I have a 95 4Runner. Replaced the starter and battery and am not getting any starting action. Turn the key on and the ABS cycles, I can hear a click at the fuse box in the engine compartment but when I turn the ignition to start I get nothing. If I hold the key in the start position I'm getting a short from somewhere on the firewall.

The rig has been sitting for a couple years and started and ran before it was stored.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

Mice got to it. Probably some wires munched trough.

 

i didn't understand how you knew you have a short @ firewall (blown fuse?). but that seems like an obvious problem and mice seem like a reasonable explanation. my friend's dad had that issue with his scout -- repeatedly, until he painted his wires with pepper extract.

as a means to divide the possibilities you can disconnect the ignition wire from the distributor and hold it 1/2" from the engine block, have someone turn the key for a very short moment and see if you get a arc. you can move the wire away as soon as you see the spark rather than waiting for your friend to let off the key. try not to be grounded when you do it! a spark will wake you up quick but won't hurt you (high volts but not enough amperage to be deadly; i've been shocked once myself). you can repeat with a spark plug wire to check the distributor/rotor too. then at least you know where to look next.

a short sounds bad though, i'd start there!