Help - 2006 Stalled and won’t start

Hello,
I purchased my 2006 Toyota Tundra SR5 in 2018.
It ended up having engine issues and I had to have a valve job done.

Shortly after, I replaced the starter (which sucks because I found out it involves removing a lot of the same stuff as a valve job).

I’ve had issues with the secondary air injection pump, and installed a bypass kit.

I just replaced the 4WD actuator a month ago.

Last night (a snowy one here in michigan) my wife and I were going out. I put the truck in 4WD, and the Ka-Chunk seemed a little more harsh than normal, but I think I may have not let off the glass quick enough. (I’m not sure if this next thing is related, but I thought I’d give some history.)

1/4 mile later, my truck stalled and would not restart. No turn over. No clicking from the starter. Fan and all auxiliary lights came on, but nothing would engage. Battery is good as far as I know (waiting for father in law to come over with a tester).

I towed it home with my wife’s 2009 Honda Pilot.

Can a starter cause the truck to stall?

Is there something special about this 2006 model that is prone to issues?

I’ve looked into this forum before, and it has been helpful. I figured with the number of issues I’ve had, it’s time to become part of the club.
Time to go search the archives.

Cheers!

 

Starter cannot cause to stall. When was the timing belt done last? It needs to be done every 10yr/100k miles and if not done, and snaps, your engine is now a boat anchor. First thing to do is loosen the 10mm bolts on whichever timing cover is easiest to get to, and look to ensure the belt is intact, and inspect for cracks while there UNLESS you know 100% the belt has been done within the last 10yr/100k miles. (Note: Toyota recommends 9yr/90k miles, but we've seen 10yr/100k is perfectly do-able)

If the timing belt was done recently, the other thing that would cause this is if the crank position sensor wiring wasn't properly secured while the timing belt is being done, a pulley will cut through the wire. No valid signal from that sensor will both prevent the fuel pump from delivering fuel, and also - at least per another member experience recently - potentially stop the truck from turning over. Check the wiring harness going to the crank position sensor, on the front of the engine.

Those are the two big things - other than fuel pump failure, which if no symptoms preceded this, I'd be surprised to see - that could cause this. There are more, of course.

I hope, for your sake, you used an OEM (Denso) starter. If not, you may be doing the job again in 10k-20k miles.

Any other maintenance notes?

Did you check for spark? Did you check for fuel pressure?

 

What Shifty said. Did it through any codes?

 

Got gas in it?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AynXoLjYrKc

 

I actually did put gas in it, just to make sure and I got the same nothingness - before it was flatbedded to my old mechanic. (I say “my old Mechanic” because he just referred me to the dealer because he thinks it’a an electrical issue. And that doesn’t seem like something I would expect a mechanic to do. Please correct me if I’m wrong. I’m kind of out in the sticks.)

I’m more of a general contractor when it comes to the vehicle. I will let my father in law know all the information and questions Shifty has given me, and let him decide.

Here’s what the mechanic told me, other than to go to the dealership:
-they changed a fuse for the starter, not the relay. I’ll know which fuse tomorrow (they are closed now).
-The truck started up a bunch of times.
-they drove it down the road just fine until it lost power, gained power, lost power, gained power, lost power and stalled.
-they were able to start it again and get it back to the shop and that’s where it is now.
-they said it did not throw any codes
-They said they did not see anything out of the ordinary.

Currently, I’m waiting to see if another mechanic thinks he may have the ability to diagnose.

 

Sounds like battery cable/terminal issue to me. Its the only thing that will cause a starter not to even click other than something truly strange like a bad ignition switch.

Even a catastrophic broken timing belt and sized engine, will have a starter click if the battery and cables are good.

Clean the terminals, tighten the clamps, wiggle the wires while someone tries to start it.

 

This guy found his crank position sensor prevented both.

As you can see from my side, I'm skeptical. But the reason I'm not going batt cables is because he's saying all lights are on in he vehicle. If the engine seized from timing belt failure, starter would have a hell of a time throwing it over.

This is OP's 1st post, though. The ratio of people whose 1st post is a major problem and they actually bother to reply and/or stick around is maybe 1 in 50. May never hear from them again

 

Oh, you’ll hear from me. I’d be talking to you on the phone if it would help me solve the problem.

I just spoke with a gal at the shop across the street (there are two garages in this town). They have guy that can run through it, but he’s in vacation until next week because, well….it’s Christmas.

if I know they replaced the

 

What happens if you remove the SAIP bypass kit? It kind of sounds like the truck is going into limp mode and then maybe the starter relay is funky from the connection there.

Which bypass kit did you use?

I'd also check cables because the original issue sounds like a loose cable somewhere.

 

Power coming and going (was kinda running) seems like you might have a fuel pump going, filter clogging, or wiring problems related to fuel delivery. Possibly rodent damage to the wiring. Whatever you get figured out, please post the results for the next person.

 

I have not removed the bypass kit.

It is currently driveable after changing the fuse to the starter. So I’m going to buy a box of fuses and drive it 12 miles tomorrow to a mechanic downtown who is willing to look at it. Feel free to let me know if that’s a dumb idea and I should just flatbed it again.

 

As long as you're certain the timing belt has been done (your last post was incomplete), I see no issue with driving it. I would, at least.

 

Thanks. I’ll let you know how it goes everybody.

 

I've found that lights mean nothing with battery cable problems, they can easily be on, drawing a couple amps, while the starter trying to pull a hundred, is totally inoperable.

But it sounds like the issue is something else.

 

Maybe try driving it around tonight in the neighborhood to give it a good shake down first. At least that way if it dies, you're close to home and can tow it with the pilot again.

 

Hey everybody!
Still not fixed. Here’s where we’re at:
-Fuel Pump (or filter) sensor is good
-The EFI #1 breaker can be blown consistently.
—-When in park, engine can rev to max, no problem.
——when the car is in drive, and with the brake down, quick engine acceleration pops the breaker.

Mechanic says it has something to do with the small movement around the motor. Says it’s definitely electrical.
Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

Sounds like one of three things, I'll list in order of easiest to check, through hardest to check:

Short in the fuel pump wiring - check for evidence of rodents chewing on the wiring at the top of the tank (you'll need a mirror and flashlight, probably). Especially if you park outside, soy-based wire casings and the flat spot on top of the tank, perfect nesting place. This is the least-likely-to-be-true item IMO. Alternately, you may want to inspect the wiring going to each injector, wiggle each just to be sure it's secure, but I doubt it's the injector wiring.

Bad fuel resistor - On the '06, this is the silver-finned thing on top of the passenger fender, next to the power steering fluid reservoir. This is hard to explain, but I'll try, and dumb it down so it makes more sense (I HOPE!). You fuel pump has two speeds, depending on what voltage it receives: High and low. Switching between high and low is initiated by your fuel pump relay. The whole purpose of a relay is normally to toggle a circuit between two possible paths. In this case, the fuel pump relay switches between two circuit paths: One sends 12v through a direct circuit to the fuel pump (full voltage = high speed), the other sends voltage through a different circuit which routes through that resistor to 'dumb down' to a lower voltage (lower voltage = low speed), making the pump push less fuel. The 'trip' wire that causes the switch in the relay is basically coming from the ECU. In reality, if the ECU senses you need more fuel, it sends the signal to the relay, and the relay switches the circuit so the pump gets full voltage, i.e. it's pumping full-on. When the extra fuel is no longer needed, the relay trips back to the other circuit, which has that little fuel pump resistor between the relay and pump, and the voltage goes down. My suspicion here is simple: If that resistor was shorting somehow, it could potentially pop the breaker. You can safely bypass the resistor using a jumper, and see if the problem continues, but you shouldn't run this way permanently. If you have a digital multimeter, you could also crack it out, set it to resistance, and measure across the resistor to see if the value you see matches what's in the field service manual (FSM)

Bad or wrong fuel relay - There's always a chance the relay itself is shorting out. If so, check to see if the fuel pump relay is all-original, OEM (Denso or Toyota branded) part. This is not a part you want to replace with a generic, nor something you want to buy on scAmazon/fleaBay/WallyMart's online stores. You want to replace it with a Denso part, ideally. Yes, it will be expensive. This is usually one of those things I'll grab spares of at the junkyard, but there's rarely any of our trucks on the lot, and I haven't been to the JY in at least 12-14 months now.
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I don't disagree with the shop/mechanic. When you're talking about fuses blowing, that's typically (edit: NOT) something mechanical. Something is shorting to ground or spiking voltage/amperage somehow. All three of the above are sort of aiming at electrical-rooted issues that could be happening.

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PS - If you have a DMM/similar meter, and you want to test resistance on the fuel resistor, see this post for details on how, it's really easy to do if you know basic meter operations: https://www.tundras.com/threads/2006-double-cab-fuel-pump-no-power.36822/#post-2962132

Also, here's a visual guide to where the fuel pump resistor is in older and newer trucks, if I'm not mistaken. It looks like THIS, but normally shinier unless you're in salt country. I know for our '06 trucks, 100% certain it's installed between the PS reservoir and airbox, on top of the fender. But this shows the two locations for older and newer trucks:

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Not sure what engine issues prompted the “valve job”. Any chance something got pinched during the “valve job” when putting things back together? Not exactly sure what the valve job entailed (valve covers off? Heads off?) as I’ve not seen that issue come up on here. Sounds current related and it is creating a short situation that pops the fuse under quick acceleration, which you may be able to avoid and keep the fuse from blowing? Also haven’t heard the timing belt status, or if the engine issues and valve job is related to that. Good luck with fixing this!

 

Here are a couple similar issues that ended up being 02 Sensor related...I would check those and their wiring.

https://mechanics.stackexchange.com/questions/55422/efi-fuse-blows-randomly

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/efi-fuse-blowing.608389/

https://www.fixya.com/cars/t19309003-efi_fuse_keeps_blowing_told

https://www.toyotanation.com/thread...iving-last-night-oxygen-sensor.1609810/page-3

 

I’m about to show my mechanic the above links shared by speedtree.
Here’s where I’m at today.

Parts changed/ fuel pump, relays, fuel resistor on passenger wheel house, checked all wiring that we could see. Blows efi 1 fuse only under acceleration in drive.

Fuse does not blow in reverse is the newest information we’ve found out.

 

My 06 stalled on the highway, wouldn't crank over at all. No clicks, nothing. Had it towed home, and checked every fuse in it. I forget what fuse it was (maybe the EFI one?) that was blown. Replaced it, and it fired right up. Drive out of the driveway, it blew again. I found out it was a chafed wire from a heated O2 sensor that was shorting to the frame. Some electrical tape, and it's never blown again.

 

Thanks! We’ll be checking this tomorrow. I’ll let you know how it goes.

 

BTW, it was a loose heat shield that was caused the wire to chafe, then when it vibrated around around it shorted the wire to the frame.

 

Fixed!!
It took the Rain Man of wiring wizardry to find the issue. There were corroded wires somewhere in the firewall, and somewhere else. I’ll share all the notes that were given to me along with the wiring diagrams that he had to look at.

if this can somehow help someone else, that’s great. It’s like reading a different language. That’s why, with everything I’ve learned about what happened, I can best summit up as.…. It was an electrical issue.

 

Mechanic Notes

 

Thanks for posting the update!

 

It sounds like to me:

Alternator replaced, b/c there was some weird voltage drop/amperage increase happening.

After that, it ran, but jumping on gas would blow fuse EFI1. It was clearly something electrical still going on, so he tested unplugging/plugging multiple circuits, lots of EVAP stuff like both O2 sensors, SAIP, MAF, etc. to see if he could isolate the bad circuit without using a meter.

No luck there, so he started to manually trace wiring. He found a fuel-circuit related wire that came through the firewall, then down the kick panel, and through the floor with a really tight bend, and saw signs it'd been rubbing against the body. He isolated three bad wires in that specific bundle, an orange wire for wheel speed sensors, a thick red wire he doesn't know the purpose for, and a black/blue wire he's saying was delivering power to the fuel pump. He mended the wires and grommeted them so they couldn't rub thru again.

He also mentioned the fuel gauge doesn't seem to be working correctly. The fuel gauge is integrated with the fuel pump assembly. You'd need to have him test whether he's seeing any resistance on the sender wire, it's possible it's shorted also, just based on what he found. If not, you'd want to replace the fuel pump with the right Denso unit, specifically.

For hard-to-reach parts like the secondary air injection pump (SAIP), starter, and fuel pump, you really always want to use legit Denso parts, purchased from anywhere legit EXCEPT scAmazon, fleaBay, or WaldoMart due to counterfeit risk. So if you replace the fuel pump, get the proper Denso replacement.

I may not have phoned this one home, but I was right on two accounts: Likely problem with fuel circuit wiring, and clearly an electrical issue. But I would've never guessed the wiring was shorting where it passes thru the cab floor. I presume body/seal rot played a big factor in that one, we don't see rust belt issues like that down here.