Help, having a hard start problem

Easy, quick, cheap task first.

Pull the air intake tunnel from the throttle body, rotate the throttle rocker to move the butterfly upward, place a spring clamp on the rocker to hold the butterfly up and out of the way, then spray the inside of the throttle body with throttle body cleaner. Be sure to spray the throttle position sensor as well and let it sit for a minute or so. Use a clean shop rag to wipe out the debris and sludge (yes, there is always sludge) and spray it once again. On some applications, I have used a soft toothbrush to dislodge grit (especially if the gas pedal is stiff or has a "breaking point" when pressing down) from the butterfly. Wipe out the throttle body a second time and reassemble.

Cleaning the throttle position sensor is a big help and 80% of the time, this works every time.

 

After trying many of the suggestions given in this forum my 1997 2.7 liter tacomas hard start problem turned out to be a loose ground wire. Like usual it seems to always be a simple issue. The loose ground was the ground wire coming off the negative battery cable and attached to the drivers side quarter panel. I found that it had become corroded and it was underneath the wire insulation where this occurred. I had enough wire there that I was able to cut that out and still reattach it to the battery. This problem drove me nuts but after following the loose ground suggestion someone posted here I was able to finally find and fix this problem. It will drive you nuts as it will not throw any codes and all sensors and fuel pump test just fine. Thank you to the member that suggested a loose ground it was indeed the problem all along. Once I fixed it no more hard starts and starts on first try every time whether cold or hot. I hope this will help someone else who may have this issue it took me many days of head scratching and cursing before finally finding it. Happy motoring!