94 4runner, ran great all day, went on a 250mile road trip with multiple starts and stops, stopped into a casino for nice dinner, when I came back to fire it up it was in gear (which i forgot), I pressed the clutch override, when to start, it nudge forward, so backed off, put it into neutral, went to re-fire, all lights on dash were on, radio worked, but made a click noise and then, no power! I mean no lights, nothing, no door noise, got out messed with cables a lil, got power again, went to fire, click then no power again! So, when i would get no power, if i unscrewed the power to fuse box wire, removed from terminal waited a couple seconds and attached i would get power again, again all lights on, loud click, then boom no power at all, I tried jump starting it, but would get same thing, turn key, click noise, then no power even with jumper cables attached! So im a little confused, I was able to push start it and get it home, but wanted a little help if anyone else had this issue or could help, I was thinking starter relay just bc of the power cut off when turning the key. Battery tested fine. Any thoughts? Any help would be greatly appreciated, I plan on getting to work on it tomorrow.

Have you removed the battery cables and cleaned the terminals? it doesn't take much corrosion to stop a good connection, even if everything looks clean

Im not lying when I say they terminals were clean! i mean nothing noticeable at all!! I had just replaced both terminals and battery maybe 3 months prior, and when i did the repair i exposed and cut back the wire past any corrosion, thats at the battery tho i didnt check the connections at the fuse, but that at the top of my list now. And.. I forgot to mention, i tried to hotwire the starter relay ports in the fuse box, when i did this i got the loud "click" noise, but i didnt have the issue of complete loss of power, i was able to keep touching the ports and kept getting the "click" noise, idk if this info is relevant or not

You say complete loss of power, that's really strange. If it's just the starter then it's probably the solenoid plate in the starter. A couple of years ago I had to clean the one in my V6 '91 Camry. It was corroded and wasn't making a good contact. I spent more time taking it off the car and putting it back on than cleaning it.

"when I came back to fire it up it was in gear (which i forgot), I pressed the clutch override, when to start, it nudge forward, so backed off, put it into neutral, went to re-fire"

What is the clutch override? My 1989 Toyota pickup required the clutch to be pressed, regardless of the gear setting, to be started. Still, no impact to the lights, etc.

"all lights on dash were on, radio worked, but made a click noise and then, no power!"

Maybe a circuit breaker tripped, then reset? Any chance of a short somewhere?

"got out messed with cables a lil, got power again"

What cables? If you mean battery cables then check the negative cable to where it connects to the body ground. If you don't have a good connection between the body and negative post you could get similar problems. Check the ground strap between body and engine as well. If/when this happens again, use a volt-ohm meter to check between the negative battery post and the body.

With the power dying that makes me think your starter is frozen and since it cant spin its power draw goes up and pulls to much power.

Hello! I've got a similar problem, as I couldn't start my own thread I thought posting below this one as the problem is pretty similar. I've got a 2nd generation 2,7l Toyota of 1995. Until a month ago, everything was working fine then out of the sudden on sudden days the motor didn't start, and on other days without problems. This worsened and now most of the times it doesn't start but still sometimes it starts. So my first thought was the starter motor. After buying a new one and replacing it, it worked again for a day and then had the same problem. I just keep hearing the click of the starter relay but nothing happening. The cables should be fine as I measured the 12V on the main cable of the starter. I thought about the relay between the key and the starter, but couldn't really find it. A few relays at the drivers site were my guess, so I tapped them when the car wasn't starting, still nothing. Does anyone have an Idea what might be the problem? It has to be something electrical otherwise it would work sometimes and sometimes not.

Greetings from Italy!
Alex

See here:



Starter Relay Re-Wire or Retrofit for 95 and earlier Trucks / 4Runner - YotaTech Forums

Could it be too much resistance through the wiring going to the relay? You might not have to find the relay if you can access the cable. Here is a video diagnosing a similar problem on an 88' pickup with a 22RE that might help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=304&v=SafjO966WTA&feature=youtu.be.