Bought a sweet '02 LTD last year. Ran perfectly fine. Battery went dead during winter. Replaced the battery with a $300 Super Start. Lights come on, everything worked, but it just wouldn't start. Noticed my FOB wasn't working. Just replaced the battery in that and works perfectly fine, doors lock and unlock. Same issue. Ran a scanner, only code I got is C1224 (ABS). Swapped the EFI w/ the taillight, same issue. Put them both back, checked the taillights are operating, and yes. A neighbor recommended spraying some brake cleaner into the air box (after removing the air filter of course) to dismiss fuel issues, but I'm not sure that is a good idea. OK I am befuddled... Help please!

I would check for spark first

I would start simple and really tighten down the connections to the battery posts. You can have the negative terminal connected, but not just quite tight enough, and have this problem.

I only checked one spark plug but I'm going to check them all now.

Cleaned out the connectors, checked the grounds and cleaned them up too even though they looked good. I guess I could have mentioned that...

There's a difference between checking for spark and checking your spark plug condition

Pull the plug, put it on a ground then start vehicle, am I wrong?

Depending on the condition of your engine dumping the adaptive parameters when the battery died may cause a hard start since it needs to relearn its idle parameters.

If you have spark try shooting starter fluid in the intake/throttle body.


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Okay so this is an acceptable practice on our beloved 3rd Gens. I'll do that first thing tomorrow! (cold and dark here now lol)

Are you saying , it cranks but does not start?
Maybe the Immobilizer is acting up.

That is correct, and that is exactly what all my research points to. It started just fine when I used just the key (I got two keys, and one is attached via keyring to the FOB), but when I used the key that was attached to the dead FOB well that is when my problem started. That is also when I noticed the red "security light" on the dash start flashing. I replaced the battery and the FOB does work as far as locking and unlocking, but I noticed the security light still flashes after unlocking.

Maybe do a hard reset. Disconnect the positive and negative battery cables and touch them together for a few minutes. Then reconnect battery.

Correct, but be careful you don't ignite any gas fumes coming from the now open cylinder. It's best to use an extra plug to check for spark.

The immobilizer chip is in the key itself and not the key fob. The immobilizer chip doesn't have a battery for it either.

That is what I thought. Well, it looks intact (black case w/ Toyota logo on both sides)... Safe to assume reprogramming does nothing here, correct? Thanks for the heads up on igniting gas fumes!

* Edit: OK just tried reprogramming using this method (tried three times, no luck at the first auto-cycle)

1. Start with the following conditions: you are in the vehicle

a. Key is out of the ignition
b. Drive door is open ( all other doors are closed)
c. Driver door is unlocked (other door locks don't matter)

2. Insert the key into the ignition (don't turn it) and pull it out.

3. Perform these steps within 40 seconds:

a. Cycle the power locks 5 times. Use an even pace and try
to go relatively fast.

b. Close, then open the drivers door.

4. Perform these steps within 40 seconds:

a. Cycle the power locks 5 times (same as before).
b. Turn the ignition to ON then back to OFF.
c. Turn the ignition to ON then back to OFF.
d. Remove the key from the ignition.

5. Within 3 seconds, the power door locks should cycle (automatically)
indicating successful entry into programming mode. Return to step 1
if the locks do not cycle at this point.

6. Perform these steps within 40 seconds:

a. Press the LOCK and UNLOCK buttons on the transmitter
simultaneously for 1 second.

b. Immediately after letting go of the lock and unlock buttons,
press the lock button by itself and hold for 2 seconds.
Within 3 seconds, the door locks should cycle ( LOCK then
UNLOCK) once-- indicating successful programming. If
the door locks don't cycle, or cycle twice. Repeat steps
6a and 6b--this remote has not been accepted.

c. Repeat steps 6a and 6b for EACH transmitter that will
operate the vehicle. Including any old transmitters.

7. Close the driver door.

Three minutes, no luck. But thank you, I had forgotten that trick!