Hard/No start, High Idle

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Calm8809

Member
Hey guys, I'm having issues with my mom's 2000 3.4L. She's been telling me about a hard start for the longest time now. I've poked at different things but it just kept happening. I could never get it to happen for me though until about a week ago. Now, it's happening a lot. Aside from the occasional hard and sometimes no start, it's also developed the occasional high idle around 1,500 RPM and apparently will sometimes loose power when taking off at a green light.

I've cleaned the IAC months ago and cleaned the MAF last week. New fuel pressure regulator and fuel pump this weekend. Still no good. You can get it to start up multiple times in a row with no problem and then all of a sudden it just will not start. Interestingly enough though I've started to notice that when it finally does start up it has the aforementioned high idle. Hitting the gas pedal a bit will sometimes get it to go back down to normal but not all the times.

Would anybody happen to have advise on where to check next?
 
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Is the throttle cable sticking at all or bent? 2nd Gens would sometimes have cable-driven issues where the sheath would wear out and the cable would bind up. It could cause the high idle if it's holding tension and overcoming the throttle body spring. The worst culprit was the cable driven speedometer but thankfully Toyota switched that to a digital signal.

My other thought is a vacuum leak. Search this using a can of carb or MAF cleaner (as you already have some) and do it with the engine idling. Spray near gasket surfaces, hose ends and all over the intake tube. Any change, up or down, means air is sneaking in at that spot. Also try all around the throttle body itself and under it.
 
Great advise, thanks. It did have a system lean code in the past recently but I thought I had found the offending hose. Could that be the culprit of the random no start? It's the strangest thing. Starts up fine several times in a row then it just won't. After a few attempts it will finally fire up but struggle a lot until it seems to catch itself. I've never had this issue on my 3RZ so I'm a bit lost.
 
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Well I may just so happen to be an idiot. Yesterday morning is when I got the fuel tank installed again. I gave it 3 or 4 starts before I got a no start. When it finally did start up it gave me a rumble like a cylinder wasn't getting fuel. I had to get to work so I called it a day. My potential idiotic status didn't occur to me until tonight after messing with the truck a bit and not getting the no start issue again.

In order to drop the tank you need to disconnect the three lines towards to front of the tank, one of which being the high-pressure line leading up to the engine. This introduces what into the fuel line? Air. Yep, I called the no start not fixed because of the fat air bubble I put in the line. :twitch: Haven't been able to get the no start to happen since so I'm going to call that fixed and focus on the remaining problem of the high idle. At least until proven otherwise.

For the high idle I've got a couple of things to check now so hopefully I can find the issue in the morning.
 
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Calm8809 said:
I'm going to call that fixed and focus on the remaining problem of the high idle. At least until proven otherwise.

For the high idle I've got a couple of things to check now so hopefully I can find the issue in the morning.
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If the high idle is your only remaining issue, I'd look at the IAC. I know you said you cleaned yours, but depending on how you cleaned it, you actually could have made it worse. Ask me how I know - SOLVED: High idle, increases with coolant temp - IAC?
 
Wow, what a very informative thread! Thank you so much! I did exactly as you did to clean it out. I'll pull it off again later when I get home and see what I can get out of it. I know it didn't close as much as yours did after cleaning both before and after I messed with it. I wonder if I have just enough buildup in there to make it stick 20% of the time.
 
I'll echo what Spiker said - I had a high idle and cleaned the IAC. It wasn't until I pulled the actuator off the shaft that I found my issue - the IAC was completely stuck. I ran throttle body cleaner in it while wiggling it repeatedly until it moved perfectly. Immediately my high idle problems went away.
 
Well my "when I get home" turned into a few days. I took the IAC out again and sprayed it down real good around that barrel. I took a pick and moved it back and forth and it seems to be pretty free. Put it all back together and went to start it up. I got a couple rotations out of her but that was it. Battery was going on 4 years and they don't quite seem to make it all the way to that point once summer comes along here in Florida. New battery and she cranks right up. I didn't test much but the idle seems good to be me. I'm calling that issue fixed until proven otherwise. I just hope that no start stays away. Random high idle is one thing, but I can't have her getting stranded anywhere. I'll post any future developments (or hopefully lack thereof).

Anyway, I really appreciate all the help guys! I've lurked on here for the longest time. This is a great site!
 
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It's baaaaaaaack . Although this time for yet another issue unrelated to the others. Battery light came on for a while and went away as she was driving yesterday. I only touched the two battery cables while doing the other work and I know they're on there solid. Cables going to the alternator look good. Alternator does look ancient though so I guess I'll be putting in some new brushes tomorrow. Other than that, unless it has some other issue with comedic timing, everything seems to be running great so far according to the one day she had it back. I'd even say it's running better than when we got it a little over 3 years ago. Thanks again guys for the guidance!
 
Calm8809 said:
It's baaaaaaaack [emoji23]. Although this time for yet another issue unrelated to the others. Battery light came on for a while and went away as she was driving yesterday. I only touched the two battery cables while doing the other work and I know they're on there solid. Cables going to the alternator look good. Alternator does look ancient though so I guess I'll be putting in some new brushes tomorrow. Other than that, unless it has some other issue with comedic timing, everything seems to be running great so far according to the one day she had it back. I'd even say it's running better than when we got it a little over 3 years ago. Thanks again guys for the guidance!
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Brushes oem last 180 to 250k. Aftermarket is a lot less. Thankfully, we can rebuild the starters and alternators....:)

Sent from my SM-A536V using Tapatalk
 
Ended up having the time to get it done tonight. Couldn’t be happier with my new air tools. Was in and out of there in no time. A $25 repair beats a $200 replacement any day. On the 97’ I did just the brushes for $4. Was more than happy pay the extra this time around to avoid a repeat of my less than stellar soldering job. Unfortunately the slip rings were worn pretty low. I’m going to try to forget that though
 
Calm8809 said:
Ended up having the time to get it done tonight. Couldn’t be happier with my new air tools. Was in and out of there in no time. A $25 repair beats a $200 replacement any day. On the 97’ I did just the brushes for $4. Was more than happy pay the extra this time around to avoid a repeat of my less than stellar soldering job. Unfortunately the slip rings were worn pretty low. I’m going to try to forget that though
Click to expand...

Shh.. The slip rings will hear you...lol
 
Well it looks like the hard start and high idle issues are back/remain. I guess the next step would be to grab a new IAC?
 
Well I ended up having to waive the white flag. I just heard back from the mechanic. Fuel injectors are flooding the engine. I'm getting a good laugh out of it though thinking that the bad fuel pump should have evened out the open injector(s)
 
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