I apologize if this is a dumb question.

I'll post the question first, and the explanations second...to save some time.

Q: What is the likelihood that adding another ground wire to an apparent existing one caused my inability to start?

The runner was able to start and drive fine after this was done. This morning is when the trouble arose.

I was routing some wires in the engine bay last night for some aux lights. I unplugged nothing in the engine bay. I was simply routing some wires which were not connected to anything. The only thing that I did was unplug the negative terminal on the battery in case I would've started messing with things.

I DID unscrew one screw that looks like it held a couple ground wires. I attached another ground which connects to a relay and a switch. This is the only wire connected to either the relay or switch currently. The picture below is not of my engine bay, but one I found on the net since I didn't have time to take a pic, but circled is the screw I loosened to add the additional ground. All my electronics come on with the key in, the key turns, battery HAS power, but nothing cranks. Additionally, the key stays locked in there unless I undo the negative battery terminal.

I didn't have a chance to reverse what I did this morning due to time.

EDIT: When I plugged the negative terminal back on last night, my car started and I was able to drive the 2 miles back home. IT was this morning that the issue arose, as I was leaving for work
1994 V6 auto

 

Maybe a fuse (EFI?), but I wont know until I get home.

 

Corodes battery terminals/cables?

 

Thanks for the reply man. The posts looked good, I gave the a good rub off too. The clamps are new as of a few months ago. The cables may be what's wrong, but they worked fine before. I'll check in a few hours when I get home. I have yet to try kicking the wheel a few times. Curse words didn't work either.

 

Did you actually check the battery this morning? Maybe you caused a parasitic drain somewhere and the battery discharged overnight.

Setting up another ground cable should not cause a problem. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that Toyota made these trucks ground switched instead of power switched like pretty much every other electronic device. I am not sure if that matters, but maybe it will help you figure out your problem.

 

I just visually checked the battery, which isnt much. All my clocks, radio, lights, gauges work. Again, my car started right up last night after the battery had been unplugged for a couple hours. I was able to drive home. I'll be home in an hour and start checking things.

 

Aha, my dear Watson! A clue!

WHEN does the key stay locked in the ignition switch? When the transmission is in Reverse (or anywhere other than Park or Neutral). http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...55shiftloc.pdf Can you start the truck with the transmission in Reverse?

You probably have a problem with your Park-Neutral switch; at least intermittently it thinks the transmission is NOT in Park. Whether your fooling with the ground connection has anything to do with that is unknown to me, but I sure know where I'd start looking.

P.S. This is a good example of why carefully reporting what you see is so important.

 

It was the apparent sensor I connected my ground wire to. I relocated my ground wire and it started immediately following this. Thanks for all the help.

But yes, the engine won't start if you're in drive. I noticed that when trying it.