Click-No-Start (Starter, Ignition Switch and other Culprits)

Hi and welcome to the forum! I'm sorry to say I've had vehicles I cared about stolen and vandalized too, so I know the mental aspect of what you must be feeling. There are few things I hate more than thieves and vandals. I'm glad to hear he wasn't successful in getting it started. Hopefully he gets caught soon.....even better if it's by somebody that hurts him bad.

As for advice, the 1st thing I should say is I can only offer general advice as your van is quite different than anything sold here in the American market. Toyota never sold diesel Previa's here, and I've never seen one, so I'm not sure where the similarities end or begin. That being said it stands to reason that the problem must be something he did. Since he was so destructive, it will be hard to rule anything out.

You didn't say if it was an automatic or a manual transmission. If it's an automatic, my 1st thought would be to check the neutral safety switch and/or the linkage that attaches the shifter to the transmission. If he bent that linkage the safety switch may not be in the correct position (to allow the starter to run). If it's a manual transmission, then you should check the clutch safety switch and the wires to and from it. Other than that there's not much I can offer, other than suggesting you get a Factory service manual for your specific vehicle so you can use the electrical diagrams to help you troubleshoot the circuit. Good luck! Tim

Check the fuses. If someone was trying to touch random wires together, some of them might be blown.

thanks guys. Just got it working by sheer luck I think, refitted ignition switch and tried hot wiring it with the ignition switch fitted, turns out of I join a white wire and a wire one with a red stripe together, then everything behaves normally and I can even use the key. Maybe those wires were joined before the theives ripped it all up so I didn't know to fix that, or maybe I just magically worked around another problem. I didn't try driving it as I think the theives live locally so need to set up some security features. The central locking is flicking on and off, I guess that could be a wire in the passenger door earthing.
Anyway been great to discover this site. Ps yes it's an diesel automatic 2.2 turbo. The estimas and previas are often identical on the wider body ones and people swap bits and work manuals.

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Originally Posted by Jdelgado

you can easily access it from underneath. I believe only two bolts keep it in place. Should only take a few minutes to drop! :)


Attachment 9083

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I’m looking for the second bolt to remove the starter. The first was a 14mm that attached through the transmission housing. I can’t for the life of me find that second bolt.

I have been dealing with this issue for the past few years now until 6 months or so when the van wouldn't start at all unless the starter solenoid was jumped off. I installed a bypass, but it was hacky and sketchy. I went through this thread and checked everything starting from the battery to the starter and ended up replacing 3 frayed primary wires, and 1 completely broken wire at the neutral switch. The van finally starts every time and I can rid myself of the bypass switch. To anyone going through this now, save yourself the trouble of a hack solution and check your neutral position switch, mine looked like it had been repaired before, so I assume its a common issue.

The neutral safety switch on my van has an intermittent issue so I installed ab switch needs to be pressed while starting the car.

For those who have the "click" problem and you've already checked/replaced starter contacts, Here's a picture of my "relay hack" to remedy the issue.

https://hosting.photobucket.com/e65a...0e17e0398d.jpg

Here's a link to the needed parts: https://www.amazon.com/Bosch-Automot...4&sr=8-10&th=1. Tim

After a few days of reliable starting, the van sat for a week and now all the sudden I am getting 2 volts at the starter solenoid again. I may just try your work around so I don't have to fool with this thing anymore.

When it's acting up and you are only seeing 2 volts, unplug the starter wire and see if the voltage increases. If voltage jumps up to 10 or more, this will probably work.

Low voltage to the starter trigger wire is due to a faulty component in the starter trigger circuit. In some cases it's due to small voltage drops from multiple components. This hack works because it greatly reduces the load on the trigger circuit and boosts voltage/current available to the starter solenoid. You still need enough current/voltage to engage the coil on the Bosch relay, but that's significantly less than what the starter solenoid needs. In cases where voltage drops under load this hack can be the solution. The best part is it doesn't bypass safety protocols. Tim

I had a spare relay lying around and wired it in on my lunch break, fired right up. At this point I am so tired of playing with it I am just happy to be able to start my van so I can move it before street cleaning happens in a few days...