Why wont my car start this time

:laughing:

My wifeā€™s car is a Toyota! A nice friendly 2000 4Runner that has never tried to kill anyone (that Iā€™m aware of).

So itā€™s more likely the ignition switch than the solenoid eh? Any specific in-place diagnostic testing I should go for? Bust out the multi-meter and check signal flow, then?

Pull the wire off the S terminal on the solenoid and hook a test light between this wire and a good ground. The light should only come on when the key is in the START position. If itā€™s on with the key in OFF or RUN, the switch is probably bad. To test the solenoid, remove the wire from the S terminal and touch a jumper between the + terminal and the S terminal. The starter should crank as long as the jumper is touching and stop as soon as the jumper is removed.

((double post))

I donā€™t have a test light but I have a meter, which I connected between the S wire (wire not terminal) and ground.

0 VDC in the off position.
0.4 VDC in the run position.
4.6 VDC in the start position.

Iā€™m also only seeing a little over 9 VDC across the battery terminals which tells me itā€™s dead.

The first test I did, before reconnecting the battery today, was to measure the resistance between the S terminal on the solenoid and the battery positive. It was near 0. I tapped the solenoid with a rubber mallet and it jumped up to an open circuit, which is what it should be with no keys in the ignition, right?

So aside from the battery being dead right now, is this sounding like the switch, the solenoid, or both?

Sounds as if your ignition switch has completely fallen apart at the contacts and there is internal arcing. That is spooky, hope the battery is currently disconnected! Canā€™t make heads or tails out of the courtesy lights dimming thing,ā€¦as they have a somewhat direct link to the battery and no connection to the starting system, except at the primary lead at the solenoid, humm. Before you make a purchase for a new ignition switch,ā€¦you may want to take a look at the wiring pigtail to the switchā€¦make sure there are no burnt or fused wires. Disconnect the pigtail from the back of the ignition switch and give it a look overā€¦ thoroughly. In additionā€¦double check the primary lead from the battery.

Pigtail looks fine to me. Some of the wires are a tiny bit dirty but in general they look really good to me. I donā€™t see any signs of trouble there.

The battery is now showing 12.8 VDC across the terminals after having sat for hours without any action, so maybe itā€™ll pull through.

Iā€™ve got the switch out and am gonna goof around with my meter and see if the resistances seem off between the pins. It checked out okay when I tested it a few months ago (when my tach died) so Iā€™m a little surprised that itā€™s the problem, but if itā€™s a known issue which it seems to be, then Iā€™m okay with throwing $20 at a new switch if it seems to be the culprit.

Replaced the ignition switch yesterday and left the battery on a float charger overnight. Just went out now to see if the problem was solved, and it was doing almost the exact same thing, except now the interior lights were extremely dim with the door open, then barely lit as I turned the key to the run position, and nothing when I turned it to the start position.

I threw a voltmeter across the battery terminals (12.5VDC) and went to the trunk to get my remote start button to see what would happen if I tried turning it over from under the hood. Trunk light was super dim. Then I figured just for kicks I would turn on all the light switches on the dash just to see if the battery voltage would run down, thinking I may have had a shot battery. As I flipped the switches, the lights all came on at a normal brightness. I flipped them on and off and everything seemed normal. Tried starting and she fired right up. What the hell?!?

So my best guess at this point is that the ignition switch was fine, as I thought it was, and that the actual problem is that one of the wires or terminals on one of the switches or the oil pressure gauge was shorting to ground. This seems to tie in with the passenger side portion of the dash having fallen out a little a week or two ago or whenever that was.

Drove her to the store and back without issue. So on the one hand, great that she ran fine. But on the other hand, a little frustrating to know that whatever the issue was, I still havenā€™t identified it with any certainty and definitely donā€™t feel like itā€™s solved.

As far as I know thereā€™s nothing connecting the courtesy light circuits to the ignition system so youā€™ve obviously got a dead short somewhere. Until you find it, I suggest keeping the battery disconnected when your not driving or working on it.

Just make sur the ground on the block is ok ā€¦ I had trouble and get stuck cause that stupid ground !!! :ylsuper:

Yes, I had already checked the ground connections a few months back and they were solid. I did just buy a new wire today, 2 gauge, to connect the battery negative to the block. Maybe that will help.

Make sure you have a good ground to the firewall as well. Also, try pulling out all the fuses and try starting the car. Keep adding fuses one at a time until the problem reappears. That should help isolate the bad circuit.

Firewall and block grounds were both confirmed good within the past few months. I bought a new neg battery cable today (2 gauge) and will install it later tonight.

Iā€™ll check the fuses, but it really seems like it would be an issue with something in the dash having a weak short to ground, the fact that the problem disappeared exactly when I started flipping the toggles on the dash, after being a problem for days

Replaced battery negative wire with a new 4ā€™ 2gauge wire. Measured resistance from the negative batt connector to chassis (via solenoid bracket) and it came up 0 ohms. So thatā€™s great.

Measured the current with just the trunk light on - 2A. With just all interior lights on - 4A. With trunk and all interior - 6A. With no lights on - 0A. So no current leak with nothing turned on. So thatā€™s great as well.

Still to be safe I disconnected the battery and left it on the float charger again, which Iā€™ve been doing for days now. Supposed to rain again tomorrow so sheā€™s gonna spend another day in the garage.

But Sunday sheā€™ll get a bath and some driving around. See if I can get any more electrical weirdness or if all seems well.