06 Tacoma Starter Spins But Doesnt catch HUGE UPDATE!!!!! I have another update....

I think the ECM power supply only applies to the A/T trucks.
I could be wrong, but I believe the only thing M/T goes through is
the Clutch Start SW and the Clutch Start Cancel Switch SW.

@Jimmyh might have the second half of the diagram.

Either way, what you are saying should still hold true.
Not to mention @Jimmyh pretty much had this same idea a couple pages back.
OP, hasn’t said if this has been tried yet or not.
No offense to the OP. As I don’t believe he is the one actually doing the work.

I would like to know what the cause is if it ever is found. (I think it will be)

Thanks for the help.

 

If I were to try and guess what the most unreliable component in this circuit it would be the Park Neutral Safety Switch. Water gets in and then it goes to hell. An easy quick way to diagnose the switch would be to watch the position indicators in the combination meter. If it is showing multiple positions at once or the incorrect position that is a sure indication of a contaminated park neutral switch internally.

The very last thing I would suspect is an ECM ( ECU ).

I posted both parts of the schematic I have.

This should not be hard to track down with a multimeter and a schematic. I think the OP needs a real auto electric guy.

 

A real auto electric guy would be my plan too, if I got stumped. This is one that could have me stumped.

I still think starter relay or key switch. Swapping relays is a possible way to eliminate it as a problem. But I would be more comfortable knowing the swapped in relay is good. Then on to test the key switch.

 

Welp. Two weeks and $700 later, we dont have a solution. The part they replaced was purported to be the solution. The "electric part" of the ignition. We still have an intermittent click,click,click, when starting. Just as if the starter momentarily does not have enough volts to fully work. Sound wise. It is not just spinning like it did before the flywheel was replaced. The mechanic did pull the starter and check 360 of the flywheel and doesnt see any indication the Bendix is throwing out far enough to chip the flywheel teeth, but we plan to check that every once in a while. I dont think the mechanic mislead anybody. It starts fine but every once in awhile it doesnt turn over the engine. I think they replaced that part, it worked and they thought they had gotten it. We just started it 4 times without incident. Thats the end of it for now. I did make copies of your suggestions and brought them to the mechanic who was open enough to look at them. Thanks again.

 

You say it's "fixed," but what happens when it "doesn't turn over the engine?"

 

We still have an intermittent click,click,click, when we turn the key. Its a rapid tick,tick,tick and then it catches. Its nuts. We JUST started it 7 times and it worked all 7 times in a row without issue.

 

I skimmed through this thread. I didn't see anyone mention doing any voltage drop tests, only just checking resistance. Are you sure the cable between the starter and battery is good? What about the engine ground strap?

https://www.aa1car.com/library/voltage_drop_testing.htm

Alternatively you could just use a set of jumper cables, stick one end on the starter, other on the battery, then you know you will have more than enough cable to feed the amperage needs to start. Do the same from engine to ground. Then see if it all stops happening.

 

Nice.

 

Tag for 50.

 

That cable was totally replaced. All the ground straps had been removed, contact area cleaned and replaced. Mechanic N0. 1 did that. He even added another ground cable from the starter.

 

Ah must have missed that going through it all.

 

I would troubleshoot it this way.....Pull the starter and secure it on a piece plywood on top of the engine. A ground wire will need to be attached to the casing. This will allow testing it without damaging the flywheel. It will also give you a visual indication of when it fails. Monitor the voltages both on the output side of the key switch and the output side of the starter relay. Turn the key switch and note the voltage readings. Keep hitting the key switch until it fails. It's going to take 2 or 3 people to do this but it should show when and where the voltage goes bad. Plus don't forget about the system as a whole. Besides the key switch and the starter relay, there are a lot of wires with terminals crimped on their ends. Bad crimps or poor connections can be little time bombs and produce varying voltages on an intermittent basis.

 

It's a freaken nightmare. My son called the guy and he said to bring it back but I dont know how much more he can do. He was thinking there may have been a alarm syatem installed at one time that may be causing this, but thats just a guess. I'm 70 and I have never owned a vehicle that could not be repaired. What the hell does one do with a truck that has this kind of issue and cant be fixed? My son worked his heart out for it. He had it since October and it ran fine (we thought) until we found the flywheel had been chewed up because the Bendix wasnt reaching out far enough. He was convinced that new ignition fixed it. I guess it started for him like it did for us, several times until it didnt.

 

That's a big, red flag there. I've seen some hacked alarm (or remote start) installations that scared the hell out of me. I'd be looking for a sliced wire (from a hacked splice) under the dash. And those can be a nightmare to find.

 

This is a good plan. Too stroked also mentioned the thing about it had an alarm. I don’t know much about alarms. On mine it won’t restart once the alarm kills the engine, until the code is entered. If the start wire is cut to add a switch or relay for the alarm, then got spliced back together poorly, the bad splice could cause the exact symptoms your experiencing. If the splice butt connector is not crimped good enough, or someone did a twist them together splice, that’ll be it. Look for it, if you find it, pull on it. It may just pull apart.

Just for kicks, I’d test for coolant electrolysis. Google it, really easy test.

If this splice can’t be found. Unplug the solenoid wire. Put the volt meter on the hot wire, the ground to ground. While holding the key switch on start, push, pull, squeeze, twist the wiring harness while watching for a voltage drop. The starter may spin but won’t engage so you’ll have to do it on start, then off so you don’t burn up the starter motor. If you find an area of the harness that causes a voltage drop, you’ve found a problem area. Carefully cut the harness open to try to locate the problem area.

Or, instead of searching for a possible bad splice or wire you could basically replace the wires that are suspected to be bad. Not really replacing but running another wire parallel. From the starter relay to the starter solenoid. From the key switch to the starter relay. Use wire of sufficient size or larger. Make all connections good as possible. Soldered instead of crimped. I’d look at somehow splicing into the relay connector, then splicing into the solenoid wire. Relay to solenoid would probably be easiest to do so I’d do it first. Put everything back together and see if the problem went away. Testing with the starter not installed would be good now so if the problem is still there you’re not going to chew your new flywheel teeth. If the problem persists, do the same with a wire from key switch to starter relay.

If you replace those wires and the problem persists, I’m stumped.