But I still think that you'll have the best luck by the antenna as wiggling the key can bring it back, as you've mentioned. It's possible that somewhere along the harness that there's a wire spliced into it for the aftermarket remote start. You may find that you need to try to follow the wiring harness a little way to see if there's an fracture in a wire somewhere else in the circuit. It's actually very easy, I've done it on my truck to replace the one that came with it to one that has an illuminated ring. Alternatively, you could just take a gamble and replace the antenna. If you find a spot that makes the the sound return, you've found your problem. You should be able to wiggle one wire at a time if you're adept. Once you get the hang of it, the technique can be used to find bad solder joints on a circuit board. It also requires a gentle, precise touch and patience.
This is somewhat of an old school technique from back in the days when slapping the TV was used to get it working again, but it's subtler. Then I would gently press on the antenna ring and the wires that are plugged into it listening for the ding to return. Then I would take something non-electrically conductive and narrow, like a plastic toothpick or similar size. If it does ding, wiggle it till it doesn't. If it doesn't, that means there's no communication. Open the door so you can hear it ding, and hope that it doesn't. Put one of the keys in the ignition in the off position. What I would do to try to verify, or narrow it down more so, would be to remove the bottom half of the steering column cover. The additional bit of information of this happening with either key draws my attention to the antenna ring. It doesn't sound to me that it's a mechanical malfunction. I'll be sad to see it go.Ĭlick to expand.I would guess that the "security/immobilizer" aspect of it is the antenna ring and key communication, or in this case, what seems to me to be a lack thereof. Other than that, once it actually starts, it runs perfect. However, none of these actions seem to influence when the truck does or does not want to start.Īre there any diagnostics I can run on the ignition? Hate to pull the dash for an ECU swap if it's just a shoddy cylinder or antenna module. If the doors are open, pushing up stops the door chime, and pushing down makes it chime as expected. If I push the key toward the floor, the light stops blinking. If I put the key in, leave it in OFF and push it upward, the immobilizer light keeps blinking. Second thing I noticed is that the ignition cylinder seems to have spotty electrical connection to the key. Furthermore, I'm worried that if somebody installed a remote start, the immobilizer system might have been messed with in some way that a computer replacement wouldn't solve. Flipping the switch doesn't seem to make a difference. We don't have the remote for it, so we have no idea if it even works. This truck has an AstroStart remote starter installed, with a switch under the dash to turn it on and off. However, there are two wrenches in this plan: My first thought is the TSB# T-SB-0078-09 regarding replacement of the security ECU on the 07-08s.
The shop said there was an immobilizer error code stored. Sometimes it fires up after a few tries, sometimes it's bad enough we have to let it sit for hours before it'll work again. The issue seems to come and go randomly, whether hot or cold. It seems like the typical crank-but-no-fire issue that lots of people around here have seen. We're looking to sell it but have to fix it first. We love the truck, but never use it for truck duties, and it has a no-start issue that's really getting irritating. I'm representing my parents' 2008 5.7L Navy Blue Tundra. New here, but sadly I don't think I'll be around very long.