2006 Tundra New Starter Installed

My 2006 SR5 Access Cab Tundra (185k) is getting a new starter and the tech is now not able to start the truck after a new starter was installed. It’s just clicking he says.

Now he is pulling it all back apart and seeing what the issue is. He says it’s a bad starter or perhaps a bad ignition switch.

Any ideas what the issue could be? Any help would be appreciated.

 

Was the truck starting before this?

What brand of starter did he use? (Aftermarket are notorious for being dead straight out of the box on these trucks, for whatever reason)

The ignition switches almost never fail. It's not your issue here.

Also, what cab type is the truck? (it matters)

 

Yes the truck did start when tow truck picked it up and when he dropped it off, but it was struggling and acting weird.

It’s at Toyota so I assume an OEM starter is being installed.

Access Cab.

 

Wild, not sure what to say, but if it was cranking when it went to the dealer, and it's not cranking now, it's the responsibility of the dealer to return the truck to you starting, as it was when it arrived?

 

Couple other details if applicable:

Lately the last few times it started I noticed a delayed response to the key being turned. I recall turning the key and a couple seconds later it started.

One morning I went to leave and it didn’t start at all. The tow truck guy arrived, we pushed it out of the driveway and suddenly it started. Then, started again at the drop off for the tow truck.

 

I'd be curious to see if you've got water leakage into the in-dash fusebox. (pics & pics & pics)

Any other weird symptoms you noticed in the past?

Any codes?

It's not immobilizer related, you have an AC, immob was only in DC if I recall.

But again, they diagnosed a starter as the issue. They replaced the starter. They've obviously done work on the truck that wasn't required, which also means they didn't diagnose correctly. That's on them.

 

The way you describe the symptoms sounds more like bad battery, cables, connections, or possibly ECU. Could be starter contacts as well, but the new starter should have solved that.

 

IIRC, the VVTi versions of the engine also have a ground under the intake manifold, I think for the starter.

I believe that's what I'm circling here in the pics I took with snake-cam under my intake recently, the silver thing at the top of the pic is the starter, and the iron in brown below it is the valley/block. Something as stupid as not cleaning and properly securing that ground would potentially do it. But I'd be shocked if the tech missed that. I'm pretty sure in the later years, this ground, and the ground from back of block to the firewall are pretty crucial But that said, I had OP's same symptoms when I changed terminals and I didn't crank the positive terminal down ultra tight (only "very tight").

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Could be the starter relay, quick easy swap, even just to rule it out as the culprit.