We have a 1997 T100 truck that has an alarm system. It would not "turn over" and when my husband tried to "jump start" it, he noticed the terminals were corroded. He used soda and scraped the terminals clean and then rinsed the soda from ther terminal. When he then tried to boost the the battery, the alarm went off. He thought maybe the battery was bad, so he replaced the battery, but still can not start the car. We had the vehicle towed to a local repair shop where they checked the starter, put a new starter on, still will not turn over. I believe the mechanic spoke with Toyota about disarming the alarm. (We have been told by the dealership it was a factory installed, but Toyota Dist. says it's after market alarm). After replacing the starter, battery, still will not turn over. Mechanic thinks it may be the alarm system has the car locked down in "safe" mode. Not sure where to go from here. Someone says we need to have someone "trace" the wiring to see what the alarm has shut down. Any suggestions?
Hello. Welcome to Just Answer. Please allow me to assist you.
Personally, if the vehicle was in my shop, I would be "tracing", and removing the failed aftermarket alarm. The first step is to remove the lower panel under the steering column, and locate the wires that are interfaced with the wires on the ignition switch.
Is this something we can do or do we need to tow it somewhere else. The mechanic says he doesn't do anything with alarms?
Without knowing the type of system installed, or seeing the wiring, it is impossible to accuratly describe what one needs to do exactly.
I would do this:
Remove the lower part of the dash (the plactic above the driver knees
Locate theignition switch and its wiring connector
See if wires are soldered onto any of the wires.
If so, follow those wires until you see a black box of some type.
If mechanically inclined, remove all of the soldered-in wires, and tape up all the connections. In other words, remove the system entirely.
If you cannot operate a soldering gun, I would take it to someone who is qualified to work on electrical wiring
Do you think it is the alarm system that is keeping it from starting?
that is a 50% possibility.
The other 50% might just be a bad ignition switch. That can be checked with a 12 volt testlight
Is that the same thing as a starter?
the testlight? No
The ignition switch is connected to the back side of the cylinder that the key fits into
Is that not connected to the starter? I would have thought they would have checked that if they were looking at replacing the starter.
On the starter, there is a small wire. This wires is connected to the ignition switch. When the ignition switch is turend to Start, the small wire is energized, thusly allowing power to flow into the starter. If the ignition switch is bad, it will not energize this wire. If the alarm is stopping the electricty form getting to the starter form the switch, the starter will not spin. Some people forget this whilst changing starters. It is worth the effort to have the small wire checked for electricity. If there IS electricity, the starter may be bad, new or not
....But it sure does not sound like the alarm is the culprit here
DO you have any other questions for me today?
No I think that's it. Thanks. It sounds like the same thing we have already been told.
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