so my 96 3.4l with 4x4 and an auto trans,the 3.4l blew, i found a donor from a 2000 runner 4x4 auto... did the swap kept my original harness due to the ECU being different between the years and not having the ECU from the donor... got the motor in and all back together and nothing... turn the key and no start no crank... pulled the starter relay and used my power probe to manually bump the starter and starter works flawlessly... then i bump it and notice no fuel and no spark... i kept the original harness and ECU from the old engine and double checked all my connections and ground... new positive and negative battery terminals and still no luck... kind of lost on where to start trouble shooting now... if anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated...

P.S. The donor motor came with TRD headers and had to cut the exhaust to make it fit going to re-flange and cap the o2 sensor bung on the y pipe since my exhaust has the pre cat o2 sensor already in it brand new

thanks
Cjsrunner

 

Did you connect the white fuse box power lead when you replaced the positive terminal?

 

yes its connected lol... but no question is dumb cause that is something i could have easily overlooked... i missed a ground wire initially... so i started rechecking all the wires... i pulled the runner to its spot with the blown motor so relays and ecu shouldn't be the issue... used the original harness... just not getting any response from the ignition to the starter coils or fuel pump... at least i don't hear the pump kick on...

 

Did you check ALL the relevant fuses, including the big ones that give no visual clue? I was just helping a member on another forum with a 3.4L auto to 5-speed swap and he had identical symptoms; we traced it to the 30A AM2 fuse. I can probably help you track it down, if you have access to a DMM and a test light. Internet guesses are hit or miss in things like this; good troubleshooting ALWAYS works.

 

so let me get this straight. you swapped out a blown auto transmission for another auto transmission of same type but just a later model? i'm confused because you mention a blown tranny (haha right?) then mention an engine swap.

 

Have a good connection to the plug on the transmission or just forget to plug it in??

 

where are you getting transmission from its an engine swap both my vehicle and the donor vehicle were auto tranny's so no change over in the harness for a 5 speed... i have a power prob3 which tells me if its hot ground the voltage and no DMM my fluke was borrowed by a friend and fuse was blown haven't replaced it yet... i read another forum last night on a 97 having the same symptoms and it was an after market alarm kill switch causeing the issue and i know there was an alarm in mine from previous owner so need to get under the dash and see if its still in place if so im tearing it out first before tracing any other methods... tested all relays and fuses they are all good and in working order

again this was just a straight forward 3.4l swap just used a 2000 runner for the donar on my 96... thanks for the input and thedurk ill get back to you if the alarm doesn't fix the issue ill get a working dmm and start troubleshooting the easy stuff first

 

Alarms are definitely suspect #1 in a case like this. And you never know how they wired it. Good luck.

 

your very first sentence "so my 96 3.4l 4x4 auto trans blew i found a donor from a 2000 runner 4x4 auto"

sounds like your auto trans blew to me

 

so finally had some time pulled the aftermarket alarm out reconnected the ignition wire and still nothing... getting my hands on a DMM asap to start the troubleshooting problem and will probably write up a thread for this issue so if any others come across this issue it can save them some time... thedurk ill be PMing you shortly for a guidance in the right direction since i haven't had to trace issues like this in quite some time...