My 4runner is completely dead. Full background info that might help.
1)The battery is held in by tie wraps so it probably vibrates more than normal but connections to posts seem tight and secure.
2) Antennae broke a few months ago. I pulled the antennae with bit of plastic with teeth attached. Some of the plastic with teeth remained in motor. I turned off radio to prevent motor from operating and left hole in fender uncovered. Could water have gotten in to short out motor?
2) dropped tranny out to replace clutch two months ago. All electrical seemed to work well once it was put back together.
3) for some reason the headlights don't always turn off on their own after I put car in park and walk away. It is unpredictable though.
4) over the past few weeks I've come back to the truck and it would seem to be dead (no turnover at all but key light was on). However, if I moved through the gears and pressed clutch in and out it would fire right up as if nothing happened.
5) today it was dead when I went to start it. No lights were on and it didn't turn over. I moved through gears and depressed the clutch a few times. Dash lights came on and I noticed that the headlights were on when I went to pop the hood. I turned off the car by move the key to off position. Immediately hooked up jumpers cables to jump and nothing. Completely dead.
6) I will get a multimeter on the batt when I get home and report back.
7) this could not come at worse time. My wife and I had a baby with a fatal birth defect three days ago and celebration service is on Saturday. I appreciate any condolences people may offer but please fill this thread with some troubleshooting tips.

My first guess is the neutral safety switch on the tranny.

congradulations on the birth. Was it on 12/12/12 ?


I would check your battery terminals. Remove, wire brush, clean and re-install tightly.

Ive got beyond understandable elctrical problems on my 97 4x4 manual. Do i have a nutrel saftey switch too? This might be my answer.

The NSS is not going to keep the electrical power from the entire truck, only the starting circuit.

ConstantFix- a quick way to determine if the NSS is faulty is to unplug it and toss in a temporary jumper in the plug. Some consider this dangerous since the vehicle WILL attempt to start in gear.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the manuals only had the "clutch switch". When I did my 5spd swap I only remember doing three splices, the clutch start switch, something for 4x4 and the NSS. Think I did the NSS because the plugs are different. Guess I just answered my own question

gannonrt- The battery terminals are a good place to start. Just as likely though is a bad ground. When you get that multimeter go ahead and check every fuse, not just for continuity but read the voltage. You may also want to remove and reinstall them all just to establish clean contact.

Good luck bro

How old is the battery?

Do you have a clutch cancel switch?

May be the switch attached to the clutch paddle is bad?

Fortunately, I went out just now and it started up. I'll still check all the items here because I need to track this down and fix whatever is causing it.