Brother's 2023 Tundra won't start, dealer clueless (SOLVED)

My bro has a 2023 Tundra SR5. It was built 10/23 but he just bought it in Feb of this year. It sat on a lot for several months because it's not a popular combo around here with double cab and 6.5' bed. Ever since new, it will randomly not start. No crank, no key icon on dash, and a message that says "Ignition On. Not ready to Drive. Press brake pedal (he does) and push engine switch to start." Dash obviously lights up so it's getting at least some juice, but starter will not turn. Seems to happen usually after truck has sat for a few days. Oddly though, if he keeps trying sometimes 50-100 times and 30 min to an hour later, the key icon shows and it will just fire right up. Very odd. When the key icon shows, it starts and when it doesn't, it will not start.

Key fob health is supposedly good. Everything says "healthy" on app. He just took it into dealer and they had no ideas. Said everything was working normally. No codes, and they couldn't replicate the problem.

We use our trucks hunting and fishing in very remote locations, sometimes in Mexico even. This is not acceptable.

Any ideas? Has anyone experienced anything similar and what was the fix.

 

Sounds like the neutral safety switch...

 

Does he unlock the car with the app? I have done this a couple times and when I get in and try to start it won’t start until I hit the unlock on the key fob. Done this a couple times and it always throws me for loop. Other than that I haven’t had an issue with my truck starting. Mine was also built 10/23 but wasn’t delivered till December and was a 2024 model

 

Good idea, but no. In fact, he just got the app because I told him to, to see if anything showed up in the health report. He's not a tech guy. He's coming from owning a couple Tacomas previous to this truck, without a hint of vehicle trouble for 20+ years. And without all this technology. This truck's tech is a real challenge for him (it was for me too). He's really frustrated, especially that the damn dealer couldn't even offer any insight whatsoever.

 

Sounds like probable brake light switch intermittent failure. Can he see (reflection or whatever) if the brake lights in back are coming on when issue occurs. Used to be a common failure on Nissans with push button start.

 

Under warranty and if the dealer can’t fix it they should call Toyota then start the process of getting y’all a new one!!

 

Perhaps you could test that starter theory by using the dead fob battery start method?
Remove the battery from the fob.
Unlock the truck with the metal mechanical key located inside the fob.
Place the fob against the push start button and start the truck as you would normally.
If it starts right up then maybe it’s not a starter issue.

 

Dealer is useless. Nothing more out of them than, "nothing is wrong with your truck, come pick it up". When this happens again, it will be going to a different dealer.

 

That's absurd! A burned out brake light prevents the entire vehicle from starting?

 

Lemon Law the truck and be done??

 

Take some videos when it happens. Send them to the dealer and send them to toyota saying you aren't getting any support from your dealer and if you have twitter or some other social media put it all over that and tag the dealer and toyota. They will fix it.

 

He has videos, and provided them to the dealer.

 

CA has a very rigid Lemon Law process. It has to go 3 times to the dealer without resolution and/or be in the shop for 30 days. This is only the first time. So he has hoops to jump through before that can happen.

 

Toyota and social media, I'd also call another dealer maybe and send it to them see what they think. Thats really too bad about your bro's dealer, I'd start blasting them online.

 

Try a new battery, and that’s about all my thoughts?

 

This is what I would do... Next time it happens DO NOT keep messing with it... call a tow truck and take it to the dealer (making dealer pay for tow bill)... Then go from there...

 

Loose negative? My tractor sometimes will have that issue.

 

If dead or weak battery, how would it start back up normally when it decides it's done being difficult? No slow crank or anything. And wouldn't a low battery throw a code? This is some computer glitch it seems.

 

If the dealer cant fix it.. have them replace it. (or issue a refund)

 

My condolences to you and your brother. Good on you for helping.
This should not be either of your headaches though for crying out loud. I never thought I would see this many problems with a Toyota truck.

 

Brake light SWITCH. If not making contact, computer still sees it as incomplete and won't allow starting. Rcflyersd mentioned the brake lights just as a means to determine if the switch was working.

 

A friend of mine was having similar issues with his Lexus. I read on a forum somewhere that a low battery could cause these issues and mentioned it to him. He hasn’t had an issue since the told the dealer to check it and they replaced the battery.

 

So frustrating, I had a Mazda B2300 with the same type of issues. The dealer never could find what was wrong with it. I traded it.

 

Funny operating battery would not through any codes but the new trucks might have something new.
Just sounds weird and an acting up battery might/could be the cause? Next time it happens I would switch batteries with another car and see what happens.
I am out of suggestions. But I would dang sure have Toyota and the dealer on this!

 

He picked it up from the worthless dealer today. Driving home he noticed that his voltage gauge fluctuated wildly. Ranging from 3/4 to the right and then back to 1/4 to the left. He said it's hard to quantify since the gauge isn't fully numbered (and it's an analog gauge on the SR5?) but it bounces between the first and third hash marks. Once on the and with foot on gas freeway he said it stabilized at a little over 1/4. Then once he got off freeway and back to stop and go, or anytime coasting with foot off the gas for a while, it would go back to fluctuating. Sounds odd to me, but nothing with these new trucks is very logical. This giving any clues?

I have a 1794 so I don't have a voltage gauge. I can't tell him if mine does that or not or what's normal. I have no idea what my voltage is doing.

 

The dealer insists the battery is fine. Of course they only tested it right after driving the vehicle. Explaining things to them was like talking to a child with a 5 second attention span. It was obvious they weren't interested. No codes, so no ability to diagnose anything, so nothing further they can do.

He's going to let it sit for a few days and then test it himself with a multimeter.

 

Exactly…what he said.

The problem with the lemon law (and I’ve used it twice with Jeep) is that if the dealer can’t reproduce the problem, that visit doesn’t count as one of their “strikes”. Each state is different as to the number of “strikes”, but what is the same is that they have to be warrantable issues that are not fixed, or days where the vehicle is not in service. If they write it up as “customer states…” and then “could not reproduce”, that won’t count. But…if the vehicle is DOA and has to be towed, that may.

 

Most OBD scan tools have battery and alternator tests. Just throwing a multimeter on there won’t be very conclusive. It can read 12.6v but have weak cells and not be able to provide adequate current to turn the starter. If you don’t have a scan tool, any parts store like Advance or Autozone will do it for you and provide you with a printed test result.

 

Big clue here. A bad ground would manifest these kind of symptoms.

I don’t suppose you’ve checked the battery cables? Easy to overlook something simple like a loose connection when you’re chasing electrical gremlins..

 

Agreed. My last GMC Sierra did this exact thing with random no starts. It turned out to be the battery cable was bad, on a brand new truck. Check the resistance of the battery cables. I had to replace one of mine. If those check out look for a loose ground. Check the battery cable connection for corrosion. And don’t just look at it. Take it OFF and look inside the terminal. My tundra decided not to start one day and I couldn’t see any corrosion from the outside but the inside was toast. I cut the factory garbage off and got some replacement cable ends and haven’t had a problem since.

I would also check the neutral safety switch, the brake light switch, and make sure the computer is getting the actual start signal from the push button starter switch. These are all common problems in other makes of vehicle.