Misfires -> Injector Swap + VCG's. Now wont start + electrical mayhem help

Here's to popping my "I need help thread" cherry...

Did a pretty straight forward job and truck will not start and has crazy electrical gremlins.

98 Tacoma 3.4 5vze 4wd 225k otherwise runs super strong and well taken care of.

Initial Symptoms: Random Misfire. Misfire Cyl 1 and 2. Always drove 100% when cold but later in the day when hot or restarted the misfires would be very apparent. It still always ran, just under powered and rumbly. Boiled it down to injectors and decided to do a VCG when in there for minor leaks.

Work done:
valve cover gaskets, half moons, Cam Plugs, Spark plug seals.
6 Injectors (re manufactured OEM) (Did the six alum washers on fuel rails)
new plugs/wires (NGK iridium but not the duel electrode)
cleaned plenum, throttle body, and MAF
Cleaned battery terminals
Air Filter
Fuel Filter (fat side facing rear of truck)

Current Symptoms:
Cranks without any hesitation. sounds strong and healthy- though never turns over.
When I reconnected the battery after all the work the alarm instantly came on. PO installed alarm and key fob says "Sidewinder" so I assume its aftermarket?
Alarm coming on at all random times. Took out horn fuse. Small red lights (they look professionally installed) recessed in the two black triangle covers for the side mirror screw access flashing with or without alarm.
Power locks going crazy

When the:
Ignition is OFF and key is OUT.
Check engine light on (slightly dim) and temp gauge goes all the way to the top.
Power locks unlock every ~5 seconds (they are already unlocked so i can just hear the loud click (both doors))

Keys IN, Ignition ON.
All dash lights on dash come on (like normal) except the check engine light does not light up...
OBDII communicates (turns on/wakes up/whatever) but will not connect when I hit diagnose. It will load the loading bar but at the end it says it will not connect.

I dug out my key fob as I don't use the alarm or remote lock and got a new fob battery to try to calm down the alarm. I can stop the alarm but that's the only thing it seems to help with.

Don't think it matters but did a compression test while in there too. As viewed from leaning over engine bay.
5-187 6-180
3-168 4-170
1-175 2-180



Pretty stumped here. Could the alarm be blocking ignition? Do I have a psycho alarm AND some source of ignition problem from something i Screwed up in my installs?

If someone nails this diagnosis I'll send you a prize in the mail out of pure excitement and relief. I'm driving a friends spare vehicle lexus 4 door and its smooth, fast, quiet, economical and damn it makes me miss my Tacoma

 

Sounds like you might have pinched a wire somewhere, or maybe pulled a wire out of its connector, when you reassembled everything.

Does this reply qualify for a prize?

 

I guess when I get home from work I'll take it back down to the injectors and redo all the clips and such....If it starts up then yea haha someones got to get it...

 

If you want to remove the alarm, most of them use a plug and play connector at the ignition switch as well as vampire taps. You can remove the lower dash panel to gain access. If yours does use a connector it should be fairly simple to trace everything and remove it.

Also, most alarms disable when you put the key in and turn with the combination of pressing a button on the dash or remote.

 

I will absolutely investigate this tonight. Could it be disabling ignition? To make matters more interesting, PO (who from my understanding went to prison for nefarious activity and was an electrician to boot) had added a couple of unlabeled toggle switches around the truck IE. not on the dash (one near cig lighters and one near left foot of passenger (this toggle returns to the down position once you flip it)...This should get interesting.

 

Ha, yea random wiring is not fun to trace. Get your multi-meter out and start checking.

Yes the alarm can disable the ignition.

Have you ever disconnected the battery before and had the alarm go off when reconnecting?

 

Yes but it never had consequences after clicking the key fob. I've identified something odd under the hood attached to the back firewall. Looks like a rounded square orange sized - black computer speaker looking thing. It might be the alarm. Pics tonight.

 

on the upper intake manifold driver side is where ALL of the grounds for the EFI system are attached... 2 rings with multiple wires. Give each wire a little tug to see if it is broken internally. In addition, there is a ground off the back of the P/S head to the firewall and one off the battery negative cable to the inner fender well.

The CEL not illuminating could be a bulb but I doubt it. This is an indicator that the PCM is not alive and awake. Check the fuses in the underhood and dash boxes too.

 

All grounds checked and good.

found a siren under hood and a sticker stating it had DEI remote start. Tracing wires for alarm now

 

I would tear that alarm out first. Start there. I hate those aftermarket alarms. God they suck! If the issues persist then you definitely pinched a wire and it is now shorting to ground. If you want to be 100% sure before anything at all, check the main fuses. If there is one that's blown which is related to EFI, replace it and if it blows again immediately then you have a dead short and will have to backtrack.

 

SO I had hand tightened the 10mm bolt with the 2 ground rings When I had reassembled it and had never tightened it until now. After disabling the alarm it fired right up.

DING DING DING. Glamisman are you of drinking age? PM inbound

 

glad I could help... sometimes internet "fixes" don't work.