Hey everyone, I'm new to this forum and I've been trying to learn as much as possible just by reading around but I've found myself in a difficult position so i thought I'd see if anyone had any advice or suggestions for me. I've had my 4runner for probably around 6 months now without any problems but two days ago i couldn't get it started, it was clicking like my battery was dead but i still had all my lights. I've had both the battery and alternator tested and they're both solid and also replaced the starter and starter relay but so far nothing has made a difference. Battery connections are tight and free of any dirt or corrosion and there is no worn/corroded wires or blown fuses that i can see. I'm thinking the ignition switch would be the next thing to try but honestly at this point I'm just blindly guessing so any help on this would be greatly appreciated!
Newbie in need of help, 4R won't start!
- Thread starter timc89
- Start date
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shootmymime
New member
clicking usually means a bad ground. recheck/clean your connections. you might try tapping on the starter selinoid while trying to start the car.
CAN-03runner
New member
Is it a continuous click when you turn the key and hold? Or a one time click; you turn the key and hold but only one click, but if you release and turn, release and turn you get that one click everytime?
My clutch engaged switch gives these symptoms that's when I started use my clutch cancel switch. But I still had starting problems very often, I was even afraid to stop for gas.
I know you checked the battery terminals, and I had too, and cleaned them, and thought people were crazy telling me to check my terminals again and again.
I finally took a dremel grinding wheel to the contact ends of the cables going to the battery, and sand paper to the posts. I got everything to be shinny copper. Starts everytime now. It's been over a month.
My clutch engaged switch gives these symptoms that's when I started use my clutch cancel switch. But I still had starting problems very often, I was even afraid to stop for gas.
I know you checked the battery terminals, and I had too, and cleaned them, and thought people were crazy telling me to check my terminals again and again.
I finally took a dremel grinding wheel to the contact ends of the cables going to the battery, and sand paper to the posts. I got everything to be shinny copper. Starts everytime now. It's been over a month.
It is a continuous clicking but its an automatic so would it just have a torque converter engage switch? I scrubbed the battery terminals down to clean shiny metal but i will double check the ground and try starting it in neutral. If that fails i will go ahead and replace the battery cable terminals. Thanks for the input!
Ok I've double checked all my connections and I'm getting 12.2 volts at the starter (12.7 at the battery) so I know all my cables and connections are good and since my starter is getting voltage I know the ignition switch is good as well. I also replaced the neutral safety switch and so far nothing has changed. The only thing I can think is that the previous owner installed a weird security system were the lights have to be turned on for the engine to start, I believe it's called Auto Mate, and something might have gone wrong there...
It was a relay switch in the security system, being colorblind I couldn't figure out the wiring so i had to get it towed to an audio shop and it took the guy about 10 min to find it. The system was so outdated that i had him remove the entire thing and now its running perfectly! Thanks again for all the advice!
