*** Restricting New Posts to SD Premium Members ONLY *** (09 May 2025)
Just made a new account? Can't post? Click above.
Help us help you. By posting the year, make, model and engine near the beginning of your help request, followed by the symptoms (no start, high idle, misfire etc.) Along with any prevalent Diagnostic Trouble Codes, aka DTCs, other forum members will be able to help you get to a solution more quickly and easily!
2013 Toyota Tacoma 4.0 - Hard start when cold
- fixn_junk
-
Topic Author
- Offline
- Senior Member
-
Less
More
- Posts: 55
- Thank you received: 3
3 years 7 months ago #54208
by fixn_junk
2013 Toyota Tacoma 4.0 - Hard start when cold was created by fixn_junk
Customer states that the engine cranks extremely long before starting when cold or will not start if quite cold. I don't have ambient temp range but it's not subzero. He also states that it has progressively gotten worse, not an instant onset. It was about 55 F in the shop this morning and upon initial attempt to start it fired, stuttered and died. I immediately cranked again and it fired up almost instantly. I have the following codes:
P0430 Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold (Bank 2)
P0300 Random/Multiple Cylinder Misfire Detected
P1604 Startability Malfunction
My initial thought given the symptoms and codes is catalytic converter but it doesn't dog out when I stomp on it, but it doesn't seem overly snappy either. When it is warm it starts up fine. At low idle it has a slight stutter to it. I have freeze frame data for P0430 and some live data snapshots I will try to attach, low idle no load, 3000 rpm, cruising at about 2000 rpm, full load. It's a manual transmission so my "full load" file is with me skipping a couple gears and holding it to the floor.
This is an area I am not very knowledgeable about diagnosing. I have watched the videos on the plugged exhaust and don't seem to have many similarities. It seems to me if there was some back pressure on the exhaust it could cause cylinder flooding in cold conditions which would cause hard starting. This has 4 cats, 2 on each side. The front cat on each side is welded to the exhaust manifold with a sensor before and after on each. Then there is a second cat on each side bolted to the backside of the first cat. The left bank tees into the exhaust pipe behind the second cat on the right side so both banks are independent only sharing a pipe and muffler. The front O2 sensors are not easy to get at and I am hoping not to have to drill holes, but will if need be.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I do have the ability to graph with my scan tool, I just need to relearn myself how to do it as I haven't done it in quite a while. I am using AutoEnginuity and can provide more data if needed.
P0430 Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold (Bank 2)
P0300 Random/Multiple Cylinder Misfire Detected
P1604 Startability Malfunction
My initial thought given the symptoms and codes is catalytic converter but it doesn't dog out when I stomp on it, but it doesn't seem overly snappy either. When it is warm it starts up fine. At low idle it has a slight stutter to it. I have freeze frame data for P0430 and some live data snapshots I will try to attach, low idle no load, 3000 rpm, cruising at about 2000 rpm, full load. It's a manual transmission so my "full load" file is with me skipping a couple gears and holding it to the floor.
This is an area I am not very knowledgeable about diagnosing. I have watched the videos on the plugged exhaust and don't seem to have many similarities. It seems to me if there was some back pressure on the exhaust it could cause cylinder flooding in cold conditions which would cause hard starting. This has 4 cats, 2 on each side. The front cat on each side is welded to the exhaust manifold with a sensor before and after on each. Then there is a second cat on each side bolted to the backside of the first cat. The left bank tees into the exhaust pipe behind the second cat on the right side so both banks are independent only sharing a pipe and muffler. The front O2 sensors are not easy to get at and I am hoping not to have to drill holes, but will if need be.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I do have the ability to graph with my scan tool, I just need to relearn myself how to do it as I haven't done it in quite a while. I am using AutoEnginuity and can provide more data if needed.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- ontheriver
-
- Offline
- Premium Member
-
Less
More
- Posts: 127
- Thank you received: 16
3 years 7 months ago #54217
by ontheriver
Replied by ontheriver on topic 2013 Toyota Tacoma 4.0 - Hard start when cold
Have you pulled a spark plug? ,big gap? Is the maf clean? And what about a cycling of the key a few times before cranking on a cold start to see if you have fuel pressure leak down
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- fixn_junk
-
Topic Author
- Offline
- Senior Member
-
Less
More
- Posts: 55
- Thank you received: 3
3 years 7 months ago #54335
by fixn_junk
Replied by fixn_junk on topic 2013 Toyota Tacoma 4.0 - Hard start when cold
Thank you for your reply. I just got back on this thing at the end of last week and teed in a fuel pressure gauge. Running I have just under 42 psi, which is what pro demand says it should be. I shut it off and it immediately dropped a couple psi and held there. I monitored it for about 15 minutes with no drop. I left it overnight and it dropped to 22. If I understand the spec on pro demand correctly it should not drop below 21. I started it up and it returned to 42 but after shutting down the pressure dropped to 0 almost immediately. I repeated this about three times with the same result. This morning I started it and after shutting it off the pressure dropped to 10 in about 30 seconds. The other thing I noticed is the fuel pump does not run when I turn the ignition on. The fuel pressure does not start to build until I begin cranking. Is the fuel pump responsible for maintaining fuel pressure with the ignition off?
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- ontheriver
-
- Offline
- Premium Member
-
Less
More
- Posts: 127
- Thank you received: 16
3 years 7 months ago #54336
by ontheriver
Replied by ontheriver on topic 2013 Toyota Tacoma 4.0 - Hard start when cold
You are correct, I was wrong, it is a crank,prime system, but those results are a issue, book says it should hold pressure for 4 minutes with no drop
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
- fixn_junk
-
Topic Author
- Offline
- Senior Member
-
Less
More
- Posts: 55
- Thank you received: 3
3 years 7 months ago #54337
by fixn_junk
Replied by fixn_junk on topic 2013 Toyota Tacoma 4.0 - Hard start when cold
Thanks for the input. I got my head stuck on the codes and was going the wrong direction. I rigged a valve between the pump supply and my gauge. I shut the valve off while the pressure was dropping, and it continued to drop. I suspect an injector issue, which could also explain a hard start at colder ambient temp and maybe my catalyst efficiency code.
Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.
Time to create page: 0.350 seconds