Won’t start

Degreased the whole underside of my truck after having a leaky valve gasket cover…
Pressure washed it, now it will not start.
All the lights come on the dash, but when I go to turn it over the radio turns off and clock slowly turns off.
I’ve tried switching it from park to neutral and back to park…
Anything helps.
1999 Tacoma auto

 

Check the connection on the battery. Can you move them by hand? Take then off and clean them.

Do you have a volt meter? Check the resting voltage between the positive and negative post of the battery. Should be at least 12.5 VDC

 

Sounds like this.

Or
a ground issue.

 

Battery is fine. Connections are fine.
Last time it did this it wasn’t in park all the way, it’s definitely in park.. I can put it in neutral and it rolls then put it in park and it catches.

 

The fact that there is a huge voltage drop (radio goes off and lights dim) when an engine start is attempted, indicates a bad cell in the battery. Could be a bad connection too so that is the easy place to start.

 

Yup. It's happened to me a few times after going through the mud, I hate mud.

If that doesn't work, after a good dunk in some water mine wouldn't start without the shift lock and then just wouldn't start. Fix was to clean and dry out the neutral safety switch and the igniter.

 

Where is the neutral safety switch?

 

On the trans. Gonna pull mine off tomorrow see if if has any water in it

 

I did a complete engine snd driveline douche. Guess I was lucky.

 

So.
Replaced the starter, new connectors on the battery, battery is good, just the starter relay clicks. Clock and radio just dim

 

Also tried jump starting it - nothing.

 

New Starter, New starter relay, new connectors on pos and neg, new neutral safety switch, new alternator fuze, checked and cleaned all grounds; battery to inner fenderwell, firewall to back of engine.. had my battery tested.
Still nothing, I turn the key and get one click from the starter relay, my clock and radio dims.

 

Starter rebuild kit
Replace the plunger and brushes

 

Brand new starter, put it in Sunday…

 

Whack it with a hammer
You'd be surprised how many times this works

 

Still sounds like a bad battery to me.

 

Hate to be the voice of redundancy but check it all over again. I can't begin to count how many times I had a moment because I overlooked the most basic thing. You've thrown enough new parts into the mix, check all connections and check the battery again. I imagine you have your own multimeter, sounds like it. Give it another look. Even if the batt tested fine before, I'm sure with all the cranking you've done its been vamped out.

 

I've seen some odd behavior from batteries. Do a true load test and they fail but look great on the multimeter.

 

Ever get a solution?