Won't start in cold .

No worries I've been BSF in a lot worse situations than this lol. Frustrating when it initially happens for sure. Maybe I'll try pulling out the fuel pump relay and crank it wide open for a while. But you mentioned that the injectors quit cycling when you hold it wide open anyway?

 

Yes
Don’t pull the relay..

 

This sucks man, I had a VW fox when I lived in northern Maine and had to park it so that the sun would hit it first thing in the morning and after 3 or 4 hours of good sun it would start like a champ. But first thing in morning in the heart of winter, big ass paper weight. Never was able to figure it out, but my boss at the time let me use the delivery van, so it didn’t matter anyways.

good luck man

 

Will be curious to hear what eventually solves your issues. Keep us posted.

 

I would start with plugs, no pun intended. But if a fuel injected engine is flooded not much other than a warm place is going to help. Where are you buying or getting your fuel?

When the old plugs have carbon and other deposits and they get wet from the gas they ground out and the only cure is drying the plugs. That is why you need new plugs.

 

I used to work at 13K' in the Rocky Mtns. Winter night temps were sometimes minus 50-60°F. Gas powered vehicles like cars and trucks had great difficulty starting after sitting a few hours. Cold engine oil and transmission fluid were the consistency of vaseline and battery water was slush. If you ran 100% antifreeze to keep it from freezing, the engine never got to normal operating temp, no heat or defroster. With the high mileage of the OP's engine, probably going to have to keep the motor warm somehow.
The heavy construction vehicles used on the job were shut off at the beginning of each shift the oil was checked and filled with fuel. Other than that, they ran 24 hours/day, 7 days a week.

 

If it's flooded, it's gotta be spark. No misfire codes? The video sounded electrical to me (like back in the day when you mixed up firing order on a distributor).

Shitty old plugs might work at warmer temps but pushing the limits at these temps. That would be my first go-to since they need doing anyway. Plugs, grounds, clean battery terminals ...and I'd be turning off my lights to free up every amp of cranking power! (You likely know that; the video just looked bright but maybe it was the parking lot lights)

 

As others have already started, spark plugs. My suggestion would be to bring some tools to the truck. Everything to pull spark plugs and a gap tool. If you can’t get it to start again, pull & regap the plugs. I’ll bet the existing gap is massive. Or if you already got new plugs, put them in.

When you last changed the plugs were you having the same cranks but doesn’t start in the cold issue?

I just watched the video. “Sounds” like a fuel issue or low compression. Still, I’d start with plugs

 

There is some type of cold fuel enrichment system it has temp sensor some where buy a can of starting fluid give it a hit if it starts and dies that maybe a clue. Going after a problem with a buckshot approach gets expensive fast. Earlier Tacoma's had a thermal time sensor and a extra cold start injector. I'm not sure that is the case on a 4L but some thing tells it to enrich the mix when cold.

 

I found out why my block heater has never worked. The connector that plugs in at the engine is all degraded and broken. Should be an easy fix with a new cord if I can get one here. But it was excruciating just taking 2 minutes fishing that cord out of there to look at it. You can't do anything with gloves on because they're to big to fit anywhere. It's -50 with the wind chill here tonight. It looks like the connector is supposed to connect down between the engine and firewall somewhere. But there's only an inch or two of space. Cannot see it by flashlight.

I'd love to change the spark plugs but that would be suicide out here, and besides my one arm is out of commission. Changing spark plugs with one hand in the dark in minus 50 is not on my bucket list lol. I'll be looking at ways to heat this thing up enough that it'll start. I'm confident that it will start with heat, since it's done this same thing dozens of time over the years but in the past would eventually start up after a few cranks. But yes I'll be doing whatever I can to try and fix it for good once I can get to a warm place.

My coworker's car did the exact same thing this morning as mine. Identical symptoms. His car is 6 months old. We don't have the same gas, since he lives 300km from me. It's just too dam cold to not be plugged in.

So far tonight we dumped gas line antifreeze in our tanks and I'm going to dump 50L of gas in from my Jerry cans in the back, since my tank is only 1/4. We ran 3 extension cords over from inside the nearest building to try and heat up his car with the block heater. Then tomorrow he can go out to the city to get me a couple magnetic block heaters. Very busy out here with the temperatures wreaking havoc here at work.

Thanks everyone for chiming in. Every suggestion gets my wheels turning to come up with a plan. Cheers.

 

I'ma Toyota tech in Calgary and I can say the V6's like new plugs for cold starts, I plug my v6 in every night on a timer simply to reduce load on my starter, even if its only -20 here.

Running synthetic 0w20 in the winter is really good for these trucks, 5w30 just doesnt cut it for -30 or worse.

Good luck with the cord and plugs!

 

I remember as a kid going camping bringing the mini bikes. The Honda 50 wouldn’t start. So my uncle made a tiny campfire under the engine to warm it up. You could try that.

Jk, don’t put a fire under your truck. But maybe one of those forced air propane electric heaters blasting towards under the engine or something similar. Of course common sense should prevail. Just throwing crap out there, I don’t want to later hear it caught on fire and blew up.

 

Ahaha this thought has crossed my mind. Any kind of open flame is a big no-no around here unfortunately!

I found this video showing where the factory block heater is. Couldn't be in a much tighter spot. My connector at the block (the red thingy) is disintegrated. Have never used it!

https://youtu.be/9UNmmhsyHag

 

The ice fog in -50. Bonus is that the cold keeps the hood open on its own. Hinges are frozen.

 

Can you have it towed and put in a garage for a few hours?
The only way that’s going to start is to warm it up like others have said.
Airplane preheater and engine blanket?

 

I wonder if maybe water has built up in the tank, and that is why its not starting. It is -5 here, and I made sure our cars had full fuel tanks before the cold snap hit. Good luck, hope you get it going.

 

My coworker finally got his car running this morning and went to town. He acquired two magnetic oil pan heaters for tonight.



Unfortunately they look like something you'd use on a lawn mower. I did my best to stick them on, but of course the Tacoma has an oil pan that looks like it came off a 1.0 litre 4 cylinder car and is mostly round. The flat ish part on the back I was eyeing has the cross member right next to it and there isn't room. I couldn't see this before because my skid plate curls around the cross member blocking it from view. The only place it would fit it's hardly touching the oil pan at all. The second one I stuck on the exhaust manifold. I wanted to just lay it flat on the engine somewhere but the frozen extension cords are like coil springs and just pull it till it falls off so the magnetic exhaust manifold is the next best thing that it can stick to and still get some heat into the block. I'll try it after 6 hours and see what happens. Otherwise I'll have to drag the truck to a building somewhere overnight.

 

I bet you fried beater don’t even have half the mileage as yours.

 

Not sure what fried beater is but I sure am hungry by the jayzseuss.

 

We have ignition folks. Between the 25L of gas I added, 2 cans of gas line anti-freeze, and the 2 haphazardly placed lawn mower heaters, she started right up with just a few cranks in -40. I took it for a drive and filled the tank. Will see if it starts again tomorrow, I'll just leave it sitting there until home day which is at the end of 2 more nightshifts.