3rd Gen Tacoma Spark Plug Replacement.

Well this fucking sucks. Replaced my plugs today with autolite iridium's. Changed the oil while I was at it. Was able to start the truck up a few times to move it around. Sat for about an hour. Now it won't turn over. Just runs the starter. Any hints guys? Need help.

 

Battery. No. I see now you indicate the starter turns.

 

As in you think the battery might be dead? I will hook it up to the booster for a minute and try

 

Sounds fuel related. No spark. I could be wrong, might as well start at the battery, but doesn't seem likely. Retrace your steps and make sure all the coils are in the right spot. Did you disconnect the battery while working? Never a bad idea just in case. Throttle body sensor plugged in?

 

I did not unplug the battery during the plug replacement. I did however remove the camshaft sensors in order to remove the cam sensor plugs (wires had to be moved aside to remove coil packs). I double checked all my connections and plugs and everything is seated fine.

The truck did start up eventually and I drove it around the block for about 10 mins. CEL and TRAC OFF light are on. After I turned the truck off, it would only turn over after the 2nd-3rd attempt. Might have to find a OBD scanner.

 

Odd. I don't want to give you bad advice here. I cant for the life of me think of why this would happen. How did it run when you drove it? Did you give it any mild to hard acceleration?

 

You suuuure you plugged all the stuff back in? What about the maf plug or whatever is on the air box side, if u pulled that. All coils good?

 

Check your throttle body sensor is plugged in correctly. It happened to me when I forgot to plug it in after cleaning it. Started truck and it ran with out much power at 5 mph halfway up the block and c/m eng lights lit up. Afte reconnecting it took a whole and complete eng lights came off

 

Yeah not sure what’s going on with it. Unplugged the negative cable for some time tonight thinking it would reset the CEL. Failed to start. After 3 attempts it finally cranked. CEL/TRAC OFF light still on.
Gonna have a friend bring his scanner Monday. Then probably gonna take it to the dealer Wednesday.

 

Report back, let us know. Probably something simple. I'd redo everything before I took to someone else.

 

Did anybody else notice he said Autolite plugs? Ditch the Autolite and get Denso as required. The resistance on those plugs could be totally wrong and could be causing issues with the coils. Only use OEM Denso as suggested.

 

Epic post. Need more of this on tw. Brainstorm before spitting bs opinions folks!

Hope you are all good OP.

 

Ahh good point. I'm only at 3k in ownership with my 3rd gen so I have no idea what plugs are specified, but yep, that'd be where I'd start. Sounded like a spark or fuel related issue and that's probably exactly what it is. Again, I could be wrong... Could be something simple but for sure I'd be redoing everything to find out.

 

Update:

Was able to borrow a friends BlueDriver OBD scanner tonight. I attached a screenshot.
So weird. I also called up another friend who is a Toyota tech and suggested going through all the connections again (coils and cam sensors). I did the above suggestion with no change.
A separate friend who is a mechanic suggested swapping the cam sensors (pass to driver, Vice versa) to see if the code follows the sensor or not. Which could narrow the issue to wiring.
So I did as suggested and moved the cam sensors onto opposite sides, cleaning the gunk/oil off of them before installing. I did notice the cam sensor which originally was installed on the passenger side was cracked near the bolt hole. It may have been from me inadvertently over-tightening the bolt.
After that was complete, the truck started right up but had a different idle, cycling from 1,000 to 500 rpm’s.
A new code (P0015) emerged from the scanner.
We cleared the codes. Key off/engine off. Then started the engine again and……

NO CODES.

I am completely dumb founded and lost as to what caused my issues on Friday. I took a drive for about an hour and truck ran normal, no issues or codes.

 

Seems like you stumped everyone here. Wish I could help.

 

Tagging @MOC221_ because I think he had the CPS circle jerk going on with Ginger 1.0?


From what I recall, the 2016 CPS was a bit sensitive and prone to failure. There was Service Campaign or Recall because of it. From my other experiences, I know that CPSs in general can be sensitive to messing around.

If @MOC221_ doesn't have a better idea, I would either search and inquire about the Recall, look up the CPS diagnostics in the Service Manual (see the link below), or just throw the part at it?

 

I had an early 2016, and yes Toyota had a recall WRT the crank sensor at one point due to issues with some trucks stalling and/or running rough. If you read through the documentation, it appears Toyota theorized that some timing rotors (bolted to the crank inside the bell housing) were made with anti-corrosion coating that was too thick. They came out with a new sensor to compensate for the issue.
I never had a CEL/stalling problem nor got the recall notification myself, but bought the updated part (about $150?) and installed it for piece of mind. Upon further research of my VIN with the dealer, it appears that my truck was built literally a week or two before the crank timing rotor problem began.
Anyway, that's my story WRT the CKP issue.
It seems @JasonT87 's problems were all centered around the cam sensors, by looking at those codes and his description of what he did during plug maintenance.

Edit: BTW, not a shot at anyone but I've had the plugs out on the 3rd gen V6 and I didn't have to touch the cam sensors (maybe unplug connectors in the way momentarily). Made up a coupla new swear word combos doing the driver's side bank, but the buggers came out without incident lol.

 

Just swapped my plugs yesterday at 66k. Checked them at about 30k due to the loose plug reports.

They looked pretty good and the primary task was not that hard, but I did hose myself during that check. The rubber retainer piece came out of the socket apparently when doing the right front plug. It was semi melted and seated hard around the plug. The socket could not get a bite. I ruined a cheap set of dental picks getting it out.

Regardless, paying $400+ for this at a shop is 100% robbery. The plugs were $71.40 delivered from oempartssource.com.

Also, scoped the right side bores and was happy with what I saw. These are the right middle. The front and rear were too close to TDC to get good snaps.

 

Just replaced mine at about 97k miles. Took me a little under 2hrs. The coil packs all looked brand new and the spark plugs still had a lot of life left. Still glad I changed them anyway though.



I did find an odd thing though, it looks like I’m missing a screw (haha). What goes here? It’s by cylinder 5 (middle driver side).

 

There are some extra inserts in the valve covers and intake plenum.