[alex sol]

Originally Posted by MrSweet1991

I took this incase it helps

https://youtu.be/cj0voFQbylU

Thanks!!

[alex sol]

Next steps. Reconnect drive shaft. Transmission holder. Block off vacuum lines to engine mounts. Check starter for 12 volts when cranking. Reconnect fuel line coolant lines transmission lines. Topped with fresh oil and trans fluid. Crank with injectors unplugged to fill oil lines. Turbo etc.

[MrSweet1991]

Originally Posted by alex sol

Next steps. Reconnect drive shaft. Transmission holder. Block off vacuum lines to engine mounts. Check starter for 12 volts when cranking. Reconnect fuel line coolant lines transmission lines. Topped with fresh oil and trans fluid. Crank with injectors unplugged to fill oil lines. Turbo etc.

On your photos of the transmission, is that a very fine black line of oil or a crack?

[Yozh]

Just don’t plug or unplug injectors when car is on.

[MrSweet1991]

Originally Posted by Yozh

Just don’t plug or unplug injectors when car is on.

Didn't know this, had a quick Google and read "death" and hydrolock.. I'm sure I was thinking of doing this one day to inspect for injector ticking

[alex sol]

Okay. Almost there. Starter not cranking so took out to test. Getting solenoid to click with 12 volts. Getting starter to spin with 12 volts so reinstalled and tested at the starter. Had zero volts and jiggled the ground strap. Then got 11.77 volts at the starter. When pressing the start button for only getting .40 volts. Then was getting 8 volts. Even with battery being charged in trickle then tried jumper cables off running and non running Toyota highlander. still no start. Pulled the starter and got rebuilt and got new ground strap. Installed and still no cranking at the press of the start button.
Checked and rechecked all the dde computer connections. Still start. Only a click then second trying starter. Not even the click from starter.

[alex sol]

Thinking maybe shifter linkage was not properly installed so perhaps go under car and make sure the trans actually in park and not in reverse while showing park.

[alex sol]

Originally Posted by Nadir Point

Does the main big red starter wire have 12v on it when you hit the start button with the Fob engaged and foot on the brake?

still having starter issues after rebuild so... the main big red starter wire has 12v on it when grounded all the time... did i wire incorrectly?

i have big red wire going from alternator in to the starter both on the 13mm nut and small wire going into the solenoid...

when i hit the starter on the solenoid i get 12 v then 9 v then 6 v...

[alex sol]

okay, have another hypothesis. my starter circuit was under major stress due to seized motor and i would have hit that start/stop button at least 10-20 times before admitting the motor seized so.... can you advise which relay or fuse is most likely effed? and can i jumper to confirm the circuit correct? or replace with correct relay/fuse of course...

there is the blue square relay in the dde box. a start/stop fuse # 4 which is a 5 amp or fuse #51 which is large 30amp

or the kl-30g black square relay in the glove box top right of the row of three relays...

[alex sol]

okay, i'm getting closer..

i put voltmeter on the starter and get 13volts - battery is plugged into smart charger

i put voltmeter on solenoid and pressed the start button - i hear a thump and see 13.5volts

i tried to manually spin the motor... no movement at all.

switch to neutral - motor feels seized yet had no problem spinning when outside the motor.

did i install the transmission incorrectly and now it doesn't spin?

when under the car, i had no problem spinning the drive shaft to install the three large bolts

so.... it could be when i connected the shifter cable, i may be off one notch...

back under the D and will report...

[torqueisking]

Impressive tenacity!

When you mated the transmission with the engine, it appears as though you may have attached the torque converter to the flexplate first. If this is true, you may have jammed the converter between the flexplate and the transmission oil pump causing it all to lock up. If this happened, the pump could be damaged.

The torque converter needs to be correctly indexed to the pump and fully pushed into it. The slots at the end of the torque converter shaft accomplish this. One typically rotates the TC while pushing it towards the transmission. The TC will then move inward by the depth of the slot.

If it were my car, I would disconnect the bolts that secure the TC to the flexplate. Check for TC rotation. If it doesn't rotate, my theory above may be correct. If it does rotate, I would manually wire the starter to a charged battery and try to turn over the engine. If it turns, I would closely at the Carly codes as they can be helpful with electrical troubleshooting.

BTW, where in the GTA are you?

[alex sol]

Originally Posted by torqueisking

Impressive tenacity!

When you mated the transmission with the engine, it appears as though you may have attached the torque converter to the flexplate first. If this is true, you may have jammed the converter between the flexplate and the transmission oil pump causing it all to lock up. If this happened, the pump could be damaged.

The torque converter needs to be correctly indexed to the pump and fully pushed into it. The slots at the end of the torque converter shaft accomplish this. One typically rotates the TC while pushing it towards the transmission. The TC will then move inward by the depth of the slot.

If it were my car, I would disconnect the bolts that secure the TC to the flexplate. Check for TC rotation. If it doesn't rotate, my theory above may be correct. If it does rotate, I would manually wire the starter to a charged battery and try to turn over the engine. If it turns, I would closely at the Carly codes as they can be helpful with electrical troubleshooting.

BTW, where in the GTA are you?

bloody hell, i pulled the starter and had it rebuilt on Ellesmere in Scarboro. I'm in Richmond Hill around bayview and 7.

i pulled the starter minutes ago and cannot budge the engine from the crank ...

the torque converter seems pretty dummy proof... i attached the flywheel using the oval hole to line up and put it in same it came out.. with the yellow paint pen marks on the outside...

the tc is screwed onto the flywheel and has no alignment really.. other than there are two indents on either side of the bolt which there are four...

i am re reading your note on how to mate... and i did not pay attention to this as the tc seems to fit to the flywheel very snug and seems no 'wrong' way to insert...

the tc has two 'teeth' on the end that goes into the transmission and you may be right, we just jammed it in and happy that we could mate the trans to the engine so easily... some twisting turning and thrusting... and boom it's in.

btw the way i effed up the first time because i tried to do it on my own and ended up having difficulty joining the four m12 etorx bolts and used the skinny m8s that going into the engine oil pan and created huge stress and snapped the oil pan... when i first picked up the trans and engine as one... crack!!! oops... dam, why is all that oil seeping out??? got it right the second time around... good thing i had three pans.

[alex sol]

my mistake then is to mate the trans to the engine and it needs to fit into the trans property and then test it by spinning the motor after mating. if it spins, it's good to reinsert?

last sunday, i lifted the D up and disconnected all the bits underneath, pulled the motor and reinserted by 9pm. with lots of breaks, distractions, church, meals, bike ride with daughter... this saturday i'm gonna pull out, split trans, re insert correctly, spin the motor, connect all the wires, press the start button... success.

actually going to test the starter Friday afternoon and it will undoubtedly spin...

question to the forum, is it normal for all starters to have 12 volts all the time and what tells the solenoid to 'pull back' and stop spinning the starter? when the alternator hits and sends 13.5 volts??

this is important question as it seems odd that the alternator is wired directly to the starter.

also, most solenoids that i've screwed with (on my 964) have positive and negative whereas i only have a 'hot' wire and seems the starter is grounded by connection to transmission

normally we know to let go of the starter when we twist the key to position three and once the car fires, we let go and it springs into key position two, imagine the solenoid pulls back at that moment

[robnitro]

Starter has 12 v always to the solenoid but the contact is open to the starter... When it engages it gives 12v to the starter motor.
Dde tells the starter to stop based on rpm I think.

[torqueisking]

Originally Posted by alex sol

i am re reading your note on how to mate... and i did not pay attention to this as the tc seems to fit to the flywheel very snug and seems no 'wrong' way to insert...

the tc has two 'teeth' on the end that goes into the transmission and you may be right, we just jammed it in and happy that we could mate the trans to the engine so easily... some twisting turning and thrusting... and boom it's in.

...my mistake then is to mate the trans to the engine and it needs to fit into the trans property and then test it by spinning the motor after mating. if it spins, it's good to reinsert?

.

While the TC may appear to easily fit on the transmission shaft, it unfortunately does not confirm engagement of the two TC teeth with the transmission oil pump.

You will know when the TC is correctly mated by paying attention to the movement toward the transmission and the rotating torque as it is installed. Position the TC on the transmission input shaft and gently push it in without rotating the TC. The chance of aligning the two teeth on your first try without rotation is very slim. It has never happened to me after installing 40? transmissions. This is a good thing because it allows you confirm when engagement of the teeth has occurred.

Note (or even measure) the depth of the TC relative to the edge of the transmission case. Now slowly rotate the TC while applying force on the TC toward the transmission. You should eventually feel the TC suddenly move inwards toward the transmission by the depth of the two teeth (6-8mm I believe) and the torque required to rotate the TC will increase slightly. Keep pushing the TC inward until it cannot go further to ensure full engagement.

Spinning of the TC before securing the transmission to the engine does not confirm the TC is correctly engaged with the transmission. The TC will rotate before and after the teeth are engaged. After they are secured together, the TC should rotate freely before it is secured to the flexplate. If it doesn't, don't bother proceeding until you have confirmed why the TC doesn't rotate which in your case, I believe, is due to the TC not being engaged with the transmission oil pump drive.

[alex sol]

@TorqueisKing.

Such fantastic advice and had no idea about automatic transmissions and I've learn a lot now. I thought mating manual transmissions was difficult. We pulled the motor again this afternoon with the transmission and of course the tc was in the wrong position. I did find the alignment method to be so helpful and now it is back in and has a completely totally different feeling when you spin the tc. when it's properly connected to the splines etc.

Thanks for your advice and we caught it before making any serious damage to the tranny. I hope!!!!!

[alex sol]

Found this in the keyway. I think when we misaligned the tc we ended up trying to spin the motor with too much force.

Will the tc work with the only one keyway??

[alex sol]

Another angle showing the curve of the keyway.

[Nadir Point]

I would try to confirm where that piece came from and get a new one of those.

[torqueisking]

Originally Posted by alex sol

@TorqueisKing.

Such fantastic advice and had no idea about automatic transmissions and I've learn a lot now. I thought mating manual transmissions was difficult. We pulled the motor again this afternoon with the transmission and of course the tc was in the wrong position. I did find the alignment method to be so helpful and now it is back in and has a completely totally different feeling when you spin the tc. when it's properly connected to the splines etc.

Thanks for your advice and we caught it before making any serious damage to the tranny. I hope!!!!!

Good to hear it is now assembled but that piece you found is troubling.

It appears to be a piece of unmachined cast aluminum. Perhaps it is just dirt or residue covering the surface of the part. I see the radius of the piece but if it is part of the teeth/slot interface, it would have a fine machined surface.

Could it be a piece of the previously cracked engine oil pan?

[alex sol]

That offending piece came out of the tranny and there is one matching piece remaining that the torque tube slots into. I had no idea about how auto trans works so I twice jammed the transmission oil pump into the torque tube. And one time while rotating the motor it was ever so slightly seized and I forced the motor to turn from the crank end. And thats when I think I sheared off the piece. Ugh. Regarding the transmission I also broke off a part that holds the two transmission lines that run to the cooler so those two lines will get aluminum welded in place and connected / disconnected with a home made coupler in near future.

[alex sol]

My main concern now is that I'm not getting any starter action. I'll start with fuse and relay check. I have a suspicion the ground not adequate though I replace ground strap with 4 gauge strap from local auto supplier.
Also bought brand new agm battery.

When you pros pull engine and replace. How far to go with the install of accessories and cooling system before hitting the start button??