Hi to all, Please help if you can.
I have a Previa, Estima, Emina, LuxuryX (Is it really called all of this?)
Anyway at the moment It is possessed by some dodgy starter entity from Hell!
This 1995 model has been fine up until a few months ago, i was dropping me kids to school and i parked on the big yellow zigzagy area outside the gates. (silly)
Done the drop, got back in, turned her over and just CLICK ! (panic)
After adjusting the hanging scent tree on the rear view and still just CLICK ?
I then decided to check the battery leads and to my delight they were both proper lose.
I wiggled them tight again and all has been well until last month, she came back from a week in the west country.
The following morning i turned her over only to hear the dreaded CLICK again,
I retried with the key and this time the starter kicked in and went on & on & on!
I took the keys out but on & on she went(panic) so i ran to the bonnet and disconnected
her heart (the battery) and there she lies!
I put the leads back on a few days later but on & on goes the possessed
starter demon.
Do i need an Exorcism ?
Thanks for listening, i would be pleased to hear any positive advice .
Regards John

Says Me is right - you need a new starter solenoid. But the easiest solution would be to have the starter motor replaced, if the solenoid is faulty the whole unit may be showing its age. When I was an apprentice I was given a piece of advice that I will always remember -"Do it right or do it twice!". Over too many years I have learned the cheapest way to do any job is to do it properly,not just car repairs but any kind of maintenance. A faulty Toyota?-- Wow!.

Yep, solenoid, but i believe it's part of the starter in Toyotas.

Nope, no exorcism this time!

Starter Solenoid, or just a relay (little black boxes under your hood). It probably shorted when you had the bad cable connection.

Clean your cables and posts, and MAKE SURE their nice and tight, and try again. You might get lucky. Check all your fuses, it's a small job and could save you some money. You could check the starter relay by substitution, i.e. take out your horn relay and substitute the starter relay. If it works, just buy another relay.

The solenoid in newer cars is part of the starter, and the whole starter should be replaced.

I hope you don't live in a cold part of country. Sucks if so, because it always seems to be at it's coldest when a car decides to take a nap!

I realise this is a bit late but Toyota Starters have an inexpensive fix.

The solenoid contacts are made of a soft copper that "flattens" over time and thousands of starts. The new contacts are available at Toyota Parts and are not expensive.

You have to remove the starter and take the end off of the solenoid to replace them.

This Fixes the sometimes-it-starts problem