Weird Starting Issue

No worries, I do it all the time. Hopefully you can get some good news on this and soon. Let us know what you find out.

 

Hard to say for sure from that pic, but that looks like a pretty big gap on that plug. Whats the spec supposed to be on 3rd gens?

 

Not sure on the actual number, but here's my old ones

 

Ahh yup that makes sense. Wasnt able to see the other pointy bit in OPs pic

 

Update: Took my truck to the third dealership yesterday 12/1/2020. Prior to taking it in (on 11/25/2020), the dealership's service manager emailed me the attached form and advised me to leave enough time when I bring it in to be able to allow her technician to hook up diagnostic equipment and get the noise to happen in front of him. Filled out the form thoroughly and sent it back in the same day. I took it in yesterday at 7:00 AM and was able to get the noise to happen in front of the tech at around 8:15. He confirmed that it did not sound right. I told him about the soaked spark plug and how my oil smells like gasoline. Both the tech and the service manager were extremely kind. Far more so than both of the other dealerships. Anyway I got a call back today (12/2/2020) and they said they found a slow leak in injector 1, which is the forward most passenger side injector (where the soaked spark plug was located). They told me they are going to replace that injector, replace every injector seal, and change the oil because of the gasoline leaking in. I am supposed to get it back next week; a little delayed on parts orders, probably due to Coronavirus.

 

Excellent. Glad pulling the plugs wasn’t a waste of your time and provided another data point for root cause.

Let’s hope that fixes it for good.

 

So I got the truck back and this is the write up that I was given. I am very happy with this dealership to say the least. That said, I recorded a startup that I think still sounds slightly off to what I consider normal. Opinions? I very well may just be over sensitive to any little noises right now. If ya'll don't think it's anything don't hesitate to say so. If it is something, any suggestions on what to look at?
https://youtu.be/JTE4mIgx1-Y

 

Is it just me or do those write ups they write always seems condescending? Lol "Forums say its a fuel injector" you can feel them rolling their eyes. My dealership always writes "customer states ..." before anything as if it's not true. Maybe I'm projecting lol
That start up sounds better but still not perfect but I'm not expert. Thanks for keeping us updated.

 

I agree it does usually feel like the dealership techs are condescending; however, this particular shop foreman genuinely seemed interested in listening to my thoughts about what the issue was. I’m gonna keep an eye on the noise and I’ll update if it gets worse. So far it’s done it two or three times and I’m not positive that it really seem to be closely correlated with any sort of specific time frame/fuel pressure issue. Could be something completely unrelated from the injector that was fixed but I’m not really speculating.

 

Not trying to restart an old thread but just a couple things:

I kindly asked Toyota to extend my warranty due to the fact that they made me drive around on leaking injectors for months. They said they would extend my powertrain to which I kindly demanded that they extend the bumper to bumper. They agreed and gave me "platinum" bumper-to-bumper coverage until 100,000 miles or 2027 free of charge.

Next thing:

The truck is still making a slightly strange noise on warm start. Not as bad as what it was before but definitely not what it should be. A few weeks back I replaced the spark plug in cylinder 1 where the leaking injector was replaced but none of the others. Keep in mind that all 6 injector seals were replaced but only one actual injector. I think I am going to buy the other 5 spark plugs and replace them tonight. Hoping the issue with the injectors just fouled up the spark plugs and that is to blame for the noise improving somewhat but not completely. Will update.

 

Thought I would update on this mess. With a little bit of outside assistance, lets call it a legal nudge (or a hard shove), Toyota "helped me out". I am now waiting on a soon to be delivered 2021 TRD OR in Army Green. Without going into too much detail, dealing with their shit proved to be well worth it. I suddenly found myself in a brand new truck, with enough cash to order a ton of parts, and then some. Many people along the way advised that I was reading too much into it and/or that nothing was wrong w/ the truck. My advice is to trust your gut and don't let yourself get shit on by companies or dealerships. They're very skilled at convincing you to give up, which I almost did multiple times.