Truck won't start after ex tried "fixing" it

My name is Erica and i have a tacoma SR5. Nothing fancy. Stock 2wd. It ran great until my now -ex decided to help me "fix" it when i lost my keys. He cut the bracket to the ignition took out the ignition and put the plug and wires outside of their housing behind the steering column plasticsand left them hanging out under the steering wheel. Then he handed me a couple of wires with solder on them and instructed me on how to hot wire my ignition.
Then the next day i caught him inside messing with it "fixing" it so the radio would work....he touched the wrong wires on the plug and now it don't start at all unless someone pushes and i pop the clutch.
Did i mention i only got the truck 2 days prior to this happening.i haven't even gotten its smog check yet. Does anyone know how i can test to find out what is wrong with it.i live in Mojave desert and push starting it out here is not an option. I also live 30 miles from the nearest town or neighbor. So a push isn't exactly easy to come by. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

@BartMaster1234 might have some input. He's disected a few 1st gens.

Maybe @mechanicjon

 

well, he clearly messed up the wires... and the reason why it is not starting now is because he probably blew a fuse... so check your fuses to see if you find a blown fuse

Then I suggest you have these wires put how they were before he touched it and get some new keys made

oh, and by the way, welcome to tacoma world

 

I second this comment. Also recommend never letting him touch any vehicle of yours again. Welcome! Best of luck fixing your truck!

 

Oh boy!

Tell me what the wire color and the tracer color is and I'll see what they're for.

You probably fried something

 

Start with the starter / ignition circuit if it's not sending a signal to the starter, but the engine will run.

 

With A bit more information I can pull up almost all the electrical for many of the early Tacoma's so what year is it and what engine? attached is first Gen electrical.

 

Its a 98 ext.cab SR5. It does start and rub but only by push starting it. I checked ALL of my fuses and they are all good. Could it be the starter relay?

 

OP said her (now) EX messed with it, so it's a good chance she's not going to let him near it anyway... lol

 

I can hear it click when them wires are first connected....but when you go to touch the wire that is supposed to turn it over, there's nothing. I would love to get a new key but because he cut the support bracket in half that's behind the panel that holds the ignition in place, i need the whole new set up. And no vehicle means no work.no work means no cash...see my dilema? I gotta fix this just so i can go get it properly fixed. It's a nightmare inside a crazy house! I can't even find the da** ignition cylinder.i have no idea what in the he** he did with it!

 

Hmmm...my hinky meter is going off.
No key, no cylinder, wires shorted and push starting, hot wiring.

What's the rest of the story as to what initially caused it not to start with the key?

 

Dear Erica,

If you were not a female, I would slap you silly, and say what the hell were you thinking. You are definitely going to have to find a schematic (wiring diagram) to your ignition and dash, and start tracing where things should go.

Good Luck,
Paul

 

The wiring diagrams that I posted above are the correct ones for the starting circuit for the 98 Tacoma both 2 wheel drive and 4 wheel drive (4 wheel drive items are outline by grey box)

 

Hopefully it's just a fuse; Keep in mind fuses don't protect the electrical system from all abuses.. It's possible that a ground or a digital component is fried.

I'm an electrical engineer and I've found that most people who claim to understand car electrical systems actually have a tenuous grasp on electronics. It's kind of a curse to be an EE because you don't trust anyone working on your car. I've heard some pretty wacky stuff from mechanics & car stereo installers about wiring stuff up in cars and it scares me away from letting people work on my electrical system.

Disconnect the battery, fix the wiring by getting it back to the OEM configuration, check for a dead fuse, cross your fingers when hooking up the battery and giving it a start.

 

I just bought this truck at the end of August and two days later i lost my da** keys. I live putt on the Mojave desert 30 miles from any thing so the necessity to have my vehicle running is kind of a serious thing. Thus, my ex and his hot wiring b.s.
I can't even get it down to smog to get my smog certificate so that i can have my registration and title in my own hands. DMV gave me an electronic copy of my fees being paid, but no title till i do a smog check. So no hinky acts done. But yes, it looks just lovely.lovely hinky.

 

Sad thing.. You're not going to get much meaningful help here on the forums unless someone is willing to drive your way & donate labor... You should probably call a tow truck and have it towed to a reputable mechanic. If you don't know enough about electrical and don't know someone who does; I think you should think of it as an expensive lesson & get professional help.

Someone tried to steal my truck one time and they hammered open my steering column. Turns out there's column specialists out there for this so I called one of those guys up and he fixed the column in place for 300$. That might be a good place to start looking because I assume a column specialist knows about wiring ignitions.

For future reference; it would have probably been cheaper to call a locksmith than it will be to repair the wiring damage.

 

funny-style.

 

Ok.I'm going too give it a try this afternoon.i will let you know.thanks everyone for the input.

 

Ok.Thank you. I will use them this afternoon when i attempt to put it back together.

 

Can u post a pic to see what's left and how it was left. Most auto parts stores sell the this component with new key for under a hundred bucks its all plug and play done so myself