2010 4.0 hard to start

New to the Tacoma. I purchased a 2010 TRD sport 4x4 in November with 30,000 miles on the clock. Since I purchased the truck it seems the gas pedal likes to be bumped during startup. This is pretty much on every startup regardless of temp. The truck starts fine with just a feather of the gas. I'm curious is this normal to Tacomas? The air cleaner is new and clean. The truck before was owned by an elderly couple that drove it during the winter and when it rained out. The truck is pretty spotless in every sense. Ideas? Thanks

 

You need a New Battery, one cell is weak! Get a NEW Battery size 27F ! I am now using a AGM Battery size 24 that works as well and better! Tech for Diesel and gas since 1978 !

 

Get the battery checked and replace your spark plugs (30K interval).

 

Just to be clear it cranks over just fine. It's the lack of spark or fuel that not creating the combustion thing. I will look into plugs and check the battery while I'm getting them.

 

Most likely it still has the original spark plugs (just plain ol' conventional fat wire nickel-chrome plugs) and as DriverSound said they were due to be changed at 30k--unless you have reason to believe they were changed do it...

 

Nickel, platinum, iridium is there really difference in this particular truck other than costs? I'm kind of biased on NGK because of the great luck I've had with them in past. .1 MPG is really not that big of a deal for me. I'm not really all that worried my truck is getting 17mpgs

 

When new it doesn't matter. At 30k miles the precious metal fine wire (platinum/iridium) plugs will still be performang as new, conventional "copper" (ni-chrome "fat wire") plugs will be shot. At 60k to 75k miles fine wire plugs will still be firing as they should--at 90k miles they will be performing about the same as "fat wire" plugs at 25k. Iridium electrodes have a bit of an edge on platinum, but not enough to warrant paying some silly premium price to get them.

NGK makes fine wire precious metal plugs...

 

Awesome find.....2010 with only 30k

 

My money is on it needing a battery too. Mine cranked fine but didn't start easily without some gas pedal. About a month later the battery died and nothing. Not like the old cars where is gradually dies and cranks slower. Stop by any parts store and have them throw the tester on it and see...It's free.

 

Clean the throttle plate and throttle body with some cleaner on a rag.. if you have maf sensor cleaner or tb cleaner use that liberally. If you have brake clean or carb cleaner go light you don't want it to soak into the throttle body electronics. You want to get the ring of carbon crust out from around the throttle plate. This will let more airflow in while cranking and you should be able to have it sta r t without touching the gas

 

Easy enough to check. Monitor the battery voltage while cranking the engine; if it falls below 11.5 to 11.0 V then the battery is suspect, below 11.0 to 10.5 V the battery is toast. Modern EFI systems have to have at least 10.5 V to operate properly.

This is what makes the traditional CCA rating (maintaining 7.2 V or better) mostly meaningless. Asking batteries to maintain 7.2 V while cranking was barely OK in the days of Kettering (points, condensor, coil) ignition systems but now it is a cruel joke...

 

Thanks, I'll look into the above!

 

The battery on my 2011 died in about 2 years and didn't hold charge as it has a bad cell. Now on my 2015, I don't have the problem you described but sometimes I feel that it just barely gives enough power to crank and just seems like a weak start compared to our other cars. I've been meaning to have the battery checked.

 

From what I saw working at Toyota is running non-copper plugs led to issues. Go with what was stock and replace them every 30k.