03 S/C tundra slow to start

[marcus.md]

Hey guys/gals- I searched for an appropriate thread, but couldn't really find one, so I'm starting a new one.
Obviously- I'm needing some advice.
My dealership did some work on my pickup @ the end of July. About 2 weeks later, it would have a little trouble starting- just a slightly slower start than normal. That persisted and eventually got worse: I would turn the key, and the engine would turn over a couple of times- maybe 8, then stop turning over, sounded like it was just dead, then begin to turn over again, weakly. At that point, I'd pump the gas pedal and it would finally roar to a start.
After that happened for about a month, I took it back to the dealership (late September). The attendant immediately declared that it sounded like I needed a new battery- I was skeptical because there were not really any signs of that other than a slow start. They replaced it, I paid the prorated amount, and the engine started at about the same "slow" speed as when this problem began.
Exasperated sigh. I drove off thinking that maybe the engine would need to recalibrate a little, so I gave it a week. No change.
I called the same attendant and took it back that following Friday (1 week). He indicated that he would fast track my service and call me as soon as he knew anything. An hour and a half later, I called him, and he said he had no idea what was going on and would go find the tech that was working on it and find out. Another hour and a half later, I call him again.

The nuts and bolts of this post:
He explains that there are 2 problems: a) I need a new throttle body- coolant's getting leaked into the engine; b) There's a "pipe" or "tube" (later says it's a FIPG) in the engine that carries coolant that's leaking coolant into the engine. By this time, he's dawdled around long enough that he can't call the warranty company to find out if it's covered bc it's already 4:35pm, so they won't be there and his hands are tied until he can get authorization from them on Monday (how convenient for him).

He tells me that he could have the work done probably by midday Tuesday. He calls me back on Wednesday. He tells me that problem A is covered under warranty- no problem. Problem B is NOT covered by warranty and requires removal of supercharger to gain access to it (supercharger is TRD, installed by Toyota, it was on the truck when I bought it and the fact that the extended warranty covered it was a huge selling point). The actual problem/part will cost $300 to fix, but they have to charge me $1200 to remove and replace the supercharger. $300 problem quickly becomes $1500.

I kindly tell him "Thanks, please just do the warranty work". I ask for a written estimate for the other problem. I take my truck to my regular repair shop, and explain to them what the guy @ dealership told me. He tells me he'll look into it. I didn't talk to him about the slow starting b/c I was still just focused on this absurd cost to r/r my supercharger.
A few hours later, my mechanic calls me back. He says that they're finding no coolant leaks and that the coolant system is holding pressure. He can't find anything wrong with it. It is still starting slowly.
Does anyone have ANY insight on this problem? I've got 1800 miles left on my extended warranty (that i bought from the dealership when I bought my truck there). I've got 11 payments left on my truck. I'd love to keep this thing forever.

Any help is GREATLY appreciated.

Marcus

[duffyatkinson]

Now THIS is the kind of problem that these forums are made for!

You have the dealer on one hand saying that the problem is X and the cost is $Gazillion. You choke on the number, shake your head in disgust, and, out of desperation, contact a trusted local independent mechanic who, within a few hours, debunks the dealer's diagnosis as hogwash. Really makes you wanna take a flamethrower to the dealer service bay!

Your problem really sounds like it is electrical in nature, but, with the supercharger involved, I would just be guessing.

I'm going to follow this one to conclusion!

Good luck my friend!

[Donda]

What did the dealer do to it in July?

[marcus.md]

Thank you for your support. It sounds, to me, like it's in the starter. I'm certainly no gearhead or mechanic, but the symptoms appeared somewhat abruptly, are persistent, degraded only to a particular degree and then remained. I think that this indicates that a component is broken, has yet to fail, but will do so imminently. I think the dealership was just trying to hold me over the coals for a more expensive repair and keep the warranty out of everything.
However, as I said, I'm not an expert.
Marcus

[Donda]

Marcus,

Was this the same dealer you took it to at the end of July? What did they do to it then? Is it all somehow connected? You wrote it started acting up not too long after you got it back from the dealer in July.

[BamZipPow]

Did they touch the starter? The supercharger belt? Remove any grounds? As Donda stated...it would help to know what they did to yer truck the first time...

[RLloyd]

Sounds like the starter, I also have a 2002 SC Tundra from Day one with no miles bought it new. Has always started hard, like the starter needed to work harder turning over the motor. I put on a gel cell right away and it seemed to help. It might be too late for yours. Good luck. The starter is under the intake or blower in your case, thats why a $300 part is $1,200.

[tundrunk]

i would guess the starter is having trouble too. with the supercharger it has to work harder to spin the motor. you know the s/c takes a little horsepower to spin and that translates to your starter working harder to do its job. and im not sure but id imagine that before it fires up, the s/c could cause some restriction for the incoming air that your motor needs. not a lot of restriction but you know every little bit hurts. do any supercharged members(im jealous) have any feedback on this?

[ICON]

It sure sounds like the starter isn't getting enough voltage to crank the engine over. Assuming the battery is good and the correct amperage is being supplied, i doubt it's the starter itself. It could be an electrical connection or bad ground. Of course this is gonna take some time and troubleshooting, which dealers are not very good at.

Check to make sure you have a battery w/the accurate CCA's that came in the truck originally and you might have to upgrade to a battery w/more CCA's to compensate for the super charger. You can test this by hooking up another good battery to yours and see if that helps. If so, it's a battery or cable issue, but if nothing changes i'd say the problem could lay elsewhere. Leaking coolant makes a engine turn over slowly??? That's a new one.

[hybridtoys]

Leaking coolant may cause the motor to "hydraulic" aka filling the cyl with liquid, "which is nearly uncompressable" and stopping the piston. SO, leaking coolant "could" do that, but it would have to be alot of coolant, quikly. and youd have an ubundance of white smoke aka steam, from the tail pipe, not to mention o2 "engine lights" ..... So almost assuadly not that. If this were an older toy, Id say its slightly out of time, say... to far advanced.... but this one is electronic... SOoooooo thats tricky. I agree with the others that id start with easy electrical stuff. Take a set of jumper cables and clip them around the truck, say one end one the neg post of the batt, one on the engine, or some other good "engine ground" take the red one and attatch it to where the starter housing attatches to the bellhousing and then to the NEG side of the batt or another good ground. The prob is most likely not the starter, as much as it is a bad ground. The point is try a couple of good GOUND locations around the truck to the housing on the starter "be carefull not to ark any terminals on the front of the starter" so stay tward the bellhousing aka tward the back side of the truck.
Also if your VERY carefull, you can take those same jumper cables and use one side, why not red, and run one end to the POS side of the bat and the other to the batt post on the starter, "NOT the Activate circut aka small clipped on wire, nothing really bad will happen, but it will turn the engine over if you put it on the small one. keyed or not". The bat term is big and only should have the batt cable on it. Either way hope that helps
forgot to mention, the fact that it has a supercharger doesnt change the basic operation of the engine, the vains on a super chager dont really pressurize untill off idol, so really that physically wouldnt be it either, there may be a electronic advance due to the supercharger, so this may lead you back to the over advance issue?
Either way DONT LET THEM SCREW YOU! the'll do what ever it takes to not warrenty it, even thow they get paid either way.BTW what was the original work they did?

[vectervp1]

If you have the time and ability you could also have a place like Autozone test both the battery and the starter for you. You'll have to pull them out of the truck and take them in, but they should be able to tell you if either is on its way out.

While your at it, I would also check your battery terminals for any corrosion. Disconnect the terminals and give both the battery post and wire connection a good scrubbing with a wire brush. Check to see if the wires look greenish/white beyond the connector. It could be your cables are just wearing out due to the acid in the battery.

[UnSub]

Since you live in Austin, I would think it would be easy to take it to a different Toyota dealer and let them take care of the problem under the extended warranty. I would not even go into what others have said so your don't accidentally get them going in the wrong direction. Also, the supercharger should not affect your coverage if installed by a Toyota dealer.