Tacoma Failure

[Romer]

Looks like I have a Valeo rather than a Denso starter. Valeo is made in Mexico

Early failures in modern Toyota vehicles using Valeo starters (such as reports in newer models like the 4th gen Toyota Tacoma) often stem from internal electrical component breakdown, solenoid failure, or poor engagement. Traditionally, Toyota relied heavily on Denso starters known to last well past 150,000 miles, whereas some transitions to suppliers like Valeo have seen complaints of premature no-crank or clicking issues very early in a vehicle's lifespan
Early failures in modern Toyota vehicles using Valeo starters (such as reports in newer models like the 4th gen Toyota Tacoma) often stem from internal electrical component breakdown, solenoid failure, or poor engagement. Traditionally, Toyota relied heavily on Denso starters known to last well past 150,000 miles, whereas some transitions to suppliers like Valeo have seen complaints of premature no-crank or clicking issues very early in a vehicle's lifespan. [1, 2]

Common Symptoms of Early Starter Failure

• • Single Click or Complete Silence: Dashboard lights and accessories work, but turning the key or pushing the start button yields only a single click or nothing at all, pointing to a failed solenoid or internal short.
  • Intermittent Cranking: The vehicle starts fine sometimes, but completely refuses to turn over randomly.
  • Slow or Labored Crank: The motor struggles to turn the engine over even with a fully charged and tested battery

 

[DaveInDenver]

Great thing is an issue that has the same symptoms with a definite root cause. It ticks all the boxes.

 

[Romer]

Toyota called called 10/6/2026 and suggested I take it back to the dealer after disconnecting the aftermarket items so they could run a diagnostic. I said the test won’t reveal anything since they already ran it, but she said they need the test less aftermarket items connected to the battery before she can see what any potential next steps would be. I updated the case file with the following

Troubleshooting Summary:

FSM list of No start potentials- Everything else works, no dash error lights, no error codes via OBD reader. No click, no sound from the starter. Either Power to the starter is blocked by a sensor/interlock/relay or the starter is failing to turn over with power.

• Bad Battery- Battery tested and jumped while failed. Voltage at battery was 12.6V. It did not fix the problem – Not Battery I did replace it after the first failure
• Brake sensor switch- I was able to see the brake lights come on when brake pedal pressed. Plus the message Press Brake and start when away after pressing start- Not Brake Sensor switch
• FOB - The truck recognized the FOB. Even so I held it up to the start button and tried to start it. Starting the truck without the FOB gives the message FOB not detected. – Not the FOB
• SW or ECU Issue- During hard failure, I disconnected the battery for 15 minutes. After reconnecting the battery, the failure was still present- Not likely to be a SW or ECU issue
• Neutral Safety Switch- Typically fail by not recognizing gears, but still possible- Replaced at my Expense
• Starter Relay- Potential for stuck Contact- Bought a Starter Relay from a Toyota Dealer. I have not replaced it yet
• Starter- This is the most likely cause due to history of starter failures. Also, lots of on line details of this particular starter failing in new Tacomas

Troubleshooting results rule out SW, ECUs, Brake Sensor, Immobilizer, FOB leaving Battery, Nuetral Safety Switch, Starter Relay and Starter as possible causes.


I decided to do what is called a worst case changeout to return reliability to the vehicle by replacing all the remaining causes.

• The Battery was replaced after the first failure and verified to be good at the time of the 2nd failure
• The Neutral Safety Switch was replaced in Sept 2027 at the dealer
• Once the Starter and relay have been replaced, I will consider this resolved

So far the Battery, Neutral Safety Switch and Starter Relay have been at my expense. If Toyota does not support the starter change, then I will do it myself to return the vehicle to a safe and reliable condition.

The main point here is this new under warranty Tacoma has failed and stranded me twice. Toyota has not been able to replicate it and does not want to support any of the changes I am doing to make it a reliable vehicle again. The approach is to let it keep stranding me until it fails harder and the dealer can see it. That is not acceptable to me

They won’t recognize any of the data I have to isolate the problem. They have already run the diagnostics twice for the 2 failures and the solution is a third time

Right now it looks like Toyota will not stand behind their vehicles. I understand the difficulty of working an intermittent failure, but the onus is now on me to keep driving until it fails stranding me enough to fail hard rather than recognizing the work I have done and the parts I have replaced at my own expense to resolve this issue with a new under warranty vehicle.

 

[Romer]

After two weeks Toyota came back on 10/9 and said I would need to have the dealer run a diagnostic without the aftermarket stuff (Radios connected to the battery) and I would need to pay for it unless it found something. I said I see no value in running a diagnostic a third time and was not willing to pay $150 since I am confident it wouldnt find anything. And if it didn't find anything Toyota wouldnt pay to have the starter replaced, they wouldn't comment on that without the diagnostics

So I added the following to the case file since they will be closing it

I understand you are following a checklist and have no choice in you position. Had you enlisted a Technical person to review my information I am confident they would have agreed. There really is no value in running the diagnostic a third time. It was run in Nov 2025 after this first failure and the battery was fully tested as good and fully charged. There was not a concern about the aftermarket items raised at that time. It was ruin in Sept 2026 after the 2nd failure. The tech raised the aftermarket items because the battery was low, but I have fully explained I had to use the winch to get the truck to where it could tow me to the dealer from the parking garage. The battery was not low during the first failure.

The dealer understands the technical reasons why I think it is the starter, but they can’t replace it under warranty without a hard failure or authorization.

After our call I talked to the Service Director at the Dealer. I went over all the troubleshooting I have
done and he said my approach on Changing the Battery, Neutral Safety Switch and Starter Relay makes
sense and agreed it does fit a starter failure, but they can’t do anything without a hard failure. He felt
bad I have spent a lot of money resolving a problem on a new truck.

He said they would wave the diagnostic fee or help me with a reduced cost for the starter replacement, my choice. There isn’t any value running the diagnostics a third time without a hard failure so I am going to have them change out the starter to fully resolve this item and make the truck reliable again. I have ruled out all the non hardware items and will have replaced all the potential mechanical items at my expense. I am glad the dealer is helping me and very disappointed in Toyotas position. Your solution was to run a diagnostic a 3rd time that showed nothing so far.

As feedback, if you would add a technical review in cases with this much troubleshooting data, I would think you would have come to a different outcome

I will have the dealer replace to starter completing the worst case change out costing me just under $1K total for everything to get it back to being a relaible truck with no help from Toyota. This is just to complete my documentation. Unless of course it fails again

 

[Rzeppa]

I just saw this thread. Most likely unrelated but my wife's 2021 RAV4 has intermittently failed to start when pressing the button on the dash. But unlike the symptom above, it always eventually starts.