When your car is running normally everything is fine, however if it begins to have frequent complications you may possibly begin to speculate, especially if your car won’t start. In this article we will show you where the starter of a Toyota Highlander is, it will help you to resolve your ignition complications. To get this done, we will first summarize the function of a starter, then, where is the starter on a Toyota Highlander , and, finally, how to change the starter of a car.

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Role of the starter on your Toyota Highlander

We begin this article by explaining the function of the starter motor on your Toyota Highlander. The starter is an electric motor which is powered by your battery, its role will be to make your engine run at a high enough speed to start it (usually around 300/400 rpm). It is built from three most important parts:

  • The Solenoid: This component is an electrical relay that will work as a switch, it will be activated by the key of your Toyota Highlander and let the current from your battery to the engine of your alternator.

    • The engine: Most important element of your alternator, it is the one that will drive the flywheel of your Toyota Highlander and generate enough speed for your engine to begin.

  • The engagement pinion: This is the last part of your starter, it is the toothed wheel that will be in direct contact with the flywheel, it allows to transfer the force from the starter to the engine.

Where is the starter on a Toyota Highlander?

Now that we have fairly quickly detailed what a starter is and how it works, we will answer the question that most of you have to ask yourselves where is the starter based on a Toyota Highlander? It is quite easy to find a starter, obviously, it is a large part that will almost always be placed in a similar place. We let you discover the two possible locations for your car starter down below.

Location of the starter on traditional Toyota Highlander

First and most general case, where to find the starter of a Toyota Highlander with a conventional motor (implied without start and stop). The starter has a particular objective, to start the engine of your car, for that, it must always be near the engine flywheel of this one because it is the part that it actuates when it is used. The flywheel is based at the junction between your gearbox and your engine.

Location of the starter to Toyota Highlander with start and stop

And now second possible starter location of your Toyota Highlander . This case is much less frequent. It just concerns engines equipped with start and stop, and a good part of them will be equipped with a starter placed close to the flywheel. Nevertheless, on some particular series or engines, the starter of your Toyota Highlander might be integrated in your alternator, it is then named a starter-alternator, to find it nothing less difficult, locate your accessory belt and you should find out the big starter block.

How to change the starter on a Toyota Highlander?

Finally, we’ll show you to you quite fairly quickly how to change the starter of a Toyota Highlander. This procedure is not actually difficult, it can be considered by people who have a lowest of simple mechanical experience and adapted tools. Stick to down below the most important steps to perform this intervention:

  • Disconnect the battery on your Toyota Highlander, if you don’t know how to do it, don’t think twice to consult our article which points out how to do it without taking any risk.
  • After locating your starter, loosen the fasteners that hold it in your engine block, there will usually be 2 or 3

    • .

  • It will be time to disconnect the power cables from the starter motor of your Toyota Highlander, however before doing so we suggest you to take a picture of the installation to avoid making a mistake when reassembling.
  • It’s possible that to take out it you may possibly need to take out parts like the gimbal.
  • Remount the new starter, being careful when connecting the connectors.
  • Reconnect your battery and test your starter.

If you want more tutorials on the Toyota Highlander, go to our Toyota Highlander category.