No crank, no start, single loud click, codes for crankshaft and camshaft position sensors

I apologize if this is the wrong section of the forum to post this, however as I understand it Tundras and Sequoias are mostly the same under the hood, so I figured this would be the best place to start. I am willing to move my post if needed.

TL;DR: I have a 2008 Toyota Sequoia 5.7L with a fully charged battery that has a no crank no start condition. When turning the ignition, the starter make a single loud click. Same thing happens when using a jumper wire to bypass the starter relay. This is my primary concern.

I am also getting 9 trouble codes. Primary code P0335 Crankshaft Position sensor "A" Circuit; also codes P0340, P0345, P0365, P0390, 0340, P0345, P0365, P0390 - all of which have to do with Camshaft Position Sensors A Bank 1, A Bank 2, B Bank 1, and B Bank 2; and code P0335 for Crankshaft Position Sensor A.

At first I thought it might be the battery, however I fully charged it just to be sure with no change. I then thought it might be the starter, and maybe it is, however with the starter on these being particularly difficult to replace, and mechanics wanting to charge $1300-1500, I wanted to eliminate any other causes.

Purchased a code reader to come up with those codes and some research revealed it could have something to do with this - however it could be a chicken and the egg scenario where it could be prevented from starting by the issue throwing those codes, or else it not starting could trigger the codes to start without there actually being anything wrong with the sensors or the cam- or crankshaft.

The more I research all of this, the farther from a solution I seem to get. I'm told that the sensors issues could cause the vehicle not to start, however if I understand correctly, I imagine that would be a crank but no start situation - but it is very possible I do not understand correctly.

For a little back history, we've been regularly using a portable lithium jump starter because our vehicle sits for long periods of time between uses and we don't always remember to disconnect the battery to prevent parasitic drain. Normally it starts immediately with no problem when using the jump starter, however this most recent time it did not. The time just prior to this, I recall thinking it was too soon to need a jump start, which did make me wonder about the battery health, however upon further research and consideration, I wonder if maybe there was something more serious going on with the engine and "forcing" it with a jump might have been the straw that broke it. It was also very hot recently, so not sure if that might have affected anything while it sat out in the heat.

At this point, I really would like to try and streamline my troubleshooting and hopefully get this thing running without going to a mechanic... even if that means replacing the starter myself.

What would be the best step to take from here?

If anyone has a picture with the exact location of the position sensors marked, I would appreciate that greatly. I understand most vehicles have just one cam position sensor, however it seems this engine has four, plus the crankshaft sensor, and there are several other sensors in the same area that all look like they could be it, but most of them must be other things.

Also, I've read that to test if the engine is seized I can manually try to turn the engine over by using a breaker bar on the crankshaft pulley bolt, however that thing is really crammed in there and appears to require significant removal of other parts just to do one test. The vehicle is sitting in the street, so my options are somewhat limited as far as removing a ton of parts from the vehicle unless I can commit to doing the entire job in one day.

Thank you in advance for any help, especially if you took the time to read this short story.

 

Starter. your troubleshooting sequence was the same as I did battery, ignition and jumping the relay..

 

Check under the hood for signs of damage to the electrical wiring harness. Often rodents get into vehicles that sit for long periods of time.

To have that many trouble codes come up instantly the first time you try to start it after sitting a long period of time, really makes me think part of the truck is offline (wiring damaged, no connections to a group of sensors)

 

I'm glad you said that (although I hope that isn't what it is) because I've been wondering about that myself. We did have a mouse into our RV basement recently, so it is very possible that little rodent made its way into our SUV when we kicked it out of the RV. Thank you!

 

Go take some time, open the hood and look it all over very closely. Its very common to have harness damage on the sides of the engine bay, up top between the wheel wheel and firewall, but it could be anywhere in the engine bay. Take the big plastic engine cover off that say Toyota 5.7 and look all around the intake/top of the engine also.

 

That was my initial thought, however I've read that starters on this family of engines almost never go bad. I also read countless forum threads where people replaced the starter only to find out the issue persisted and it ended up being something mundane like wiring or corrosion. Not fun to troubleshoot, that's for sure! Thank you!

 

Thank you for the advice - I will make that my next plan of action. I actually had that cover off yesterday but with a different objective in mind. I'm kind of hoping it is just a broken wire as long as it is within reach so I can just splice them back together.

 

On that note, with the starter making a click, do you suppose the solenoid is getting power, which means the wiring to the starter itself might be where the connection is broken?

 

Welp, I've replaced mine, at it was similar to what you stated. As soon as you turn the key it clicks dash turns off and comes back on. You can hear the fuel pump whine, but nothing happens. I had to look it up on youtube to make sure, but, I would agree with wiring as well.

 

Yeah, it is certainly still a possibility, and the symptoms are exactly as you describe. Here's hoping for the easier problem to fix! Thanks again!

 

Well, I still cannot locate any damage, however I still suspect it could be deeper than I can reach or see without taking many things apart (i.e. specifically right near where the wire goes into the starter) so at this point I think I either need to just start the process of replacing the starter and maybe discover the broken wire in the process, or else bite the bullet and pay a mechanic (yikes).

 

Before you start a major tear down, take the battery to somewhere that can perform a drop test. If you have a fancy charger it may well be able to do a drop test. Once you've ascertained that the battery can hold a charge then stick it on a charger that can deep cycle.
Then start talking about next steps if problem not solved.

 

Thank you for the advice. Sounds like a plan. I appreciate you.

 

Hi All

New member here, long time Tundra Owner. I am having the same symptoms on my ‘07 as described in the opening post, right down to the error codes.

This first occurred about six months ago, however was intermittent so was difficult to diagnose. I ended up cleaning the battery and ground connection near the battery, pulling and reseating the starter relay, and blew out the fuse box with compressed air. It was filthy in there. Something improved because I didn’t have a no start condition once for about six months until today.

Hoping the OP will reply with what his ultimate solution is. My guess is the starter, and that me cleaning connections just slightly improved power to the starter that it delayed the failure again for a few months, but I’m no mechanic.

Any input is appreciated.

 

Well, I can probably say it's not the starter, as I'm starting to have the same issue with a 1 click no start. I do wiggle the battery ground wire and it starts right up, but am getting all the codes as well. I'll be replacing my crankshaft sensor with the original OEM, followed by the replacement of tje negative terminal since it's bigger than the post.

I will follow your suggestion though.

 

^ So you've replaced your starter previously? Wishing you luck finding the problem, but I'd start with cleaning connections. The issue with my problem is its intermittent, so I can't diagnose. And to top it off it went away for 6 months after cleaning connections. So thinking further, likely not the starter.

 

Yes, I replaced the starter about 6 or 7 years ago. I did get the Crankshaft code P0335, so I replaced it and still had the same issue. My starter would not spin, but would pop out and that was it. This seems like another issue whatsoever. Maybe a grounding one, as my original ground cable has split in 2 technically. The side that goes into the fender snapped off, so I reattached it with a separate connector.

 

Just following up on this. The starting issue continued to be intermittent, although more frequent and almost left me stranded at the lake one day. What I could tell when it wasn't starting was that the solenoid for the starter was functioning (loud click when engaging the starter), so I took the plunge and a mechanic buddy replaced the starter while I was out of town (I had no idea, he surprised me, I was intending to help). It took him about 6 hrs, and that was with having to weld nuts onto the small bolts on the heat shield because the heads were corroded. He figures he could do it in 4.5hrs now that he's done it once, and that's on the floor of his garage at home. He ended up pulling the axle to remove the starter. I did get two quotes from shops to replace. A Toyota dealer wanted 7.5hrs labour for a total of $1700 + tax with parts to replace. Another local independent wanted 10hrs labour and a total of $1650 +tax with a remanned starter. In the end the starter cost me $560 taxes in and I threw buddy another $500 for the work. Keep in mind these are Canadian prices.

Long story short, I've had no issues with the truck starting over the past couple weeks. The new starter turns the engine over faster that's for sure, and has a different sound to it. To note, it's also slightly shorter. I wonder if the newer version would be easier to remove. Hopefully I don't need to find out.

 

I'm starting to lean on that conclusion, because I don't really want to wait to troubleshoot the next time it decides it doesn't want to start. I really think my issue is heat soak from either wire exposure, or possibly a radiator hose making contact with the wire harness at some point. I've already replaced my starter long ago, but this is behaving completely different from that issue as it only clicks once. Every time I try to turn over after I get nothing whatsoever not even a click.

 

Hey, I had this happen twice. No start, no click but everything has power. P0335, p0340, p0365 and p0390 codes. Looked over harness with no signs of rodent chewing.
Last time it started after sitting 10 minutes and today after a 15 minute drive to store, no start. I grabbed the start wiring and wiggled it as I thought maybe the solenoid wiring was loose and it started. So I'm at a loss as after I got home it stopped and started 5x's with no issue. But willo check into the starter connections. Crazy!

 

I got a camshaft A low voltage code. So I swapped it from A to B, still got the same issue. Except it starts on the 3rd try. So, it doesn't do it cold, it does it hot, so my thought process here is the wire is getting brittle and breaking somewhere inbetween the ECU and the crankshaft sensor.
2 weeks ago it got stuck in a constant start and rough shake before it started. Like a misfire, but no codes or reports on it.

 

I'll go through the harness and check it out again. Although I just get a total no start, no crank and no click.

 

Yeah, get the same... I may try a relay jump next time. Issue is I'm always unprepared, and it does it in the most inoppurtune times. Doesn't give me time to troubleshoot. I did watch a ScannerDanner vid and he pretty much replicated a similar issue to this where the harness gets heat soaked and drops voltage. It ended up being an exposed wire inside the harness.. I purchased a wire chaser for the house last year since I have swiches that go to nowhere, will probably run it here instead.