Turn key, nothing happens

2007 Tundra, intermittent problem. sometimes it starts right up, other times, nothing happens when I turn the key. it has been happening for a few years, but is getting more and more often. now, I need to turn the key 10-15 times before it turns over.

Battery is strong, as it turns over normally, not sluggish, and always starts once it does turn over. Feels like a switch/solenoid. I think this is a common problem, but not sure where to start. Searched, couldn't find any references.

Thanks!

 

make sure the battery terminals are tight first. Then start following ground wires.

 

Hit the side of the starter with a wrench or screwdriver handle. The armature in the starter could be bad

 

yep, bad starter would be my vote. My camry just did that and I could reproduce the issue. If the starter was cold, it worked fine, but once it got hot from driving down the road, hit the key and it was like the battery was dead.

 

Its the starter.

 

Hope you dont have a 5.7 4x4, starter job on this truck is godawful, good luck.

 

12 year old starter is pretty impressive.
I'd pay four hours labor and the price for a denso medium/heavy duty replacement. $800 total ?

Folks are getting at it from motor mount/wheel liner position with good results.

 

Before you go replacing that starter check your battery terminals and all the grounds including the connections on the starter.

 

Great, that's what I have, and I have heard the same thing. Apparently its located under the intake manifold, or at least in that area? I'll check wires first, but I sort of think this might be the issue. Crud.

 

It's not under the intake. That was the previous Tundra generation.

I'm betting you have bad contacts in the starter. Pretty common for toyota starters. Cheap to fix, still a pain to remove your starter.

 

Do you lose power altogether, no dashlights, radio, etc? If so probably something battery connections related. If not starter is my vote.

 

No everything works fine, just no starter when I turn the key. It does look like starter.

 

Thanks, are the contacts replaceable, or is the unit sealed? I am pretty good in the garage, have all the equipment, just haven't made this problem a priority yet. Sorta looks like it is moving up the list on its own, and I will have to look at it this weekend when I go home.

 

If you plan to keep the truck longer, I assume you do, get a new starter if you can, I had bad luck with a remanufactured started on my 2002 4.7L. The Remanufactured one crapped out after 6 months so I replaced with a new unit and got 8 years out of that one before it died. Toyota putting the starter under the intake manifold is the dumbest design. I did get quite efficient at pulling the manifold by the 3rd time.

 

The starter is underneath the exhaust manifold, if you're in a rusty state, it's going to make it that much worse to remove them. Also, at this point, i would just buy a genuine OEM unit to replace it, and be done with it. Don't gamble with remanufactured autozone crap.

 

No click from the starter or anything? Or it clicks without cranking?

If nothing, nada, zilch... try wiggling the shifter or shifting to neutral when it won’t start. The range sensor on the transmission keeps it from cranking when it’s not in park or neutral. If it’s failing or misadjusted then you get no crank and no click from the starter.

The most common failure on a denso starter is the solenoid contacts as mentioned, and they are replaceable. But you’ll hear a hearty click from the starter even through it won’t crank.

A solenoid issue, brush / commutator issue, or winding issue, then yes, it can be silent. In my mind it’s doubtful that any of these would still be working even intermittently a year later.

 

Oh, and the starter relay (labelled “ST” in the fuse box under the hood) is another thing to check or replace if you don’t hear that starter clicking.

 

Before I pulled the trigger on a starter I would want to do more troubleshooting. Landphil has some good ideas to check. In the fuse box there's a starter relay that's controlled by the in neutral or park switches before energizing the starter relay. Somehow this is also tied into the ECM. When it happens you try turning the key a couple times get it to work? You could replace that relay since it shouldn't be expensive and it's easy to do. When it happens you could try to jumper out the relay. By doing so the starter should turn on and try to start the engine.

 

I agree with the guys above. The starter could be the culprit but you have a couple other possibilities.

I am leaning towards a corroded connection on your postive battery wire where it connects to the starter. I would then check the main ground wires for corrosion.

1st one is next to the negative terminal on the right.

2nd one is behind the skid plate, drivers side.

Then i would follow the advise above.

It does sound like a bad connection, imo.

 

Having the same issue with 2004 Tundra, it is intermittent and after turn the key 6 - 10 times it will finally start! Dealer and another shop can't find the issue. Replaced neutral safety switch and ingnition switch but problem keeps coming back. when a master mechanic can't find it, WOW!

 

I know this is an older post, but my 07 tundra 5.7L 2wd 295K miles has had the same ongoing issue for the last few months, progressively gotten worse until today where it just wouldn't crank at all. Even after waiting the typical 2-3 hour period after shutting it down last.
Sooo... been scratching head and forum searching, jumping relays, fiddling, etc... for several months. And in my typical style... always jumping to worst case scenario of course. But, desperation today made me start with simple stupid first. Turns out the signal wire on the starter had backed off completely. Appears that 17 years of hot cold hot cold hot cold had made the plug fairly brittle and the clip broke and no longer held it in place. It was slowly vibrating off over the last few months until today when it gave up its grip completely and fell off the starter terminal. Push it back in the hole with a dab of rtv to "glue" it in and it starts right up.
So if you are having this issue, I definitely recommend looking there first and hopefully you will find the same and cuss yourself for overthinking it like I have been for all this time.