Weird starting issue, hopefully someone can help!

I apologize for jumping the gun. You need to check for voltage at the solenoid when cranking.

 

Switched out the relay and the car cranks over but really really slow on the new starter, I think I might try and put the stock one back in and see how it does. After switching the crank sensor out the cel is still on (pulled the battery already) and the car still has the weird idle.

What voltage and where do I measure from? What should I be getting at the starter and signal wire?

 

I dont know if this has anything to do with it, but maybe you guys can help me this too.

i'm not sure if this is normal but the timing mark on my 2rz crank pulley has 2 marks, one on the forward face of the pulley, and the other on the rearward face of the pulley ( about 15 degrees apart of each other). Which mark should i use? i believe i saw in the fsm for a 22re that the keyway should be facing upwards while at TDC and aligned to 0 , which would allow me to line the rearward facing timing mark on the pulley, does this sound correct? not sure if anyone else has run into this but i haven't seen anything yet.

 

Measure the battery. Should be 12.6 or above. You should have no more than .6 of a volt lost at the battery connection at the solenoid, and at least 12v at the solenoid's signal connector, then 12v or more at the starter's lug on the solenoid.

 

Thanks for the help skytower, I measured 12.8v at the battery yesterday, then 12.6v at the lug, the signal wire I got .5 or .05 but that was with a dead relay. I switched out the starter completely with the solenoid and it starts pretty slow, then stumbles and then fires up. could it be the timing from the crank pulley gear? It also sounds like a bit of a ping when I gas it a bit. I wonder why the code wont clear?

 

If the sensor is out of position, or the wiring for the sensor is pinched, you'll have problems.

 

It looks like the truck just blew the new relay. I might have a shirt somewhere in the system

 

here's a picture of where i have the timing mark now


there's another timing mark on the opposite lip as well , when i set it to the opposite mark (circled in red) the truck drove fine but still had starting issues and thats when it died.. a bit confused as to which one to set it to.



which ones correct/normal? and i believe the pictures are for a 22re, not sure if the 2rz is different.

so i verified the 1st picture to be the correct application. Now here's another theory....the first time when i drove the truck and had it die on the streets, the crank pulley was loose, as i push started it and drove it home, the crankshaft key broke off and scored a lip on the harmonic balancer , now even when the car is put to TDC and torqued correctly it'll still come out of timing and cause issues like the starting and idling.

i redid the timing AGAIN and saw that the balancer had a bit of scoring on the inside. i made sure that the timing was on as i torqued everything into place. first start and it started like a champ , after driving a bit ( and given a chance to creep its way out of timing) the car now starts slugggish again, mean either the key is broken off the crank or the pulley keyway is scored out of spec, i checked the keyway and it looked ok , but i may be screwed.

would all these pieces fit in the puzzle pretty well?

 

found the problem and it was due to the first mishap...

when the crank pulley bolt came loose , it let the crank pulley wobble. when i push started the truck and drove home, the loose crank pulley pushed the woodruff key at an angle (its supposed to be flat) and all the torque broke the crankshaft timing gear and lodged itself out of timing without shattering into a million pieces...(only a few hunderd)

Now, everytime i put the car at tdc at the crank pulley, the crank timing gear (which cant be seen unless the timing cover is off) would be off, and everytime i put the car back into timing, the wedged crank gear would slowly give from the correct timing and slip since there was no key. hence the P0336 code, crappy idle and not starting afterwards. Sucks that i had to fork out all that money to figure out the problem but at least itll be addressed appropriately. Hope this can help someone in the future and save them a few hundred from all of the parts.

Thanks for all of the help everyone!