Cobra 19 & 54

As the title says, you put the key in to start it, turn it and nothing. accessories come on, but the starter won't turn over. Not even the annoying dead battery click. Truck stuff is listed below. Rock it back and forth in gear, motor turns on bump and BAM,,, it starts like there is no issue. Tried jumping it at the coil, no prob. So I'm assuming its the key switch in the column. Just check with you all for opinions, is this common, is there a fix...

88 4Runner
22RE 5 speed
lifted 6" on 33" BFG Mud's

Chip N Sawbones

Have you tried cleaning your battery posts and cable ends? Mix a spoonful or two of baking soda in a cup of water. Disconnect the battery and soak the cable ends in the baking soda solution for a few minutes each and pour some over the battery terminals. Take an old knife or scraper and scrape any remaining corrosion off the terminals and cable ends so you've got nice bright metal to make an electrical connection.

Cobra 19 & 54

Thank you, but that's not it, I'll take a pic but the battery posts are clean as the day it rolled off the showroom floor. Even gold plated connections for anti corrosion are on them. It's gotta be in the column switch... maybe

Chickenman

How is the power wire to your solenoid. Mine gets oiled up sometimes and needs to be cleaned off and itll start like a charm once I do that.

Chip N Sawbones

It could be the switch on the clutch pedal bracket that only lets you start the truck with the clutch in. Strip some insulation off the wires going to the switch and connect them together with a short bit of wire. I never liked that switch anyhow so I just took it out completely and spliced the wires together.

a4runnerfreak

The brushes in the starter could be worn down to the point where they aren't making contact. The next time that happens, try bangin on the starter a few times and then try to start it. If it is the brushes, they are in-expensive to buy, and fairly easy to replace, but you will will have to drop the starter to replace them.

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

I have never had the electrical part of the ignition switch go bad.

Lock cylinders another story.

I am leaning more toward the starter contacts .

Then with electrical it could be as simple as bad ground cables.

I forget when the changed the starter circuit to get battery voltage direct to the solenoid .

RAD4Runner

When you turn ignition switch to "IGN" anything? Seatbelt reminder buzz? Check engine light, etc momentarily coming on?
Obviously, like you said, when you put in START you get nothing.

How do you jump at the coil? You mean check for spark? I doubt that you'll find the problem at the ignition coil section.

P.O. says not even a "click" so not likely it's a clutch safety switch. However, one can rule that out by simply using the Clutch Safety Cancel switch.

PO said, "Not even the annoying dead battery click," so don't mess with the starter, yet. First make sure power is getting to ignition switch, starter relay then to starter solenoid. See starting system explained in my sig.

Correct.
However, even if the truck has a starter relay, Toyota's wiring still subjects "Start" contact to high (approx 14 amps) current needed to energize the starter solenoid, so after some time contacts could go bad.

Concur, all power connections and fuses, of course.

Based on KidVermicious' thread on 4Runner Forum, Toyota added the starter relay in mid-86's. However, it was not done right (See my wiring "Flaw" post)