Does the engine crank over?
Alternator charges after engine is running, it provides power after the engine is running. The alternator doesn't directly have anything to do with the initial starting of the engine. If an alternator is bad, it wasn't charging the battery, and the battery won't have the juice to start the engine. But if you get good battery supply (IE: a good battery, jump start) it will start and run until that battery dies. A good indication is when you jump start a motor with a bad alternator and you remove jumper cables, the motor starts running like crap and then dies. If your lights are bright and you use jumper cables off another vehicle and still nothing happens, we can probably rule out the battery. You mention a small motor whine when you turn the key on, well that is what a starter is. If its not kicking the starter gear over to engage the flywheel, you probably need a starter, because replacing will be easier than repairing. If that engine isn't running and turning the belt, why would the alternator make any noise?
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Probably the Bendix in the starter. Like Bassin said, easier to replace than to repair.
sure its in park if its an auto trans? depressed clutch if standard. Sounds crazy but my mother called me one day and said her car wouldn't start. no clicking nothing. got over there and her emergency brake was on so it wasn't rolling and shifter was still in drive. shifted to park and started right up. some people can't see the obvious.
funny noise was electric fuel pump.
funny noise was electric fuel pump.
Its the starter.. before yanking it out, take a screwdriver and cross the two terminals on the starter solenoid by touching them both to the screwdriver at the same time.(with the key turned forward of course. if youve never done this before, as soon as you get a good connection the starter is gonna try to activate, one of two things is gonna happen, all your gonna is hear is the "tiny little electric motor that is bound up", or the starter will work and the engine will fireup, so don't jump,, and be weary of arms/fingers/clothing etc)
The high pitched noise is just the electric throttle body motor doing a self check. There should be a 1 wire connector near the cowling on the firewall above the brake reservoir. I think it's a yellow with a brown or gray trace wire. That wire goes directly from the TIPM (glorified fuse box) down to the starter. If it's disconnected it won't start. You should have power on one side of it when the key is turned to the start position and you should be able to apply power to the other side and get the starter to crank the engine. I would run a jumper wire from the positive side of the battery to the starter side of the connector, if it cranks then it's not a starter issue. If it's a TIPM issue you may be able to get it started by having someone hold the key in the start position while jumpering the starter side of that connector. I have seen many bus communication problems cause a no start but I'd do the above checks first. Also the trigger wire connector down at the starter is suspect once they get hot and the TIPM needs to 'see' a certain amount of voltage to continue cranking the motor. Make sure you don't fall below 10.5v at the TIPM when it's cranking or it may stop the process.
I had almost this exact same thing happen. Drove to the locksmith shop, go in, come out and nothing. Headlights work but no clickey or anything. Turned out it was a loose connection from the end of one of the battery cables. The cable wasn't loose at the battery, it was loose between the clamp and the cable itself. The head lights were getting power from a second wire to the battery.
I had a friend earlier this evening say he had a similar problem once and that was his issue too. I know so little, and I've already had okiebryan tow it to a mechanic I'm just gonna have them check it out tomorrw.
Your driver was spot on. He said he thought the security system had engaged... unfortunately he didn't know how to fix it. $225 later the computer is reprogrammed and the truck is up an running supposedly. I will be picking it up tomorrow. No clue how it happened though. Mechanic said it's a fluke thing that happens occasionally and should hopefully be a one time deal. The chip in the key was still good so not sure why it locked up.
