Slow cranking, multiple tries to start engine

Really need some trouble shooting help from all the amazing people on tacomaworld. I never had this problem before. It was an unusually hot day here in Los Angeles, near 90 degrees. I drove for about 30 minutes with no previous starting issues. I parked and left the truck for about 4 hours. I come back to start my vehicle, and 2 to 3 seconds into turning the key, I could hear the starter motor working, but the sound starts to die preventing the engine from starting. I tried again and my engine started, but just barely. This has happened a few times and is making me kind of worried. Sometimes it starts super fast and other times it struggles. When the problem does happen, it usually takes two tries to start the engine.


-I checked the connections at the battery terminals and the ground and it was a strong connection. Just for the heck of it, I removed them and cleaned them up with a battery terminal cleaner.

-There are no cracks or leaks on the battery



I used a

$45 BT-100 Battery Load Tester and Voltmeter - 100 Amp

BT-100 tester to help with diagnosis



Here are the results.

Battery voltage with no load, 13V

CCA rating of my battery is 710 A, did the test and got around 700-800 A

Tested the charging system. Got a 13.8V reading with head lights off, and same reading with the head lights on. (The manual for the battery tester states, that you should do this test at 1200-1500 rpm. I did it at around 1000 rpm so I figure the results would be even better had I used the proper rpm for testing.)

My battery tester had one more test it can do. The starter motor test; which I think (correct me if I'm wrong) tests how much current gets used up by the starter motor. I can't do this test cause I cant start the engine and read the results at the same time (tester wires are too short). I don't know how useful this test is for my situation.

Anyways any help would be much appreciated. I tried to get a sound clip of how it sounds as the starter motor is failing to start the engine; but it never happens when I try to record it ​

 

It's pretty common that these trucks to have an occasional hard start. Usually starts on the 2nd try when this happens. I've had 2 Tacomas that did this. Has nothing to do with temperature. Just random occurrences at different times of the year.

 

Well though it may be a known issue (I guess?), there is always an underlying reason to any hiccup on any vehicle. Sounds like either a connection issue or a starter issue. And yea an amp draw test on the starter would tell you a whole hell of a lot if you could duplicate it with a good key turning partner.. just my 02 cents..

 

That's good to know it's common. Although the day it had trouble starting, it happened 6 times that day. Second try always worked. Never happened since, but it does make me worry.

 

Everyone's always out of the house when i'm working on my truck. Look's like I got to find someone else to turn my key

 

6 times in 1 day does seem excessive. Usually it's months in between hard starts for me.