Our starter went out on our '99 Montero. We started having problems Saturday before last...only two of the electric windows would roll down, interior clock went out, radio turned off, wouldn't crank back up after I turned it off. All it would to is make a clicking sound. Several hours later, it cranked right up.

We drove the truck Sunday and Monday with no problems. Monday evening, I took it to a local parts place to get the battery and alternator checked to try to head off a problem. After turning the truck off at the store, it wouldn't crank back up. They checked the battery, which was bad, so I got a new one. Again, all that happened with the new battery was the clicking noise when I tried to crank the truck. Finally, by turning the key back and forth several times, the truck cranked. Alternator tested good, so we were told it was the starter. Drove the truck the next two days with the bad starter and it did fine. Didn't mess up again until Thursday morning. We had to jump the truck off to get it back home from my work.

After trying 2 new starters, neither of the new starter (both w/ new solenoids) would disengage. So, we replaced the ignition switch wiring. After the new starter would still not disengage, we replaced the starter relay. We still have the same problem. We are now stumped.

Also, the battery is staying drained. Each time we try to crank it, we have to jump it off.

Please help!!!

 

well if the battery is drained then its probably not the starter. You may have a parasitic draw on the battery somewhere.

 

well, we went and had the old starter tested. Turns out it was good,so we took the new one out and put the old back in. Now it starts, engage and disengages. But after letting it idle for about 5 min. it started smoking and the finally lights went dim and it went dead. Oil checked-ok, fuel checked-ok. This is the original problem it was having. Any ideas or direction we should be checking...

 

Well, we have it in a local mechanic shop. Turns out, an auto parts place(AZ) was wrong big time. It is the alternator not charging, because it is bad. And the reason it is bad, is when we first go the vehicle, we needed an oil change and didn't have time to do it ourselves, so we took it to W TLE and then a couple of weeks later we noticed it using a good bit of oil. Took it to a different O.C. place and and they said W TLE had put the wrong oil filter on, so in turn that allowed oil to get into the alternator. Not knowing it then, time passed and now the alternator went out. Because the alternator is located close to the oil filter.