Nik

Hey everyone, this 4runner that I bought has been plagued with problems. Just finished my HG replacement and now the starter wont even engage when i go to start the car. No clicking, nothing. Just silence. I have a full charge in my battery, all my dash lights come on when i turn the key. It was working fine when I was trying to start it this morning, but the battery died before the car would fire. I threw a battery charger on there, and when it was charged i went to go start it and this problem showed up. Whenever I try to start it the alarm will randomly beep a few times too, and will randomly give out 5 or 6 beeps even when the key is not in it and im out of my car. What gives???? Im at whits end here, this is my daily driver and has not been working for 2 months now, I have had no way to get to town to look for a job this entire time and i am now out of money. I need to get this thing on the road ASAP, please help!

Nik

now the alarm is always going off if I have the battery connected. I'm about to light this car on fire

scope103

It takes about 100 times as much power to turn the starter as it does to light the dash lights, so that tells you little. If the battery is weak, you could give it a full charge but it won't be enough to turn the starter.

Start by putting your voltmeter on the battery when someone turns the key. If the voltage doesn't change, the solenoid in the starter is not closing. If the voltage drops a long way (8 volts or less), there isn't enough charge in the battery to start it.

And to get to town, you can always hook up with your local Tart!

justin_4runner

ok so first go and see what kind of alarm it is, go to google and put that make and model in and u will find the manual for it, u will need to find the small button placed somewhere under the dash and push the button in as u are turning the key, this will put it in learning mode. when in it u should be able to turn the alarm off and by pass the relay on the start wire that is not kicking over the starter due to the alarm not letting it do so.

Inu

Try disconecting neg terminal wait a min. With somone in the car have them hold key in start position then quickly install neg terminal. This starts the truck before the aftermarket alarm can kill the starter. After that should be fine.

FlamingToast

What Inu suggested may work but I would definitely do what scope suggested. If you dont see a voltage drop when turning the key the starter isn't getting signal to engage. If this is an aftermarket alarm and the starter isnt engaging it is probably an issue with the the alarm being triggered causing the starter kill relay to prevent power to the starter solenoid. This could actually be bypassed by putting a jumper from the starter wire input on the alarm to the starter wire output.

As an addition note, a lot of alarms factory and aftermarket look at battery voltage, so if voltage is to low the alarm will be triggered. The factory alarm on my Lincoln LS was this way. With a weak battery and cold weather the voltage would be to low and it would prevent the car from cranking and set off the alarm. After the battery replacement all was well.

I hope that made some sense I may have had a couple to many drinks tonight.

Nik

The voltage does not drop when i engage the starter because the alarm is preventing me from engaging the starter. I found the plastic button under the dash right above the parking brake release and have tried holding while turning to ACC and then OFF, turning on ACC then pressing the button once and then back to OFF, nothing has worked. The alarm is still perpetually going off and has been for a week. I disabled the speaker so my neighbors dont cut me up in my sleep and so I dont go deaf trying to fix this thing. I called toyota and they were about as much help as asking a homeless man. The speaker says it is a DEI (who makes Viper) 544N model and I cant find any manuals on the web for that model. Any other routes I should try taking? Short of towing the damn thing to the dealer and paying an arm and a leg and a teste?

scope103

I would guess your best option is to get rid of that alarm. Trying to find a manual, re-learn it, fix the wiring, etc. just doesn't seem worth it. Besides; the truck is 23 years old. Not that much of a theft risk.

You found the speaker; the rest of the box can't be that hard to find. I'm going to guess it's as simple as looking for the factory wires that were cut (e.g, the wires to the starter solenoid) and spliced into wires from the alarm. Hook those back together, and you should be good.

FlamingToast

Like I said jumper the starter wire or repair it entirely.

Should be the black wire in the ignition harness. It would have been cut with one end going to the starter input on the alarm and the other going to the output side of the alarm.

The number you found on the speaker doesn't tell you what alarm you have as they can be used on many different alarms. The model number will be on the brain which should be a rectangular black box hidden somewhere under the dash. DEI also makes avital, clifford, python, etc.

FlamingToast

I pulled mine apart to get a pic of the wire I'm talking about



This wire that is circled was cut someplace and each end of the wire was then connected to the wires on the alarm. If you're planning on getting rid of the alarm completely you can just cut the alarm connections and splice in a new wire or add a jumper wire going from each end of the black wire where it was cut. This wire was most likely cut just before or after the black connector you see in the picture. It could have been cut in a different area but this would have been by far the easiest area to do it so check here first.

Nik

Thank you toast! Your a saint, this was exactly the kind of help I was needing. Ill dive into it tomorrow after work and see if i can lay this damn thing to rest, I really wanna be able to drive again haha.

FlamingToast

Glad I can give back to this forum in some way. If you have any questions when you're working on it tomorrow then post in this thread and I should be able to respond right away. I'll have access to wiring diagrams at my work tomorrow as well.

Nik

Ok I had some time to rip my dash apart today and found the brain of the alarm system, unplugged it, and halle ˟˟˟˟˟˟˟ luya problem solved. Now it wont start, I have the timing advanced 10 degrees BTDC, jumper between te1 and e1, getting spark, but that damn thing wont start. I smell rich exhaust coming from the pipe tho, so at least a tiny bit of fuel is being burned so im pretty sure my mixture is screwed. Any ideas? looking into more in depth for the next 2 hours or so

RSR

I have an older Viper on my 93 and it was just acting up recently too. I was fiddling with the battery and apparently jiggled something in its positive power line loose, and it started going off... So I pulled the in line fuse, and truck still runs perfectly. Guess I'm lucky in that respect -- not sure what it says about the alarm however (PO had it installed).

Not sure of your issue, but you can always buy a new viper alarm with "free install" and force Best Buy or whatever alarm company you buy it from to troubleshoot the issue for you.

It definitely sounds like it's an alarm or wiring issue.

If not the alarm, did you disconnect your positive and negative wires from the battery before charging? If you didn't, it could've fried something. Start checking fuses and relays...

Nik

That's a good idea, honestly tho I could care less about having an alarm. I didn't even know I had one until it went off when I was messing with it. I live in a small town in the mountains, not a whole lot of car theft to worry about up here. I checked all the fuses and nothing is blown, unplugging the little computer for the alarm under my dash solved the problem enough for me. My starter engages again and that's all I care about. Damn thing still wont start tho, I think it might be vacuum hoses in the wrong spots. Triple checking on that today.

Jake_D

Try taping the starter with a hammer or something, then try to start it again. Sometimes the starter will get stuck.

FlamingToast

I install these for Best Buy and I think your suggestion is horribly dishonest. It should also be obvious that the basic install isn't going to cover fixing your vehicle before installing the alarm.

Anyways the alarm issue is no longer important since his starter is now engaging. Its time to pull out the FSM and see what it says about trouble shooting a no start, engine cranking issue. I'm assuming since you listed your timing that you've checked it with a timing light so that should be fine. Have you checked for spark on every wire? Are there any CEL codes? Maybe check that the plugs are wet after cranking. If you have a multimeter check the AFM according to the FSM.

I just want to make clear again that the alarm should no longer be an issue if the starter is cranking.

Nik

The truck is running and driving great but my headlights and windows dont work?? In the process of going through electrical but i cant find anything wrong yet

Scrussanation

when you say your headlights dont work does that include you interior dash lights, running lights blinkers etc

Nik

Yep my dash lights go out and all of my windows besides the drivers dont work. turn signals and brake lights work fine tho. the lights will only work if i hold the turn signal switch backward, i have to hold it down to keep the lights on and only the brights work