New member intro, HJ60 electrical woes

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S

street tractor

10 Year 15 Year
Joined
Jan 19, 2007
Threads
6
Messages
87
Location
ingersoll ontario canada
First of all, excellent site! My name is Dylan and I have been a long time lurker due to my computer illiteracy.:o This is the first forum I have ever been a part of so please bear with me until I get my feet wet;)
I am a long time fan of cruisers and decided to take the plunge on an 87 HJ60 last july to use for some travelling and daily driver duties. My truck is auto, 24V and has 235km on what seems to be a very healthy 2H.....the electrical on the other hand has had its share of sickness.

Over the past 3 months I have had the voltage regulator replaced, 2 toyota 850cca batteries and my starter rebuilt (after it would not disengage). Approximately a week before my starter issues, my batteries started going flat and I remedied this by charging my low side battery. Since the rebuilt starter, I topped up the low side and it seems to be holding alright for now but its too early too tell if these problems were related or separate issues.

Now my latest mystery...When I started the truck I noticed that the voltmeter stayed lower than normal, even after driving. It was just below half when it would normally be closer to the top (around 28 or so.)
I started getting a little worried when I had been driving for 20 minutes and it still had not moved. All of a sudden my battery and filter lights flashed, the voltmeter returned to normal all at the same time.
The next day it did the exact same thing, even the length of time it stayed low was the same???

To make a long story short, I am trying very hard to be keep loving this cruiser but this electrical is scaring me. This truck is my daily driver and I'm hoping it will continue to be. I have used the search function extensively and have spent hours reading about similar occurences and 24V in general. I just cannot find anything definitive...

Anyways, thanks for reading my first(LONG) post and thanks in advance for any knowledge you could throw my way:cheers: .

PS Could anyone suggest a cruiser mechanic in southern Ontario?

Thanks again, Dylan
 
I to am having somewhat the same...
My battery,filter and(!) light come on and do not go out....at first they would come on for a while, then go out, but now stay on....have not had any other electrical issues. My dish voltage meter is in the plus side at about 30. Is there an inline switch or relay that might be tired or broken
 
Dylan,
often this kind of problems are related to poor connections, especially to ground (mass).
Check whatever grounding point you can find (frame, body, engine), clean it so contact is clean metal to clean metal. Re-install and isolate against corrosion. I usually do this with a rust-inhibitor like spray-wax.

cheers,
 
You also should test the alternator. this is often the sign of a dying alternator...
j
 
X2 on the dying alternator, have a look through the wiring for obvious wear or corrosion, i wonder if your starter relay is sticking if your starter stays on. that would be bad. easier to replace relay than starter.
 
Thanks alot for your replies, I took a wire brush to the battery connections but I haven't had a chance to do the same to the ground.

I went for a drive around town before work today to continue the diagnosis. This time the batt, parking brake and filter lights stayed on the entire time, as well as the voltmeter being even lower.(approx one third of the way up/20-22V).

On my way to work it continued as described until I was pulling in the parking lot. The same lights went out and the voltmeter jumped up to where it should be.(after 40 min of highway driving).
Exact same thing on the way back home too!

I have unhooked each battery from the truck and am charging both since I want this thing to keep starting while I try to get to the bottom of this. The thing that scares me the most is my lack of experience with electrical...I don't even know how to identify relays let alone check them:o
The real problem is that I can't even find a Toyota mech that knows this 24V system either!:confused: I guess thats where you guys come in;)

By the way, The truck seems to be starting a little rough..could any of this be glow plug related?

Thanks again, Dylan
 
Thanks alot for your replies, I took a wire brush to the battery connections but I haven't had a chance to do the same to the ground.

I went for a drive around town before work today to continue the diagnosis. This time the batt, parking brake and filter lights stayed on the entire time, as well as the voltmeter being even lower.(approx one third of the way up/20-22V).

On my way to work it continued as described until I was pulling in the parking lot. The same lights went out and the voltmeter jumped up to where it should be.(after 40 min of highway driving).
Exact same thing on the way back home too!

I have unhooked each battery from the truck and am charging both since I want this thing to keep starting while I try to get to the bottom of this. The thing that scares me the most is my lack of experience with electrical...I don't even know how to identify relays let alone check them:o
The real problem is that I can't even find a Toyota mech that knows this 24V system either!:confused: I guess thats where you guys come in;)

By the way, The truck seems to be starting a little rough..could any of this be glow plug related?

Thanks again, Dylan
 
Something similear happened in my 88 62. I have also heard about it some other cruisers to.

The problem with was a bad soldier inside the Charge reley, located behind the passanger kick panel. Unplug it, open it, use a small screwdriver, be careful not to brake the plastic cover. In my case I could clearly see the bad soldier.

All I did was to re soldier all the circuit board and had ad wery easy fix.

Check this before you do anything else.... :beer:
 
Dylan
welcome
If one of the two batteries is screwed from being frozen or such while discharged from you're starter woes this will cause the other to discharge and alternator to work overtime. you can charge this battery forever and will not make a difference. Take them in for load testing same with the alternator.
 
hi,
welcome aboard:flipoff2:! the cruiser salute but at a poor time. get a voltage reading at the batteries with truck running. if below 25 volts then it could be brushes or faulty regulator! :doh:disconnect the batteries and remove the regulator holder on the alternator. undo the regulator and check the brushes, it should have good spring return(1/4" or more) distance(if not, the brushes need replacing).
hth,
 
In2cruisers said:
I to am having somewhat the same...
My battery,filter and(!) light come on and do not go out....at first they would come on for a while, then go out, but now stay on....have not had any other electrical issues. My dish voltage meter is in the plus side at about 30. Is there an inline switch or relay that might be tired or broken
Click to expand...

This is usually an indication of something wrong with the charging system. Check your brushes. Also...30V is getting a little on the hot side. 29V is usually as high as one wants to see it.

Also check your belt, etc.

Street Tractor: Cold solder joint as mentioned, as well as brushes. What is the individual sitting voltage reading of each battery? Do you have a radio hooked into one battery? When the truck is running and charging what is the individual voltage of each battery?

gb
 
Thanks to everyone for all the responses!

I plan on doing testing of everything mentioned above tomorrow. At this point I'm happy to have somewhere to start...

The PO had a 12V cd player hooked to the low side battery(i've read this is very bad!) but the fuse has been blown for a while now and I left it that way since I did not figure it would be drawing any power.
Is a blown fuse still a draw??? That might be a dumb question but theres no point in pretending to know what I'm talking about!

I'll check in tomorrow with what I found out.

Thanks again
 
Last edited:
Well, it seems as if my mysterious issues have decided to calm down for now.:confused: The last 3 times I've driven the truck everything has been fine. Weird...

Maybe the milder weather cleared it up for now?

Anyways, I'm sure it will show up again in the not too distant future:frown:

Thanks again for a great first experience with a forum:cheers:
 
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