Any Thoughts on Another New Member's Crank No Start Condition?

background: For a number of months the truck would do absolutely nothing when I turned the key unless I stomped on the brake. Ive only had the truck a year next week so I sort of felt this was some sort of safety switch going bad, and because the 2001 AC, 4.7 always started after a kick or two to the brake pedal, I never concerned myself with investigating. I try and keep life's burdens to a minimum. In September I was rolling at highway speeds, cruise control on, and I began a slight ascent up a hill. The Tachometer went nuts, redline, to zero, redline zero again, at the time i was in shock but in retrospect I dont believe the rpms really were doing that i think thats just hat the signal said. Then it died and I rolled to the side of the road. I had codes for throttle position sensor, cam and crank sensor. I replaced them all. Still, nothing Strong crank, no start. At subsequent checks of the obd I got other codes, throttle body wiring, and two others that have since gone away just as the throttle wiring one has. Still though no spark. I came here. I read. I learned about the timing belt rewire scenario. sure enough, I had a nick in the harness. repaired it. still nothing, but it sounds closer to starting. Im kinda pissed at this point so a take a deep breath. It didnt help. I adjusted the tps, and made sure i hadnt f'd up the other two sensors. still nothing. then i think, "shit, i bet the nicked wiring harness caused the whole thing and the original crank sensor wasnt even bad" so i checked it and it wasnt. So i went ahead and began taking the new one off and putting the old on back on. Well the damn clip that the crank sensor goes to was kinda siezed and i got mad and really gave it something and my splice came apart. It was then that i noticed inside the blue wire cover that carries the two wires to the crank sensor there is a third strand of bare, very dull looking metal. Its totally bare, no insulation at all. So i have the two wores that go to the crank sensor and the other wire that goes to my oil something sensor and this bare wire. Do any of you know what the heck that wire is and where it should go? i dont see it anywhere on the diagrams or in videos. This is info i really need, and if you all toyota brains have any other clues for me (preparing for this fix not to work either) Id love to hear them. .Of course, i keep yuou all updated about what happens. thanks!

 

Pics?

 

yes, but also no. I will take a couple and post them shortly

 

what you see here is the harness that leads to the crank sensor. you see the striped wire that goes to the oil...something down there as well. So we have the two wires for the crank sensor and the additional wire for the other sensor...what is that raw strand? where does it go?? Is it possible that it is a strong member that is weaved into the harness to keep the wires from pulling out of their terminal places? like if someone pulls on the harness like i did, that cable will prevent the harness from stretching so far that the wires are damaged? im going to put the crank back in with that wire going nowhere, and see what happens.

 

my strong crank no start persists. it occasionally stumbles onto a few fires in a row, enough to where I think "its gonna run" then....nothing. really feeling defeated here. any suggestions, any at all, except for "maybe the fuel filter" will be appreciated. thanks.

 

Maybe the fuel filter?

I'm sorry, I had to. Yeah, that's very strange because even the connector on rock auto only shown 2 wires.

 

That wiring is a disaster. Need to start over and get a new end from Toyota or a junkyard and do a proper repair on it. The signal coming through these wires is very voltage dependent. Incorrect splicing can interfere with that. Same goes for O2 sensors and the like. Stick with factory harness.

 

This. 100%. Crank position harness is a shielded wire to boot, IIRC, its shielded for a reason. You shouldn’t just be splicing shit together in there.

 

ok, but still no one can tell me what that bare strand would go to? This is that factory harness so butt connecting two segments of the same wire shouldnt really be a problem, unless im missing something. and yeah, there is only two wires that go to the cranks sensor. another single wire to the oil sensor and the bare strand accompanied them all but has an unknown destination. thats my question. If anyone has any other ideas, like a relearn proceure or whatever, please let me know. Thanks

 

@chroma, I am not an expert on 1st Gens like @shifty` is, but I am an electrical engineer. It is never a good idea to splice two ends of wire together for a voltage dependent signal wire with wire nuts. There is a slight voltage loss at any sharp point of a wire, and the ends of the wires connected in a wire-nutted splice have several sharp points in the wire. That can throw your voltage signal off enough to cause problems. If you have no access to a replacement harness, you can splice the wires by merging the strands end-to-end, then soldering the connection to a smooth finish. If done well, there is no voltage loss.

 

Not only that, but shielded wires are shielded for a reason, and last time I checked, the CP sensor wiring is shielded. Not saying that’s the problem here, but …

 

To solve your broken bare wire mystery, here's some pics of various (non-OEM) CPS that have a bare grounding wire.

 

Wait ... @chroma are we talking about crankshaft position sensor wiring or camshaft position wiring? There's a difference...

Crankshaft position sensor uses shielded wiring, I don't know if/think camshaft position sensor does, at least not in the last leg.

 

This guy had the same issue with his crank sensor wires

https://www.tundras.com/threads/tundra-in-stress-need-help-with-wiring.14476/

 

Wiring diagram shows:
red green to Crank sensor
Yellow black and ground (which could be the bare wire?) to oil pressure switch

 

We are talking crankshaft sensor for sure, although i replaced the cam sensor as well ahaha, "throwing parts a problem" as I've heard it said. .i read that thread about tundra in stress. His problem is similar to mine but still different. I have the red wire and the green wire and the yellow/blk wire. The two crank sensor wires come out of a larger, shielded blue casing with a light copper strand and the bare wire I am trying to figure out a destination for. I am going to get a new connector as i learned upon closer examination that the connector is not viable, one of you said to do that, thank you~ However, when looking at the connector it appears as though the bare wire that is a mystery was pinned in to the green side of that connector. Is this a possibility? I am still having a crank no start and every other thing has been figured. Until i find a home for where that bare strand terminates I cant justify a deep dive into the ecu. Thanks so much, any other tidbits and id love to hear them. Thanks!!!

 

Ahhh, this is one of those days I wish The King (@BubbaW) was floating around.

 

The it appears the bare wire would go between shield and ground through j19

 

Have you checked the ecm for any codes?