2004 taco 4cyl won’t start battery is not dead

I got her started by doing nothing except testing the battery which is good 12.7 volts with no load and a small drop to 11.2ish when the key was turned to start the engine. All i did after that was put it in neutral and then back in park and first try she turned over and started. I have no idea as to why it is so intermittent but I went for a little drive and turned it off at the grocery store and she wouldn't start back up again. I figured that would happen I was not too far from my house, so I just rode my skateboard home and will work on it tomorrow.

Thank you for the diagram, and yes the 3RZ-FE and 2RZ-FE are the same for wiring on the starter. I think I know what to do but I am just not fully understanding the diagram and what it tells me. I did a little research and found this for most if not all taco's it looks amazing and cant wait to dive a little deeper into it...and in that was





and this for 2RZ-FE

Either way, I'm confident enough to at least test the voltage on the starter and battery... stay tuned...lol

 

If by going to neutral to park helped.
It may be that the Neutral safety switch is going bad. The Safety switch is what allows the relay to be activated and send power to the starter. You can test this by looking for power on pin 1 of the relay while cranking. I’d make sure the 7.5A STA Fuse has power in the crank position first. This would help rule out an ignition problem. Then move to the relay.

If you follow the diagram. You’ll see power goes from the ignition through the 7.5A fuse, then through the Neutral Safety Switch, then to the relay. The relay then send power to the starter.

Don’t give up. You’ll get it figured out.
We’ll be here to help all we can

 

BTW, when I say test on pins of the relay. It’s not the relay itself. It’s the pins where the relay plugs into. You have to remove the relay to test them. Again, not the relay, you are testing the actual socket pins in the fuse box.

 

Take a look at these 2 videos. (Link below)
The lights going dim is a clue.
That would mean you’re pulling quite a few amps, and/or the battery is weak, and/or your wiring is not as it should be.

1. Make sure the battery is good. (Watch the first video)
2. Check the cables (watch the 2nd video)
3. Make sure you have power to the starter (I am betting you do- the lights going dim give me this suspicion)
4. There is a smaller wire that plugs in to the starter. This wire supplies power to starter solenoid.
You need to have power to it. (Again, the dim lights have me thinking you have power there)
5. Make sure the cable terminals are clean.
6. Make sure you have a good a sufficient Ground.
-One large wire should be attached to (-)Negative post of the battery. Make sure all the places it is connected to is clean-


https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2004-taco-4cyl-won’t-start-battery-is-not-dead.689072/#post-24374881

Hopefully this helps.

A good diagram for 1998 would help pin point the places to look.
I don’t have one, so you’ll kind of have to “figure it out”