Monday a.m., my 2015 Tundra failed to crank. Lights, etc. still worked, but no crank.

Pulled battery and took to auto parts store for test; checked out perfectly.

Came home, replaced battery, and gave it a try. Chugged first try, cranked second try just fine. And cranked again this morning. (All cables seem fine; seemed fine prior to removing battery, too.)

Anyone experience this? Sign of pending failure of starter? Alternator?

It is still under warranty so I will take it to get checked, but I would like to have a hint as to what might possibly be going wrong before I take it in.

Thanks.

Have you had the starter tested? Drive to the auto parts store & they will year it without removal. Otherwise, maybe a relay.

will.mcg said:

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Have you had the starter tested? Drive to the auto parts store & they will year it without removal. Otherwise, maybe a relay.

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Thanks for the advise. I'll do it.

i know you tested the battery, but how old is it? original to the truck?

Battery was purchased 6/19. Took it back to place of purchase and they verified it was solid. Interesting that when I tried to jump the Tundra off our other vehicle, nothing - nothing - happened. Had not experienced that previously. Always at least get a crank, even if it doesn't turn over. But like I say, today it starts right up. But I am leery to go any distance with the thought of getting stranded.

My 2013 Tundra did the same thing a few years back. I stopped to get the battery tested after it happened several times. There was a good bit of buildup on the terminals when I got it tested at Autozone, so they sprayed some cleaner on it, hooked up the tester and it tested good. Drove it home from Autozone, turned it off, and it wouldn't start again after that. Tried jump starting it to no avail. Removed the battery, took it to a different Autozone, and now it was completely dead. Purchased and installed a new battery and everything was back to normal.

I also replaced the terminal clamps prior to hooking up the new battery. Some corrosion was exposed when they used the battery cleaner. I honestly think that the buildup was helping to maintain a solid connection and when it got removed, the connection was compromised.

The terminals were really quite clean (thumbs up for the new TexAgs photo hosting feature) and as far as I can tell secure. It started again for me when I stepped out to take these pix, so I don't know. Going to get the starter tested as suggested above and go from there. Thanks for the input all.

Assuming battery is ok then this symptom is a bad connection somewhere.

Check fuses and relays for obvious signs of distress.

Also what kind of a I theft system is on this?

You may also try your other key

Ground strap

Thanks.

any other updates?

Do you have a lot of keys on your key chain?

Also just for clarification, crank=turn over are the same.

"Fire" would be when the engine catches and runs without help of the starter.

So it sounds like here, you turn the key and the engine wont crank or turn over at all. Correct?

fixer: the truck started up every time I tried it yesterday. I did go back and assure (in my eyes) that all fuses and relays were securely in place. I did not pull any of the fuses because other than a 10 amp ignition fuse, I did not know what to inspect ... and the ignition at that point was working.

Today, I've been in wall to wall meetings and have not had time to step out and start the truck. Also, have not yet made it down to Napa to see if they will run that diagnostic on the starter.

1ags: correct, when problem was evident, the truck was doing nothing ... short of the fact that interior lights, dash lit up. Same for when I tried to jump it.

Have not tried the spare key, but again, right now it is starting. I'm just concerned that, given the initial episode, that might be a sign of something on its last leg. That, however, is not what I am hearing from the board; rather, the thought is that there is a loose connection somewhere ... relay/fuse, cables ... right?

Thanks.

Do you have lots of keys/keychains on your ring?

My granddad had this issue.

He used to carry one of those big wallet key chain combination things.

Really wreak havoc on the ignition lock and electrical contacts.

There was an epic thread on 4runner forum last year just like this and the guys key was getting messed up by.... dammit can't remember..EDIT electro mag field for work.

This guy changed every fuse, relay, battery multiple times, starter, multiple dealer visits, battery cables, all ground cables,then someone mentioned the anti theft system .

That made the guy to try the different keys and it worked.

The problem happened randomly then it got progressively worse.

The immobilizer function didn't recognize one of the keys. I guess there is some sort of timer that was not reset , so then it didn't recognize the fresh key.


I'll see if I can dig it up.

Fast forward to page 4 (OP is "444"):

https://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/241711-help-2015-trd-pro-no-start=-turd-4.html

There was an epic thread on 4runner forum last year just like this and the guys key was getting messed up by.... dammit can't remember..EDIT electro mag field for work.

This guy changed every fuse, relay, battery multiple times, starter, multiple dealer visits, battery cables, all ground cables,then someone mentioned the anti theft system .

That made the guy to try the different keys and it worked.

The problem happened randomly then it got progressively worse.

The immobilizer function didn't recognize one of the keys. I guess there is some sort of timer that was not reset , so then it didn't recognize the fresh key.


I'll see if I can dig it up.

Fast forward to page 4 (OP is "444"):

https://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/241711-help-2015-trd-pro-no-start=-turd-4.html

1agswitchin4lanes said:

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Do you have lots of keys/keychains on your ring?

My granddad had this issue.

He used to carry one of those big wallet key chain combination things.

Really wreak havoc on the ignition lock and electrical contacts.

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No. Three (truck, home, work) plus a small pocketknife.

I don't know: maybe when I yanked the battery and then reinstalled, something reset and the issue cleared. Perplexing. (It started again just fine about 30 minutes ago.)

My Tundra had the same issue twice. Once was a battery terminal issue (the looked tight but I replaced the connections anyway). The second time was a single click when turning the key and nothing...that time was the starter. In both cases, it was a rare intermittent issue that slowly got worse until it was more no start that start.
So my opinion...it's either starter or battery related. My best guess since your lights come on and such is it is your starter...which is a common tundra issue.

Often they'll charge the battery a bit before testing. If they did that, it could have been dead, tested fine, and now it's running fine.

Have you had your alternator checked?

FC12 said:

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My Tundra had the same issue twice. Once was a battery terminal issue (the looked tight but I replaced the connections anyway). The second time was a single click when turning the key and nothing...that time was the starter. In both cases, it was a rare intermittent issue that slowly got worse until it was more no start that start.
So my opinion...it's either starter or battery related. My best guess since your lights come on and such is it is your starter...which is a common tundra issue.

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Happened again this evening. And I had just driven it to Houston and back for a dental appt. Worked just fine in Houston. It got me home. Then an hour or so later, went out to run an errand and it would not start. Like you said, time to evaluate the starter. That is tomorrow's task.

You need a "Boost"

And you probably know this already, but the starter is on the passenger side in a ridiculous spot. A shop will charge you about $900 which includes parts and labor to change it.

Any updates milner?

????

Update: it was the starter. Had purchased extended warranty so was covered by Toyota all but $50 deductible. Thanks for all the exceptional input.

Since you only had to pay $50, I'm going to bask in the glory of being right

Nice. Good call.