won't crank or start

Hey all,
2005 Tacoma and I have been having a few issues with it. The last two days I went out to start my truck and NOTHING. Popped the hood grabbed the battery and all of a sudden I could hear the door chime. Truck started. This morning, opened the door, door chime turn the key....NOTHING... if I leave the key in the ON position, the following lights remain on, Check Engine, A/T Temp, Battery, and Oil light.....I am lost.

 

How old is the battery? Are the connections clean?

 

Connections are clean, battery age I am unsure of, bought the truck 18 months ago and it is a yellow top Opmtima battery

 

I would remove the cables, clean stuff up, bolt them back on. Also check the ground cable's connection on the other end (should be to the engine block) and make sure that is solid. If that doesn't work, get the battery checked. If that is fine, could be starter.

 

Copy that, would the battery issue cause all those lights to remain on? I have just enough knowledge to make me dangerous when it comes to this

 

Maybe bad/loose connection. I'd start by cleaning the posts and terminals anyway (making sure contact between the 2 is maximizing surface area and secure) and inspect the wiring, especially at it's termination points.

Worst case, you've eliminated that as the culprit.

 

A loose connection could behave this way. Are you able to move the terminals around on the battery posts?

 

Im not a fan of optima batteries, Those lights are normal once you start it they should go away. could be battery is bad/dead/ or alternator is gone which drained the battery.

 

update

pulled the main leads off the battery, cleaned them, (no corrosion) checked everything else as instructed. Flagged down the neighbor for a jump.....nothing.

 

As others have stated, check for loose terminals first. Then I'd suggest getting a multimeter ($10 at Sears or Harbor Freight) and checking your voltages, it's really easy. The battery should hold 12v with the truck off and a good alternator should put out 14v while running to charge the battery. 13v for the alternator is still good, 12v is pretty much bad, voltages will drop once accessories (lights etc) are turned on. The auto parts store will do a more comprehensive battery test.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRxvFcT7qKM

 

Do you have a multimeter? If it is the starter, you can sometimes get a little more life out of it with a few smacks of a hammer.

 

No multimeter, it is on the list for christmas. As far as the starter, I is not engaging at all ( no clicking) I did for good measure give it 2 or 3 decent whacks just to see if that was the problem....nothing.

 

Bummer... sounds like a battery load test is in order. Any chance you have another vehicle sitting around that can donate a battery?

 

Op, the lights on the dash with the key on the ON position is normally until the truck fires up. If it’s not clicking (starter) when you try and turn it over, I am betting it is your starter. I just had this issue with a water truck at work. The starter solenoid was getting stuck, and I noticed the power wire to the starter was loose. I tightened it and the post broke off. Slapped a new starter in and it fired right up. My money is on the starter. But before you change it I would check the power and ground wires on the starter to see if they are just loose there.

 

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate you guys reaching out and answering my questions. I will dive into this deeper and get back with what was wrong!

 

There are a few smaller grounds in the engine bay in addition to the main one on the fender. I'd check those for being loose too. Sounds like it could be a starter relay issue or a loose connection somewhere.

 

check both battery terminals for corrosion or for loose battery cable/terminal connections. If you happen to have buildup disconnect both terminals and clean them with a wire brush , baking soda and boiling water , once the terminals and cables are totally clean dry them off and reconnect them . and check for a voltage drop on the starter motor, if your getting the required voltage at starter motor .then its the starter solenoid/starter motor.but first make sure those terminal are clean and tight, its real easy and i hope that helped.

 

If you turn the headlights on, are they bright and stay bright? Dash lights don't draw much and can work with a poor connection, so you could have enough juice to light them but not kick the solenoid, but I would think you would at least hear a click. Headlights draw a bit more and might flicker if there is a poor connection somewhere. If headlights are bright and stay that way, I'm thinking starter solenoid like was mentioned.

 

"nothing" is not very descriptive. Nothing as in no dash lights, no dome light, no headlights? Or nothing as in dash lights come on, headlights work great, but when you twist the key, the starter doesn't turn the motor?

 

hey I had a similar problem at one point, I thought it was my battery, my starter, my ignition cylinder, everything under the sun.

Turned out to be this damn ground wire,


Just a thought to check all your grounds, if they are in bad shape they can mess with your electronics in weird ways. I also replaced my positive terminal connection with OEM factory terminal connection, its much thinner and not thick lead (this was BEFORE replacing the ground wire, didn't fix the problem but its nice). Just a thought, maybe save you some headache that I went through if this is your problem as well. sounds very similar. A little gremlin of a problem, it was down by the engine that the wire was bad, oil and dirt and s__t had corroded the wire.