Possible ECM problem? (Long Post)

Warning: long post.

Hey everyone I just picked up a 2006 Tacoma with the 2.7 and manual transmission. I got it from my father in law that drove it up to 200k with no issues. My father in law was going to trade it in for another Tacoma, but since we just bought a house and needed a truck he gave it to us instead.

I flew up to Pennsylvania with my wife to get it and drove all the way to Georgia without any issues. The truck sat in our driveway for a week until we could clean it over the weekend. On Tuesday my wife went to use it and it would crank no start and threw a check engine light. When I got home from work the code that was waiting for me was camshaft position sensor circuit. I ordered a new sensor on Rock Auto (This one: https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=10558416&cc=1433241&jsn=2196&jsn=2196) When it arrived I slapped it in quick and the truck actually started, but sounded terrible. It threw more codes like P0016 and ignition coil circuit B & C. I swapped ignition coils around and went to autozone to get a new crankshaft position sensor as well. After installing the new crankshaft position sensor the truck cranked for at least 10 seconds before again starting and sounding terrible. This time it threw the same ignition coil B & C codes as well as timing over advanced and camshaft position codes. Now I thought maybe the timing chain was bad or skipped a tooth. I took off the valve cover barred the engine over and as you can see the timing is fine and good tension on the chain. (https://i.imgur.com/Aqujlou.jpg, https://i.imgur.com/xBhNVpa.jpg, dont have a picture of the crank timing mark)

Started googling my problem for any other solution and came to the conclusion that the VTT solenoid was bad or the filter was clogged. When I ordered the VTT solenoid I also ordered the OEM Denso camshaft sensor thinking maybe my cheapo one from rock auto was bad. Installed all the new parts and the truck fired up after like 10 seconds of cranking I drove it 55mph on the main road next to my house and came back. I pulled into my driveway turned it off and went to start it again with no luck. Truck would either crank forever with no codes thrown or start and sound terrible throwing misfire codes like crazy. At one point I had 11 engine codes. (https://i.imgur.com/BY12sxP.jpg)

I was cranking this truck so much the 5 year old battery had it and I went to get another one. After installing the new battery the truck fired up after about 5 seconds of cranking and sounded great. I once again went on a drive with no issues going 55mph, truck was idling nice. I pulled back into my driveway turned it off and tried starting it again, nothing. Truck would crank forever and throw cam shaft position codes. Here is the engine speed while I'm trying to crank the engine. (https://i.imgur.com/CAoW7gu.jpg) 0 besides some random blips and the gauge cluster is reading 0. I don't know if this is normal since this is my first Toyota. One time the truck actually started and was misfiring at idle but not at higher RPM here is the scanner data when the gauge cluster was reading 3k rpm. (https://i.imgur.com/D9JYg41.jpg).

On a hunch I decided to disconnect the battery wait about an hour and try again. Truck started, idled fine, and once again drove fine. However as soon as you try and start it again it wont or will run terrible. I have now started the truck fine after the first or second starting attempt every time the battery has been disconnected for awhile. I've also deloomed the entire engine harness up to the firewall and see no issues with wiring. I am thinking the ECM is having some type of problem and when I disconnect the battery it has to relearn something and thats how it starts.

Any further help would be appreciated.

 

Check all the ground wires . ECM issues are very very rare . Sounds like loss of communication to the ECM or bad wiring

 

Like he said check all your wires. This is going to be very tedious and time consuming but must be done and has to be done with great precision. A bad plug, corrosion or damage to a wire can cause all your issues. The last step is to replace the ECU.