground wire bolted on the engine from the battery negative terminal and then BINGO! Everything is ok. I can now drive the vehicle to any distance at any speed with full blown ac very confident of restarting it without qualms. The sweetest part of the story is that I did it myself. Thanks to nairalanders and nairaland.

Happy to hear that. Also happy that you sorted out the issue by yourself. Congrats!

Ikenna.