I went out of town for 10 days, and when i came back, my TL wouldn't start. I called my insurance for emergency road service; the guy hit the starter with a hammer three times until the car started. Does that mean the starter needs to be replaced, or did it happen because the car has been sitting down too long in this extremely cold weather? Your comments are appreciated.

 

it could be the battery, starter, or alternator.

you'll need to test or trouble shoot to eliminate the other two out

 

based on OP's description, If the road service guy hit the starter a few times and it started.
Without going into detail It's the starter.

 

would suck if OP changed out started and it wasnt starter.

needs to be sure.
if not battery or alternator, then its starter.

 

I'd tend to agree, especially if it's an '04-'05...

 

if the battery or alternator were the problem.
Hitting the starter wouldn't fire the car up.

 

The starter not bad by hit the solornoise that bad.

 

Coincidence possible? Why not be 100% sure before spending money on a starter?

 

wtf is a solornoise?

i think you mean solenoid, which was probably stuck causing the gear not to extend and engage the flywheel

 

OMG this is giving me a flashback.......i too went on a xmas vacation for 3 weeks, just before i left, i wanted to put the car in the garage, i didnt use the car much in the previous weeks so the battery was almost dead, i tried to start the car ( it was -30 celcius that morning) but after a couple of seconds it went completely dead. I ended up pushing the car in the garage thinking i'd come back and just charge the battery and i'd be fine. Well, i wasn't. I came back and charged it and when i turned the key, everything lit up but there was no starter sound. The relay was clicking, so i ended up hitting the starter with a hammer, it started. the next day, it was dead again. I hit it again, nothing, i took a rubber mallet and put the car on a ramp and hit it from under while my gf was starting it, but nothing.

Had to tow it, it was the starter. Ended up costing me about 450$, 300$ for the part, 6 month warranty, it was refurb and 150$ for about 2 hours of work.

I've had this car for about 2 years, i did see a difference in the past months in the time the starter took to do its job and the intensity with which it did it, now with my new starter, -30 or not, it start in 1.5 seconds...there is a major difference with a good and an aging starter. So my guess it, your starter will fail soon enough

 

Really??? You really said that?? I thought it was pretty obvious he meant solenoid

 

if it were a dead battery, the car wouldn't start at all which would require a jump.


If the alternator was bad, battery light would of came on and OP would of noted that in his post.


instead, the road service gentleman hit the starter and got the car to start.
Pretty much hitting the starter would get you one last start, enough to go get a replacement starter.

 

+ 1 for starter, especially after smacking it like a red headed step child.

 

It really did happen

 

Yeah I'm also running into this problem as well, I picked up the Hayes repair manual and have watched the replacement videos a few times. I plan on doing the swap this weekend...

 

Oh and the mechanic also hit mine with a hammer as well to get it to work.. The nice thing is that it lasted about 2 years after he hit it , it only just recently completely went out..