Truck isnt starting...plleeaasee help!

first off I drive a 2001 Toyota Tacoma 3.4l V6 prerunner TRD

So I removed a Viper alarm that was installed by the previous owner...as you may know most/all alarms splice into several of the ignition wires...

I snipped all the wires, and had the whole alarm but I left a little pig tail incase I needed to reconnect it...up to this point the whole car still worked perfectly...

then I decided to snip the excess wire off...when I snipped the excess of the white colored wire connected to the starter it sparked a little, then nothing worked

I spent the rest of the afternoon checking fuses; all the fuses are fine, I crimped all the wires for the ignition back together and they are all on their tight

anyway as it sits now when I try to start the car nothing works at all, no radio, no clock even....

the only thing the car does when I turn the key is the airbag light comes on for about 5 seconds then goes off

any help to my situation is very very much appreciated, thank you all in advance so much, I know their are major experts on here so thanks again!

 

Was the white wire a ground?

 

not to my knowledge, I traced that white wire back as far as I could but it goes behind the fuse box and out of sight...

my best guess is that it is an ignition wire. but what exact wire I dont know...

thanks for a fast responce!

 

im probably wrong but it sorta sounds like maybe your shorted the ecm out but im thinking worst case. i say that because it would seem to me even if u messed with the ignition you still would be able to play with the radio see the dash light up etc. i would first check your battery if no fuses were blown and all wires are grounded like there supposed to be, maybe take the battery out and have it tested to make sure theres not a bad cell

 

If it sparked when you cut the wire then that wire was hot and something shorted out. Are you sure the wire you cut is from the alarm and not original to the truck. Where on the truck was the wire. The location of the wire might help us help you. A pic of the wire you cut would be great.

 

I can get a pic in a minute...

out of the back of the ignition (where you put the key in) their is a plug/ harness with several wires coming out... the white wire was cut and then spliced into and the extra wire was going to the alarm module...the wire that originaly went to the alarm module wasnt connected to anything and was just dangling their so I went to cut the excess wire off to finish the job...then I got the spark... and here I sit!

Ill go take a pic, but I wanted to update you guys.

 

Take a test light and check the wire that was cut and spliced. Check it before and after where the slice was. Its possable that the wire got grounded out when you cut it and melted the inside of the wire. When you cut it did the cutters touch anything else when it sparked?

 

Also in the fuse box under the hood i think some of the bigger box looking things in their are relays. I think one of them is for ignion. That could have burn out to. The first thing that i would do is check every fuse inside the truck and under the hood again just to make sure.

 

for your first post...I dont believe the cutters touched any thing else, if it did touch something it would have been the metal on the steering column but definatly not another wire.

 

The medal would definatly ground it if it touched the medal at the same time it touched the wire.

 

for sure it would have if it touched other metal, so if we assume that it did touch other metal what could that have caused...

working on uploading the pics!

 

Like i said before go threw and check every fuse again and check the battery with a test light or a multi meter. If you look on the underside of the fuse box cover under the hood it tells you what does what. I think one of the relays is for the ignion. Have someone turn the key and put your finger on the relay and see if you feel it click. If it doesnt click it could have shorted out. It should have blown a fuse before anything else.

 

i definitely agree it should have blown a fuse or relay or something first, if not then it that seems like a design flaw...Ill go check the fuses in just a second here are the pictures...

again the white wire (the one im holding) is the one that sparked...

far back for an overall view


closer view so you can see the wires!


this is what was in place before i cut crimped the wire back togethor, notice the little yellow tail spliced in there...the yellow wire is what I snipped and that is also what sparked!

 

after i snipped that yellow wire so it wasnt dangling that is when the whole thing stopped working...

that is why I decided to snip the rest of that crimp out so I could personally make sure the wire was getting a good connection with the new cramp.

 

Thats weird. I cant think of a reason why it would spark unless it touched a ground somehow. Hopfully someone else will chime in and help out.

 

Acording to a few wiring diagrams i found that wire should be 12v constant power so it has to been fused somewhere.

 

so in your expertise it definatly should have blown a fuse right?

also like I said in my original post, nothing works at all, clock, radio, etc...

BUT when I turn the key in the ignition the airbag light comes on for about 5 secs then goes off...

is it possible that the airbag, or ecm needs to be reset then Ill be good to go...

if so can i do this manually?

btw a simple remove the neg. battery cable didnt work...from my knowledge this only resets small problems but nto thins stored in the computers history.

 

Im not sure if you can reset the ECU manually. I would disconect the battery completely and see if it does anything unless you already tryed that.

 

so the fuses have been checked and double checked by myself, and a close friend who is a certified mechanic and is currently working on his major in electrical engineering...

he is as boggled as I am... so I was hoping people on here with more tacoma knowledge could help out...

 

Sorry man i dont know what else to tell you. I cant figure out why nothing works. Maybe try swapping the battery with one from your buddys car and see if it does anything but im out of ideas for you.