99 Intermittent Starting Problems (Have Replaced Lots of Common Stuff)

99 2.7L has intermittent starting problems. I can always get full power but when I turn the key nothing happens. I have replaced the starter, ignition cylinder, starter relay (2x), and I believe that's all.

To get it to start I have to pull the starter relay out and bypass it with a wire. This always starts the car. I have had mechanics look at it and they can't figure out what is wrong. They mechanic took the relay box apart and put it back together and then I wasn't having any problems at all for about 2 weeks and then I used some seafoam down the vacuum line and at the end the engine obviously shook a lot. Ever since then I have been getting the starting problem pretty much everyday but not necessarily every time I start the car. Sometimes it does work.

My only theory is that there is a loose wire or an exposed wire that got shook loose again and is causing the problem. Do I need to take the truck to an electrical shop? That seems expensive. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you guys.

 

Ok, I would check the contacts the relay plugs into first. Sounds like one of them, and I'm guessing the one that runs to the starter, terminal 5 of the relay, may be either spread, thus making intermittent contact with the relay, or loose in the retainers that hold it in place, thus allowing the relay to push it out when you push the relay into it's socket. When the engine shakes around, it could be making the pushed contact move away slightly from the relay's contact, and another shake allows it to move back, making contact again. The wire may be retained to a close status of being in place, by being inside a large mass of wires.
If one of the contacts is spread slightly, you can squeeze it back together from the rear of the fuse block. Just don't squeeze it down so tight the relay's contact no longer goes into it. Or, as we used to say it, gozinta. Always two parts of any circuit, the gozinta, and the goezoutta
Give a light tug to the wires that go to the contacts the relay pushes into. Use a small pair of needle nose pliers or a pair of forceps. That way it's easy to isolate a single wire in a large cluster of them. Especially if you have fat fingers like I do. It's been a bane of my entire career. I am a Radar Tech by trade. Make sure they all (4) stay in their retainers firmly, with OR without the relay installed. Examine each contact of the relay, in the fuse box rear area, where the wire is clamped to it, to ensure there are no strands sticking out, possibly contacting another relay's contact, or whatever. Make sure all the wire's strands stay firmly in the clamped area. Also, make sure the wire's strands aren't broken right at the crimp. Just move the wire slightly to one side or the other, and observe the crimp carefully for any sign of broken wire strands spreading away from the crimp as you do.
OR, one or more of the contacts the relay pushes into in the fuse box is dirty and/or corroded. You can use a file designed for filing the points in an OLDER form of distributor, to clean to contacts. If you can find one any more. I have one from when I had a Chevy Luv It had points, that needed to be cleaned and adjusted once a week. Heh. Anywho...
Alternatively, a short, stiff, brush, brass or nylon, with some isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol from any pharmacy or drug store) on it, is another good way to clean the contacts out thoroughly. Dry them thoroughly with an air gun, or just let them sit for a while once you get done. Apply a small dab of silicone dielectric grease into each female contact, the ones the relay's male contacts push into. It will prevent build up of dirt or corrosion in the future. Push the relay firmly into it's socket and see what happens.

If it IS a wire, I would check the wires that go to terminals 3 and 5 of the relay. They are the high power wires from the battery to the starter. If there's a bad wire, chances are it's one of them. Trace them along their route, removing them from any wire bundles or looms they are bound up in.

I've babbled long enough. Let us know what you find!
Pat☺

 

Hello. I also had this intermittent starting issue but I think mine was a weird isolated case.

My issue was the ground connection to the battery was loose (can move by hand). The ground post on the battery was worn. I cut a piece of soda can and wrapped it around the ground terminal, to make the post thicker, then tightly secured the connection.

If that is not the issue in your case (since you've looked at other possible causes). Sounds to me like you have a ground connection somewhere that is either loose or not making good contact, maybe the engine shaking, during seafoam treatment, shook a ground loose somewhere like you said. Loose enough to give you accessory power when you turn the key but not enough good ground contact to start the truck if that makes any sense. You could also try a jumper cable or any thick gauge cable (AS A JUMPER) and connect it directly to the battery ground and directly to a good chassis ground and see if you can replicate the issue.

Check your ground connections in the engine bay, like the block ground to chassis etc., and anywhere else there is a thick gauge ground connection. Use some electro-wash spray or any type of electrical contact cleaner to clean any dirty contacts.

hope this helps!

 

As was mentioned, this screams of a connection issue. USUALLY it's going to be in the battery cables. They can corrode from the inside out and the terminals TOYOTA uses are very prone to cracking and losing their grab on the batter terminal. Replace them with old school lead terminal connectors (my issue was the negative cable).

Troubleshooting the starting system on theses cars is fairly easy to rule out obvious issues. The starters on these cars are near bullet proof and a used one is far better than any newly "rebuilt" or Chinese starter.

 

Personally, I prefer the famous Marine terminals. They look like regular, old-school, heavy, lead terminals, but only have a screw post sticking up. I clamp a ring terminal on the wires that go to it, covered with melt wall heat shrink, which protects the wire from the acid mist from the battery. Much easier to pull the cables off of them to work on the truck, or move batteries from truck to truck if you do something silly, like leaving the lights on overnight. Not that *I* ever did something like that. A number of times...<ahem>. Nothing to see here. Move along now...

I also prefer by far the "gel-cell" type battery. The Optima type. No need to ever check the water level in them, no acid mist out of them, so MUCH less terminal and wire corrosion, and to me, in my personal experience only, they seem to do better when they get very cold. Retain more "cold cranking amps" than the regular, lead-acid batteries.

Definitely check all the ground connections you can find. Battery to body, battery to block, usually near the starter somewhere, head(s) to body, etc. The FSM has a good depiction of all the grounds. They could be loose, broken, partly broken, corroded, etc. If they aren't clean, bare metal on both the wire (cable)s, and what it's bolted to, it's no good.

Good luck, and have fun!
Pat☺

 

I’m too having an issue. Went to start the other day and CLICK.
BATTERY was 3 years old so I ran out to Walmart and got a brand-new battery, installed it and it started right up and not an issue since.
Now today about five days since I bought the battery, my daughter goes to start the truck and click. I then got into the truck to start it and it started right up so I obviously have some kind of a wire connection problem going on. I’ve read through all the comments and I’m gonna go through and check all that everybody talked about and see what happens if anybody has a clue where else I should look let me know.