Starter kills all power 2002 Tacoma

I have been researching past posts on similar issues and need a little help troubleshooting this. When my wife went to start her 2002 Tacoma there was a brief clunk and all power is lost - no lights etc. totally dead. 12.58VDC on the battery terminals. Terminals are clean no corrosion and power at the main fuse box terminal. Power seemed to reset itself after a while, dash lit up etc., but starter did same thing again. So questions:

1. Which breaker is being tripped? Is there a faster method to reset?
2. If starter is at fault, is it more likely the solenoid, starter, or cable?
3. Any other likely culprits?

No evidence of any issues the day before, started perfectly normal with no dragging etc.

Thanks,

Jim

 

It can be any or all the problems you mention.

Sounds like the stater drive failed or something is causing the engine or transmission to seize.

Just a clunk no spinning noise the starter free wheeling?

No groan like the engine is trying to turn.

A shorted armature in the starter will drain the battery or burn the positive cable off.

It never hurts to pull the battery terminals and clean them. Check that your ground connection on the engine is good and tight and clean.

These look like original cables look for corrosion under the insulation

 

First thing I would try is jump starting it off a good battery or a Jump Pack. I've seen batteries test reasonably well, but any draw whatsoever and they drop like a rock.

 

Load test. Going to bet it drops like a rock or you have a bad connection, likely on the ground side. The fact that everything drops out and then takes a bit to come back suggests the battery is flat. Now WHY it's flat.............could be the battery, could be the alternator took a dump and flattened it.

 

It is the negative cable. You can try it with a jumper cable. Connect the one end of the jumper cable to battery negative terminal, and the other end to a good ground place on the engine then try to start the truck. Good luck.

 

I've had this before. Go under the truck to the starter and unplug the wire that goes into the starter and plug back in. This is the small wire, not the one coming from the battery directly. See if that fixes it. I had a bad ground or debris in there that caused the same thing.

 

I tend to think people try the simple things first to eliminate as much as possible.

While trouble shooting.

 

Put your DVM on the battery and watch it while the wife tries to start. Bet it drops like a stone.

Take the same reading once it's running after you jump it. If it's in the 14.5 area, the alternator is likely ok.

Then pull the battery and have it load tested at a parts house just to double check. On your way to Costco to get a new Interstate for ~$100.

What you have is almost 4 yrs old, so likely out of any warranty. And if it was a 5 yr pro rated warranty, you won't get much credit anyway.

 

OK I have found the problem. My initial reading of the voltage at the terminals was 12.58. After reading the suggestions here I started again at the battery checking for voltage drops. The positive terminal showed a 3 VDC drop and cleaning the terminal resolved the problem. What threw me off on this was the apparent reset of a breaker yesterday after letting the truck sit for a while, which led me to believe I had a short in the starter or solenoid. Also, with low voltage I would expect the lights to at least light up a little bit, even if dim. However there was no evidence of power at all.

Thanks for all of your tips on troubleshooting this.

Jim

 

I am glad it was a easy fix.

Just because battery terminals look clean to the naked eye does not mean they are.

 

Simple things are often missed. 4 experienced riders, 1 with a new quad, 40 minutes trying to get said new quad running right thinking carb or air issue as we had been running in deep water... The parking brake was on and it had a sensor to keep it from revving...

 

Funny story - I once test drove a GM pickup. The sales guy brings the truck around and I jump in. We go for a drive around the hood, some interstate, some side roads, etc. I kept thinking man this truck sure is sluggish, maybe because it's so heavy? Got back to the lot and got out to the smell of burning brakes. The sales guy had set the parking brake, but just barely enough to inhibit acceleration.

The issue with the Tacoma was a surprise since the day before it started right up with no evidence of high resistance on the terminals. Also where it appeared to reset a breaker when the dash lit up and the gong sounded after it set a while, before I tried to start it again.

 

The metal negative clamp tends to get nasty. I would remove the bolt on the + cables and clean under them too.

 

Last night I had the exact same thing happen to my 2001. I'm glad I was in the driveway. Turn the key, the starter makes a slight bump and poof, everything is dead. So I wake up this morning and I go to "Tacoma World" cause I know somebody has had this problem too. After reading a few different posts where the fix was check the 80/120 amp fuse, clean the battery cables etc. I think to myself, there's no frickin way it's the battery cables cause I just replaced the battery last March, however, the cables were the easiest to check, so went there. I found a ridiculous amount of white corrosion on the positive cable so I got out my water, baking soda, tooth brush and wire terminal cleaner; cleaned it up nice and shinney, put it all back together and tried my remote lock and nuthin. So I said what the hell, lets clean the neg cable too. Underneath it also had a ton of corrosion, you just couldn't see it on the outside. Put it all back together and viola! Everything functions fine.

 

every battery post on every vehicle I own gets battery terminal grease on it. It takes very little corrosion to significantly drop the draw across it.