First gen P0340

Long winded post, but I feel like backstory is important. I put the important stuff in bold if you really don’t want to read it.

1999 3.4 Tacoma 4x4 5spd

Last night my fiancé and I were at a furniture store picking some stuff up. Got back to the truck and it wouldn’t start. Starter would click once fuel pump humming so I just figured battery was dead hooked up my jump box and didn’t start which was weird but it did only have 60% on it so I figured maybe it wasn’t enough. So I put my fiancé in the divers seat pushed her out the parking lot and down a hill and truck started and ran perfect the whole 50 miles home. Got home went out for dinner in the truck started both times so I figured at the furniture store I must’ve left the lights on or something killed the battery. This morning truck starts fine takes me to work and to the hardware store then at the hardware start I got a no start again with the click and hum of the fuel pump so I ask a few kind gentleman if they have give me a little push and got it started and drove it home. On the way home I got a check engine light P0340 CPS failure. Is it possible that it’s just out of the spec sometimes and won’t start sometimes? And the truck ran perfect for the 100 miles I’ve driven since this happened. On my old 7.3 powerstroke I had 2 bad CPS and when they went out the truck shook worst than Mexico City in 1985. Is it possible there is a bad ground? I checked many forums I couldn’t find which ground would go to the CPS. I figure it can’t be a fuse being that it will start sometimes and sometimes not. Is that an appropriate assumption?

 

You got a Bad starter?

 

I'm sure it could be possible, but I couldn't attest to the likelihood of it being a bad ground. If it were me, I'd disconnect my battery and maybe let it sit overnight or for a few hours if you can afford to, then see if the code reappears or the symptoms happen again. If you wanna replace the sensor entirely, this is the OEM p/n: 19300-62010

 

Do starters act up intermittently? Not trying to be smart just never heard of that.

 

thank you I’ve got 4-5 hours to let her sit if it’s still acting up I will just order the part and put it in. Just thought I’d ask a few questions before spending the money and ruining my day working on not fun things on the truck.

 

I would say they absolutely do, because I'm dealing with exactly that right now and have been since November of last year. I'm just having one hell of a time trying to get the old one removed. I think the bendix inside of mine is sticking, causing a loud metallic grinding sound to occur upon engagement.

 

Okay so since my last post I went to pick up my new prp seats. In doing so I realized the bolts that were jammed in the seat brackets were SAE bolts so that was a whole ordeal and my truck sat for month while I worked on getting everything rethreaded. Anyway I finally got my seat in and drove it yesterday and today when I was leaving work I got the same one click no start. I had bought a new starter and just left it in the truck so I had the misfortune of putting a new starter in in a parking lot. When I got it in I got the same one click no start so I did what I seem to be doing more then driving and enjoying my truck which is pushing it up and hill and pop starting it. When I got home turned it off turn it back on and the new starter works great repeated about 5 times when I got the same one click no start. So I’m back to square one on this any ideas?

 

Shot in the dark, starter relay?

Push start is an awesome thing, but you can also jump the starter with a screwdriver in a pinch or uphill/automatic situation. Obviously don't be in gear.

Have you or previous owner done any timing belt stuff recently? Crank pulley not torqued right or sensor wheel mis aligned? If you do buy new crank or cam sensor, only get from a dealership.

 

Not the starter Relay unfortunately. I like to think I’m a pretty handy and take pride in doing work myself but I may need to leave this to a professional. I don’t understand why it starts most of the time and others it’s completely dead. I’ve gone through all the grounds, new starter, and new starter relay. Since I bought the truck 30k miles ago I haven’t done any timing work, and he had recites of the belt replaced at 165k miles (45k ago).