Started Engine then Immediately shut off

Hello everyone,

Today I started my 4Runner for the first time in 4.5 months. During this time I had the negative lead of the battery disconnected to prevent it from dyeing.

I reconnected the negative lead, pushed the start button and the engine started running. After maybe 2-3 seconds it shut off completely.

The dash light had the check engine light and battery light turned on, and it also still said “IGNITION ON”.

I checked the battery connection again, and then I pushed the start button again. The engine turned on and stayed running. I took it on a drive that ended up being close to two hours.

Can anyone tell me if this is expected after having a battery disconnected for so long? I checked for any signs of rodents, and there wasn’t any.

Thanks

 

That will always happen the first start after reconnecting the battery.

 

Sweet, good to know. Thank you

 

If you wait around a minute after reconnecting the battery to start the car that will prevent this from happening.

 

I gave it about 30 minutes before I tried starting it. How long should you normally give it?

 

Sorry, you turn the key to "on" but don't start it and wait. Should take less than a minute.

 

Gotcha, that all makes sense now

 

If you plan to do it again. Try one of these battery tenders. I leave them on my 4R and some cars and boat batteries all winter long. I don’t disconnect any terminals. This tender turns on charging off and on when needed.

Simply unplug from outlet in spring, disconnect alligator clips and start the vehicle

 

Idle relearn.

 

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Sub'd

 

Thanks, I did look into these but ended up deciding against it. Reason was that I was going overseas for work, and didn’t have anyone to check up on it from time to time.

I may have been overthinking it, but I was a little worried leaving something plugged in for that long and unattended. I didn’t want to risk a fire, however small that chance was.