My name is Jenzen and i was given a 1988 toyota tercel for free for tempory use. I used it for 1 month and was fine until the battery died and I replaced it. After 2 weeks I noticed that there would be a grinding sound from the starter after the engine starts. After another week the car starts up fine in the morning but if I turn it off when it is already warm it will have a hard time starting. It will just crank and crank but no start until the battery dies but if I leave the car alone for about 4 hours and try to start it again when it is cold it will start up just fine. And by the way I changed the spark plugs on it to. Any advice would help. Is it worth it changing the starter? Or will this problem of hard starting keep occuring? See because I am moving to the Philippines for school and sold my s2000 so I can save money and I dont want to keep dumping money into this car unless I know for sure what is wrong with it. Thanks in advance any feed back is appreciated.

It sounds to me like you have two problems:

If the car starts and the starter is grinding it is sticking in the engaged position and is being spun by the flywheel. You most likely will need a new starter.

If the car starts when it is cold but is a hard start when it is hot I would say your choke is stuck on. Does your 88 have a carburetor or is it FI? Do you smell gas when it is running?

it is a carburator now the car cranks but wont start..

Pull the air cleaner off. Look down the carb. Push on the throttle linkage. The choke should close if it isn't already. Check to see if it moves freely or is jammed. Hold it open and press the throttle while looking down the carb. Is gas squirting in?