How do you change the starter on a 1996 Toyota Corolla?

Answer 1

I just did this and the whole job took 1.5 hours. Cost of part was $100. The dealer wanted 400 for the whole job. You need a helper when you get to one of the steps.

1. Remove battery neg. cable 2. Remove air cleaner incl large rubber hose and plastic housing. The wire holders are the trickiest to unlatch. 3. Using 14mm wrench, undo top bolt to finger loose. 4. NOTE: All work done from drivers side of engine. Loosen the other 14 mm bolt and remove. 5. Remove top bolt, need a helper to hold other side of starter from other side of car. Place starter on ehaust below. 6. Turn starter over and remove plug and cable. 7. Trickiest step is then to remove the old starter from engine. I was able to squeeze it under heater hoses and through other hoses. Be careful not to damage any other hoses! 8. Follow steps in reverse. Be careful squeezing new starter back into place and behind manifold, and lay there so you can place cable and wire back on. 9. Have helper hold starter while you finger tighten top bolt. 10. Place in the bottom bolt and finger tight. 11. I used a wrench (box) to tighten the two bolts up. 12. Replace battery cable and test engine before replacing the air cleaner assembly. 13. Replace air cleaner assembly and any other cables and hoses. Double check!

This is how I did it - took me about 1-1/2 hours.

The sizes given are the wrench sizes needed to perform the step.

1. Remove the negative battery cable from the battery.

2. Remove the hose that connects the air cleaner to the throttle body.

3. Remove the top of the air cleaner box (4 clips on the corners).

4. Take out the air filter. Disconnect the sensor on the side of the air cleaner.

5. Remove the three bolts (2 - 12mm, 1 - 10mm) that hold the bottom of the air cleaner box to the inner fender and remove the box.

6. Disconnect the two rubber hoses on the top of the air canister (one large, one small).

7. Loosen the clamp bolt (10mm) (be careful as there is a non-captive nut that will drop if you remove the bolt completely) and slide the air canister out.

8. Remove the two bolts that hold the fuel filter on to its bracket (10mm). It is the same bracket as the air canister's.

9. Remove the air canister/fuel filter bracket by removing the four bolts that hold it in place (10mm).

10. Remove the wire harness/hose bracket directly in front of the top starter bolt (12mm) - this will facilitate your ability to get a socket wrench on the starter bolt. On my car it was RIGHT in the way!

11. Loosen the top starter bolt (14mm).

12. Loosen the bottom starter bolt (14mm) and remove it completely.

13. Hold the starter up and remove the top bolt completely. Flip the starter over and place it on the drive axle below with the wiring facing up.

14. Disconnect the solenoid plug and the starter cable (12mm).

15. Remove the starter by snaking it through the driver's side of the motor compartment. There's enough room if you're patient - be careful not to snag anything and damage it.

16. Snake the new starter down through the driver's side reverse of the way the old one came out. Lie it on the drive axle and connect the solenoid connector and the cable.

17. Flip it over and up into place. Hold it in place and start the top bolt. Tighten it by hand enough that the starter stays in place by itself.

18. Start the bottom bolt; tighten it up all the way.

19. Tighten the top bolt the rest of the way.

20. Connect the battery cable and try the starter - before you put everything back!

21. Replace canister/fuel filter bracket and bolt the fuel filter in place.

22. Slide the air canister in and tighten the clamp bolt. Connect the two rubber hoses on top of it.

23. Install the bottom of the air cleaner box; plug in the sensor.

24. Put in the air filter and then replace the top of the air cleaner.

25. Connect the big hose from the air cleaner to the throttle body.

NOTE: You may have to reset the "check engine" light when you're finished (I think starting the car when we check it in Step 20 can freak out the computer since there are still things disconnected). To do this, find the fuse block on the driver's side of the engine compartment; remove the 15A EFI fuse for 30 seconds. Put the fuse back in - the light should now be reset.

That's it! Shouldn't need another one for another 150,000 miles!

danny

I just changed the starter on a 1994 Geo Prizm which uses identical components to the 1994 Corolla. It took me about 2 hours. Danny's instructions are excellent; I just wanted to add a few comments:

1. I found it useful to use a piece of stiff wire (like 14 gauge electrical wire) to hold up the wiring harness. Same goes for the fuel line connected to the fuel filter and heater hoses. This creates a larger unobstructed opening to remove the starter.

2. I disconnected the (+) connector and starter cable before removong the starter since I did not want to break a wire if I dropped the starter on removal. I did this from the passenger side. I also mounted the starter before reconnecting the wires.

3. I could access and remove the bottom 14mm starter bolt from the driver side. This was the most difficult part of the job since it was torqued on pretty good and there is little room to get leverage. A ratcheting box wrench works well.

4. Removing the starter was suprising easy. I was concerned about the tight space given the wiring harness, clutch cables, etc. but it was not a problem.

This is a response from 2 users. Danny was the first user and he should get credit for the detailes instrcutions.