The new thing going on with my truck is, this morning it wouldn't crack over. I can hear one click but that's it. The click is coming from the passanger side under the dash. I put it in neutral and hit clutch start cancel button. Still nothing. Finally it cracked over but died. Turned over again and were good. But a lot of fuel smell. I don't know if it's part of the clutch because it's losing fluid and isn't as primed now or what. Wasn't battery because I turn lights on and everything and turned the keys and no light dimming. Any ideas on what it could be??? I'm lost. Been dishing so much money out in this truck.

 

Just because the lights work, does not mean that the battery isn't a culprit.

All that being said - I suspect the starter contacts

http://home.4x4wire.com/adamf/88/starterrepair.htm

 

Could it be apart of the clutch too? Any idea on where all the fluid is going? I filled it up yesterday for the 4th time in over a month. Could it not have enough pressure to so to speak activate the clutch in to let the truck start?

 

The clutch safety switch is just a single pole pressure switch attached to the pedal linkage. It is either open or closed, regardless of whether your clutch is actually disengaging. Pushing the clutch cancel does the same thing, and the likelihood of both switches going is low.

You are correct that if your clutch isn't disengaging it could be preventing the motor from turning. However I have started my truck in gear using the CCS to clear ice or for giggles. The only thing that happens is the truck creeps along as the starter turns.

You can eliminate a failed clutch by shifting into neutral and trying to start it. Functioning clutch or not the trans should free spin in neutral unless you are jammed in gear or have a bent shift fork (unlikely) preventing the gears to slide on their rails.

How many miles do you have on your rig? Around 150k I replaced my starter contacts and it was night and day the ability of that tired starter. It could also be a battery that is failing under load.

 

Look for fluid spots in the drives floorboard or underneath the transmission where you park your truck at night.

The two likely places for clutch fluid leakage are the clutch master cylinder under the hood on the firewall in front of the driver seat and the clutch slave cylinder on the side of the transmission under your truck.

Both are fairly inexpensive and easy to replace. These are common "regular maintenance" items for your truck.

DCMatt

 

Checked the floor board areas. Nothing there. Checked on slave cylinder the bolts have fluid on them. Also on bottom of bell housing. Should I change the starter or just the connectors? Also I did change the slave cylinder when I did the clutch. Could it be bad still? Also I did put a used battery in and that's been doing ok. Any game plans? I have 215k on it.

 

You have to take your starter apart to see if it is bad contacts. Google some pictures or threads on here about replacing them.

Yes your space could have failed even though it's relatively new. Cheap rebuilding processes now have next to zero QA.

Can you take the battery to a pep boys or similar and have them Load Test it? That will help diagnose if your battery is the culprit.

 

I used to rebuild my clutch master cylinder about every 50k miles or so. The kit from Toyota is like $15-20 and has a couple o-rings, a new circlip, and plunger diaphragm. Like 30 minutes of work and it would be good as new.

They almost always would fail on my on my way to work. So I would have to drive to and from without having a clutch to disengage and try to speed match all of my shifts. Plus staying creeping at lights and stop signs so I wouldn't have to shut the truck off and restart it in gear. Thankfully I commute at 5am so I never have traffic to contend with.