07 Sequoia has trouble starting on occasion

[Rusto]

My wife's '07 Sequoia with about 140,000 miles on it won't start from time to time.

Turn the ignition to start and it "click, click, click"s. And if I try it a couple of more times it slows down like it's killing the battery.
It will then take a jump and starts right up with one of these things, which are amazing - Halo Battery Jump Starter sometimes it takes two tries, but this thing works better than my trickle/fast charge/75A plug in charger/booster.

Before I replace the starter (which is NOT easy on the 4.7, as I'm sure you know. WHO PUTS A STARTER UNDER THE INTAKE MANIFOLD!!!) I want to run through what I've done, get your thoughts on what else it could be, and try the easy stuff first.

I've -

• cleaned the batter terminals and connections
• checked the starter relay (it's good)

What else could it be? I'm having some issues with the VSC / Traction Control being overly sensitive (and the light just came on yesterday) but I don't think it's related.

Thoughts?

 

[ed m]

did you do a load test on the battery, if its older they tend to go bad with cold temps, as for the vac and traction control light, they'll come on if your CEL is left un checked too,

 

[Rusto]

I'll definitely check the battery today, but I think Autozone did a load test on it. I'll check the alternator as well. Really don't want to change the starter unless I'm certain that is the issue.

And the VSC and Traction Control has been messed up for a while. But that's a story for a different thread...

 

[Rusto]

Checked the battery and the alternator. Battery was 12.08 Volts at rest. When cranking dropped to 9.85V then when running at 14.
Those numbers lead me to believe that battery is fine and so is the alternator, yes?

 

[CarterB341]

I don't think it is your starter. I sold my 2004 sequoia at 251,000 miles with the original starter working perfectly. Both of the first gen sequoias I have owned have had weird starting glitches where they will stutter and not start until you cycle the key and try again. I have heard about these engines having startup enrichment problems when the MAF sensor is dirty. I would start with cleaning the MAF since that is cheap and easy before you take your intake off to replace your starter.

 

[Rusto]

This keeps getting worse and won't start unless it's jumped when it does have issues. I'll clean the MAF (thanks for the tip), but I think it's more than that. She does a lot of short trips around town so more starts than normal for the mileage, but I'm surprised it's having issues too.

I'll probably order pick up a starter anyway, and have it reserve if the MAF sensor clean doesn't do the trick.

 

[Jgrauman]

your battery is dead. resting voltage is too low, a good battery should maintain 12.6 or higher fully charged. This has nothing to do with MAF. Get a new battery

 

[Rusto]

Got a new battery. Time for a new one anyway. I hope I was just overthinking it. I would have thought that 12.08 wouldn't be a big enough difference from 12.6, but it's worth a shot.
Cleaning the MAF is easy enough. I''ll do that too as my engine compartment is extremely dusty...

The Missus had to drive my 60 today as it wouldn't start.. New battery it fired right up. We'll see if it lasts.... at least it staves it off for a while.
And sure my better half looks hot driving the Beast, but that's my daily driver!!

I'll post up resting and under load volts here in a bit as a comparison and hopefully won't have to do anything else but check back here in a few months to say the new battery was it

Thanks all,

Russ

 

[Rusto]

Looks like the battery was it. So far so good anyway. voltage at rest is 12.76. Amazing what a small percentage of improvement on a battery will do for you.

It helps to not overthink things. The VSC sensor was acting up because one of the tires was really low. (sensor broke in one tire a long time ago, so that sensor doesn't tell us anything)