1st Gen (2000) Ltd starting/electrical problem

Hey all,
Longtime fan/stalker, first time post-er.

Some potentially relevant backstory:
I’ve had this truck for 13 years (bought in 2010).
Replaced alternator in 2017.
Most recent battery replacement in 2019 or 2020: can’t recall which.

Last time I replaced the battery, I was having this issue where I’d turn the key and the voltage indicator would drop like there was a huge draw, but the starter would never crank. Whenever this happened (if I was paying attention beforehand) the voltage indicator wouldn’t be quite as high in the gauge as normal. All dash lights would dim, but no crank. However, I was not thinking it was the battery, because the problem wasn’t consistent: it might happen once or twice in a week and then not happen for another 3 weeks. Also, it would start almost immediately if I just put jumper cables on. Literally no time needed to charge—just straight start as soon as cables were on.

Took the battery to Autozone and they tested whether it would hold a charge and couldn’t get anything out of it. As “dead as they’d ever seen” or something like that. So I replaced it. Immediately, no problem at all.

So the battery replacement clearly solved the problem, but still not sure I understand how the symptoms made sense with the solution. Like, for instance, if the battery was that dead, how had it been working intermittently all this time? And why did I get full voltage reading on my dash gauge most of the time and then just every so often it would be a little lower?

Anyhow...fast forward to a year ago.
Took a new job with a 40 mile commute and bought an old Honda Civic to make the daily trip without spending as much on gas. So the Tundra became more of a weekend/utility vehicle. Still driven each week, just not many miles.

At Xmas time (2022) went to get firewood and a tree, etc., and run some hauling errands and noticed it was using a lot of fuel, and there was a gas smell, which ended up being a pinhole in one gas line.

Didn’t drive it until May when I was off work and could take time to fix it. Bought the fuel hose, kicked myself for not fixing it sooner bc of how easy it ended up being, and started driving it to haul stuff and get work done.

Began having the starting problem again. I put a battery disconnect on it a few years ago and also keep a trickle charger on it, so didn’t think it would be the battery. It also stopped running while on a couple of times. So I was a little worried it might be the alternator again.

Took it to Autozone. They tested the alternator and the battery, said they couldn’t find anything wrong in the charging circuit and no relevant codes on the scanner tool. I asked about the stalling while running and one of the seemingly more knowledgeable guys asked if I’d changed transmission fluid regularly. He said is the transmission fluid was sludgy it could make the truck shut off while running. I don’t know if that’s legit information or not, but I went home just with something to think about.

The next day I was using it to haul some things around my property, started a couple of times with no problem and with no stalls. At some point I backed up to unload some stuff, turned it off and when I went to move it, it wouldn’t start—just the light dim thing it was doing before. Put the charger on, tried to start, and it wouldn’t turn over at all. Had stuff to do and couldn’t mess with it so it sat for a couple weeks. Got in and figured I’d try it again turned the key and nothing but the dim lights and gauge needle drop thing. Turned it to off position and back to start several times and on the 5th (or 6th or 7th...) time it turned over a number of times, didn’t catch, and then I got the clicking sound when the battery is too low to crank.

Charged it again for a while and never got to starting, but I did notice a lot of sparking around the negative terminal.

Please advise what is going on? I know it seems idiotic to not just replace the battery, but that doesn’t seem (again) to explain the problem. Is it just the battery and I’m overthinking this? Is my starter bad? Do I have some kind of short in the charging or starter circuit?

Feel free to tell me I’m stupid.

 

Sounds like corroded battery cables or a bad ground. Strip back a few inches of insulation on each of the battery (+)and(-) cables and look for the green death.

 

Yup ^^ see --> https://www.tundras.com/threads/1st-gen-psa-clean-your-battery-terminals-you-lazy-sods.131635/

Especially if you or a previous owner was piss-poor on their battery maintenance and let the terminals get corroded even once. That kicks off the process. Either use felt rings and dielectric grease or AGM (w/proper ALT-S diode) after you replace or repair the cables.

But also check grounds and tightness of terminals.

Also ... read this, not all of it applies to you, but there will definitely be some things (especially in 2nd reply) that will. https://www.tundras.com/threads/so-you-wanna-buy-just-bought-a-1st-gen-tundra-eh.115928/

 

I ran a trickle charger on another truck I drove infrequently and I believe it contributed to my battery cables corroding. I did what shifty said above and that fixed all the issues I was having. I guarantee you have battery cable corrosion, hopefully not too far down. I didn’t have to replace any cable, just had to strip, wire brush really well, clean them up, retape, and change the battery terminals and I was in bidness again.

 

Did what y’all suggested and replaced the battery and it now starts reliably. I think one of the grounds was loose—had to retap the hole for slightly larger bolt and now it tightens snuggly. However, still have something weird electrical going on bc the clock is running 10x too fast—like a minute passes every few seconds. Need to read the post above to see if anything about that is in there...

 

I haven't heard of anything that causes a clock race condition.

For shits & giggles, I'd remove your negative battery cable for 10 minutes to reset everything, including the ECU. Then re-plug and check again.

I'd expect the clock to have its own time chip for clocking, but maybe I'm wrong on that. I can't imagine Toyota would send a lead from the ECU, and the clock used that. That's a lot of wire for something so trivial.

 

Seen that before, I think it's the clock itself but I never got my hands on a new clock to confirm. Not on my truck but on my FIL's 00. Sometimes fast sometimes frozen at one time and other times works fine. It also doesn't always dim when the headlights are on. Makes me wonder if it's a loose solder joint or something like that.