HELP!!! TRUCK Won't start!!!

My 2000 Tundra usually runs like a top with no issues. Two days ago, as I was pulling out of a parking lot, a guy cut me off requiring me to hit the brakes HARD. My engine died and would not restart. Had it loaded on a truck and brought home. After they unloaded the truck, I hit the starter and it started right up. Drove around the block with no problems, but coming to a stop in the driveway I braked hard and IT DIED AGAIN! Now it won't start! ANY ideas what is wrong? Yes the STARTER works, But the ENGINE won't start.

 

Sounds like you might have a wire loose. Slam on brakes and it loses connection.
Just an uneducated guess.

 

You could start with checking battery cables?

By don't start, do you mean it just clicks when turning the key? Or Is it cranking but not turning over?

 

check for loose battery connections, check for loose ground wire. Likely one of those based on what you describe.

 

Sounds like an obvious case of loose/shorted cable to me, the inertia of braking is highlighting it.

 

This ^^ right here.

 

Need to know what you mean by won't start.

Won't turn over? Won't run?

Like others have said, if it won't turn over, probably loose battery terminals/wires.

If it turns over but won't start, could be a variety of things...loose ECU wires of some kind, bad fuel pump, have to start testing things.

 

So if you get into an accident, the truck will kill the ignition to prevent a runaway engine scenario (foot pinned on the gas pedal, fuel leak etc.) Maybe the system is interpreting the hard stop as an accident like situation. Not sure if the deceleration sensors are responsible for this? My truck engine died when I backed into a retaining wall at high speed sliding on the ice. I had to turn the truck all the way off and then turn it back on to get it to start. My thoughts.

 

Holy crap. Today I learned. Had NO IDEA that trucks (and cars too I would assume) had that feature. Anyone know how far back this feature goes? I've hit some crap pretty hard in my 1997 T100 and don't ever recall the engine immediately dying. But I absolutely love the premise of the feature.

As they say on that thing called the internet: thanks for sharing.

 

I've never heard of it before. I'd really like to see a link or something to it before I take it as gospel on OUR trucks.

 

So it’s a fuel shutoff, not an ignition kill, info from several different Toyota owners manuals (Tundra, Camry, etc.)

'Fuel pump shut off system

To minimize the risk of fuel leakage when the engine stalls or
when an airbag inflates upon collision, the fuel pump shut off
system stops supply of fuel to the engine.
Follow the procedure below to restart the engine after the system is
activated.

Turn the engine switch to the “ACC” or “LOCK” position.
Restart the engine.'

 

the “incident” I described occurred in my 2000 Tundra. Same model as yours, except mine is the limited TRD OR trim. So it applies to “our trucks”.

 

Pretty sure the deceleration sensor is under the center console area (between the seatbelt bolts-ish) on our trucks IIRC. A lot of guys with VSC enabled trucks seem to post around looking for this bastard, someone was just looking recently?

 

I know about airbag deployment killing it, thats pretty standard, I've just never heard of anything else shutting off the engine. I wonder if what really happened is it just stalled the engine when you backed into the wall.

 

It wouldn’t restart without turning it all the way off and then back on. The fuel cutoff is an inertia switch. May be located here, if you believe everything you read on the Internet.

 

Cool. Good to know.

 

Ford, back in the Crown Vic days, used a lil black box with a white button on it in the trunk. If you bumped the car hard enough it would trip and interrupt the fuel pump circuit. You had to pop the trunk and push the white button to reset it.

Road criminals learned to back into the police cruisers to trip the fuel pump interrupter and speed off into the sunset.

 

Yup. My taurii do the same thing. If you bonk the passenger rear too hard it'll trip it.

 

For whatever reason, I had downloaded all 1st Gen OM's sometime in the past. According to each of those OM"s, they started in 2003 and forward, listing it as an item, FWIW.

from my 2004 OM....

 

My 2000 definitely has it. It’s been field tested.

 

This is interesting. I had a scenario where the truck shut off on me, but started right back up just fine. It happened when I was doing an uphill obstacle at a steep angle, spinning the tires and on the throttle a bit. Computer could have interpreted it as a throttle pinned situation. I could not find anything wrong with the truck that would of caused it and I figured it might be something to do with a safety system. Haven't been able to replicate it since. Truck had plenty of fuel when it happened.

 

Don’t think having the throttle pinned will do it. It’s an inertia switch. Triggers with an abrupt and sudden stop, like collisions. Shouldn't activate with the brakes or inclines or any of that unless the switch is faulty or worn out.

 

Hey OP @lyteflyer any update?

 

Literally just woke up from having nightmares all night about this switch. After my coffee, I'm going on a search and destroy mission.

 

If you’re lucky you’ll never need to mess with it. Mine did it’s job, and sent me on my way after. Haven’t needed to see it or mess with it at all

 

I'm not usually lucky.......

 

Truck is fixed. But I would like to say that if I had been given accurate data It would not have taken me a week to run it down. THE FUEL PUMP CIRCUIT is NOT energized when the ignition is turned on. It is energized when the STARTER is engaged. If the engine starts it continues to pump. If NOT the power to the pump is SHUT OFF.
My problem turned out to be the connector INSIDE the tank had come loose, and was making intermittent contact. Upon hard braking the fuel sloshed up and disconnected the connector. To make matters worse, when I pulled the pump out and bench tested the unit it ran fine because the connector was not fully unplugged.
So I put it back together and spent three days trying to figure out why the pump circuit was dead.
Only by accident ( I left a circuit tester attached to the pump wire and engaged the starter) did I learn how it works.
So if you have a 2000 tundra DON'T listen for the pump when the key is on and the engine is not running.

 

glad you got it sorted. Where did you get inaccurate data? Yours sounds like it was a unique problem, not a common part failure. Loose wire in an inaccessible and non-visible spot is a tough find.

 

The inaccurate date i got was I was told that the fuel pump circuit energized when you turn on the key. Since MINE doesn't energize until you engage the starter it sent me looking for why the circuit was dead. I thought my ECM was bad.

 

Yah, I could have told you that. Its the reason our trucks take a second longer to start than some some others. Thats a frustrating failure to be sure, loose but not totally broken connectors are a nightmare.