Start Up Issue

Would it be worth trying an additive that helps remove water in the gas just in case that's the issue? I guess technically the additive mixes with the water to help truck burn the bad gas better.

 

Modern cooling systems remain pressurized after the engine shuts off until they cool to ambient temperature. Go pop your radiator cap off right after you shut your engine off and you’ll observe this (kidding, you’ll get sprayed with hot coolant). They absolutely can seep into the cylinders, trust me. You won’t notice a loss of coolant until the gasket fails down the road. This happened quite a bit with the original Toyota head gaskets on this series of engines. I’ve fixed this issue repeatedly on Tacomas with head gasket replacement. Now, again, go observe the tailpipe on a cold, rough start up and look for vapor. I’m not saying this is OP’s problem, but worth ruling out by this easy observation step.

 

No codes? It almost sounds to me like it is trying to fire on something other than gas as if you have some coolant or water somehow leaking into a cylinder when the truck isn't running and pooling up just enough. Or perhaps you have a defective fuel injector. I'd imagine if your fuel pump was bad, you'd see other symptoms. Just trying to think of things that haven't already been suggested.

 

Tried additive a few months ago, but not recently

Will do that later today and video it, thanks!

Agreed on something other than gas/not enough gas.

I'll video the cold start up later today. And aside from that, will report on Tuesday what the dealership says. Thanks all!

 

Whenever you do figure it out, be sure to post here to let others know what you found or even if you gave up.

 

100%

Update:
1) no vapor out of exhaust during start up

2) didn't touch the truck for 36 hours and just went to start it up. The same tank of gas. cycled on, *pressed the gas pedal*, heard the pump buzzing for a few seconds. cycled off-on, pressed the gas pedal, heard the pump for probably a second. off-on again, pressed the gas pedal, didn't hear anything. pushed to start and she fired up nicely! not 100% but even better than in my 'bad start 0' video.

I tried this before but didn't know fuel pump activated with the brake pedal - thought it was when you cycle truck on

So I'm fairly sure it's fuel pressure related - hoping it's something as simple as a fuel pressure regulator. Will let everyone know what the dealership says on Tuesday!

 

That may actually be the electronic brake booster you're hearing since you have a TRD Off Road

 

if things could just be easy lol

I'll try to recreate the whole process tomorrow and will see

 

So.... what did the dealer say?

 

Total and utter joke. Stevinson West (Denver area) if anyone wonders. Stay the heck away from that place.

Paid for a hotel room and took day off from work as I live 2 hours away and they wanted it overnight.

The advisor who scheduled me to be there on Monday afternoon didn't show up on Tuesday. I dropped it off on Monday as agreed and they were supposed to call me at 7am Tuesday once he got in - but no one called. Was calling them from 10:30 am - to 12:30pm, about every 30 minutes as that point I haven't even spoken to an advisor, and they hung up on me multiple times while transferring me. They eventually started ignoring my calls - but when I called from my buddy's number they answered right away. Finally spoke with a writer at around 12:30pm at which point he just checked my truck in. He promised to diagnose it by the end of the day.

Got there in person around 2pm and the truck was still parked in the same spot. I talked to them and left. They called me a little before 4pm that they "couldn't recreate the issue". That they even drove it, parked it for over an hour and tried it again.

I don't believe that there was no issue after being parked for 18 hours. I just don't. They didn't even bother to put a fuel pressure gauge on it for a few hours, nothing. Told me I would have to leave it there for a week or maybe two since it needs to sit basically overnight for them to be able to diagnose it. LOL. Clearly just didn't want to deal with it. After seeing the video I shared here I was told it's not that bad and it's normal that older trucks don't fire up right away (4 years and 70k miles - LOL!). That I should just drive it until it doesn't start at all at which point I should get it towed to them (2 hours away LOL) and then they will fix it. Also told me that they think it is a defective injector but don't want to throw parts on it not knowing.


As you can tell I'm still upset. Wasted a day of PTO and $300 for this. At least they didn't charge me the diag fee I guess?

I'm going to put more water remover in on the next tank and then

$25 BG 44K Fuel System Cleaner Power Enhancer 11oz.

BG 44K on the next. I don't think it will help. In the meantime, gonna get my hands on some spark plug sockets and pull those as a next step. Also trying to see if my mechanic buddy can hook me up with a fuel pressure gauge - would like to slap that on overnight and see what happens. If these two things fail I'm not sure what I will do.

 

Thats sad... I guess the old adage if you want something done right.

 

Wow. That's not good. The service desk guys at my dealer aren't good to deal with in general either. Service Manager is good though. He has resolved problems when I contacted him after I wasn't getting anywhere with the service desk.

You still have warranty? If not, maybe start looking for a good independent Toyota mechanic / garage.

The starting issue with my Tacoma isn't completely gone but it's getting better and less frequent. I'm thinking that if it is related to water or bad gas, it'll take a couple of water remover treatments to fully resolve. I have used STP Water Remover and seem to have gotten better results from that then traditional gas line antifreeze.

Good luck.

 

Hi everyone, I have an update:

Went to autozone to pick up some stuff. Asked them to test my battery just for heck of it - surely that would have been the first thing that dealership did, right? I didn't think the battery was an issue because it's 6 months old and I could hear the weak crank if it was... well, the battery came out fine as I expected. But after 1.5hour drive, it was only 81% charged.

The alternator charging current test failed. I put a voltmeter to it when I got home and it's putting out about 13.85V fully warmed up on idle with nothing else on, and 13.82V on idle with ac on full blast, stereo, lights, and everything else on. Battery after a long drive sits at 12.77V. I'll be putting a new alternator in on Sunday and will report back. Kind of a bummer having to replace it after only 70k miles.

With that being said, I ran stp cleaner & water remover again on my second to last tank + premium gas. Since I did that, I have not experienced an extended crank. Generally, the start up is much nicer, no struggle around 600rpm, but the crank feels weaker. I'm thinking it very well might just be in my head knowing I have a somewhat weak alternator and battery that doesn't charge fully.

I'm about to finish my current tank with

$25 BG 44k Fuel System Cleaner Power Enhancer 11oz.

BG 44k. For the next tank, I'll be putting in another STP water remover. I should burn through that tank this weekend. All of this is super interesting as water remover was the first thing I did when this issue got worse. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

I will report back early next week once that is done and the new alternator is in.