2009 2.4L Starting issue

[jester108]

My daughter has a 09 AWD with the 2.4L and an automatic transmission, she was having starting issues that I believed was an alternator failure from the information she gave me (we are a state away from each other) she said she had some friends that said it was the alternator as well. long story short, the car was impounded so off to the rescue I went. The car was left for 30 days and when I got to it the battery had 12 volts, all gauges worked and the key fob unlocked the doors. When I tried to start the car it would click and the lights would dim and the voltage would pull down to 6V but the motor would not turn over. The tow yard hooked up two remote jump starters at the same time with the same results. I pulled the oil dip stick and lets just say 1 quart put oil at the bottom of the stick, I'm assuming another quart would have put it to add or just above so at least 3 quarts low!!!! I jacked up the front end and removed the front passenger tire, put the car in neutral and tried to rotate the crank shaft with no luck. My main question is, should you be able to turn the crank shaft with the car in neutral? I also ran a scan and there was no codes shown and no warnings lights were on according to my daughter.

[andrewclaus]

First, a fully charged battery should read 12.8 V. 11.8 is fully discharged. 12 V, assuming your meter is calibrated, is pretty close to discharged. How old is the battery? A car with a failed battery is often hard to jump start, and it will not be charged by a new alternator.

I don't follow why you took a wheel off. I would have removed the spark plugs and turned the crankshaft with a breaker bar and the appropriate socket, car in park.

[tpollauf]

I don't follow why you took a wheel off. I would have removed the spark plugs and turned the crankshaft with a breaker bar and the appropriate socket, car in park.

Sounds like Jester thinks the motor is seized up !!! A bit more information would help us help him. Mileage, how long have they owned it, repair history? etc ..... Sounds like they have one of the 2.4 engines that drink oil!

[joatmon]

With the car in neutral or park the wheels are disengaged from the engine, so there'd be no reason to elevate a wheel to try to turn the engine by hand, unless one suspected a transmission issue.

I also have had experience with offspring not properly doing routine checks, such as tire pressure, or in this case, oil level. Its frustrating for sure. If you are really concerned that low oil may have seized the engine, then I'd go with andrewclaus's advice. Engines are a lot easier to turn over if you open the compression chamber by pulling the spark plugs. You should still be able to turn it some without pulling the plugs with a long breaker bar.

For me, the first thing to check is for corroded battery terminals. Might not be an issue, depending on the power of the jump start source.

If the alternator is bad, it should not keep you from jump starting the car, it would just prevent keeping the battery charged while the engine is running. So, a bad alternator may be why it needs a jump start, but not why it can't be jump started.

When the starter went out on my 03, it would make one click and dim the lights, but no engine movement. The only time a Vibe ever left me stranded.

[lexicon]

Just a suggestion, since most cars on this site do not have the 2.4L engine, you may want to google the no start condition and type in toyota 2009 starting problem.
For example, I typed in 2.4 L and 2009 toyota tacoma ( the 2009 Tacoma is a 2.7 L engine) and got this youtube , but he is diagnosing a 6 cylinder engine...
in this case, it ended up being an alternator issue, and he disconnected the B terminal to the battery from the alternator to diagnose a short in the alternator which drained the battery.
That the engine oil is low also takes you in another direction which adds to the confusion.

here is the video, wishing you well on tracing this down, Let us know how this one gets resolved.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYxQYnA7xbA

[jester108]

First, a fully charged battery should read 12.8 V. 11.8 is fully discharged. 12 V, assuming your meter is calibrated, is pretty close to discharged. How old is the battery? A car with a failed battery is often hard to jump start, and it will not be charged by a new alternator.

I don't follow why you took a wheel off. I would have removed the spark plugs and turned the crankshaft with a breaker bar and the appropriate socket, car in park.

To clarify, it is way easier to get a socket on the crankshaft through the wheel well on the passenger side. Remove the dust cover and crank is completely exposed. Pretty sure the motor is seized but my next trip will be in a couple of weeks. I plan to pull the spark plugs and try to turn the motor with more appropriate tools that I didn’t have with me at the time. If it turns then I will try a new battery and go from there.