I recently purchased a 1999 Land Cruiser 100 series with 135,000 miles on it. The truck came from an estate, and has only been driven 10,000 miles in the past 10 years. Over all the truck has been well taken care of, always garage kept and no rust or other issues that I am aware of. I am in the process of baselining it and doing some preventative maintenance and replacing parts which are known to fail. Previous owner maintenance includes:
2014 (118,000 miles) - Thermostat and gasket replaced
2015 (122,000 miles) - Master fuse box replaced
2019 (130,000 miles) - Valve cover gaskets replaced
2021 (131,000 miles) - New battery
While driving it to work yesterday, I started having some issues where the radio was making weird noises while driving. Specifically, there was a high-pitched noise coming from it which increased and decreased with my RPM's. On my way back from work the radio intermittently started losing power for a second and then powering back on every few minutes, and I noticed I was also losing power to my cigarette lighter ports as well. After about 10 minutes sitting in traffic, it got worse and was happening every few seconds, which was followed by complete loss of power to the vehicle. No power steering, brake pressure, electronics, etc. I was able to come to a stop, put it in park, and it started back up right away and the power issues did not happen again on the 20-mile drive home. I did not have any check engine lights or codes from this and the only code stored when I plugged in my code reader was P0125 for Insufficient Coolant Temperature for Closed Loop Fuel, which I have had since I purchased the vehicle 1 month ago. Both times when I experienced the issue, I was going 25mph or less, and I did not experience issues at higher speeds. My initial thoughts are it could be related to the work I have done this week, which includes cleaning the MAF sensor and trying to unsuccessfully program new remotes to unlock the vehicle.
- MAF Sensor:
I see several other posts where people have similar issues involving faulty MAF sensors, and since I recently cleaned it this would be my first guess. I unplugged the sensor, removed the screws, sprayed the MAF sensor with CRC MAF cleaner, let it dry for about 10 minutes, and then put it back in. I was careful not to touch the wires, and since returning home I pulled it back out to inspect it, and reassembled it to see if I possibly assembled it wrong the first time. I don’t see any obvious damage to the sensor or wiring harness. I also forgot to reset the ECU after cleaning, so I disconnected the negative terminal on the battery and have now reset it. The sensor appears to be functioning correctly, and my obd scanner shows .17 grams per second when off, 6 grams per second while idling (800 RMP) and when I increase the RPMs to 1600 it goes up to about 10 grams per second.
- Programing new remotes:
My land cruiser came with 2 keys, one which unlocks the doors and starts the vehicle, but does not seem to be a master key since the key/anti-theft light next to the AC controls does not disappear when I start the car. The second key unlocks the doors and glove box, and the car will turn over but does not start the car which makes me think it is not registered.
I unsuccessfully tried to pair my new remotes to the vehicle and followed several YouTube videos, and I am wondering if I potentially messed something up and the anti-theft immobilizer potentially what killed the power. This seems less likely, since the vehicle started right back up and I haven’t had any issues starting the truck at all.
Other possible causes:
- Loose battery connections: When diagnosing the issue, I noticed that both the positive and negative terminals were loose and I could remove them by hand. I have tightened them down now. There was no corrosion on the battery, and it is 2 years old. It could also potentially be an issue with wiring or ground. I don’t see any obvious wires that are loose or cut.
- Fuel pump, fuel filter: The one time this has happened to me was when I had about 1/4th of a tank of gas. I have seen several other threads with similar issues where the fuel pump/filter needed to be replaced. I am not sure if this potential issue would cause intermittent radio/cigarette power issues prior to full power loss. I have a new OEM fuel filter that I was going to replace, and I could replace the fuel pump as well since I am baselining the truck anyways.
- Bad Fuse's:
Similar posts with issues relating to fuse issues which could potentially cause similar issues. As noted above, the master fuse box was replaced in 2015 (15,000 miles ago). Could be an issue with the EFI main relay fuse? I have heard some people also suggest getting a bypass from Medtro as well.
- Coil packs: I have also read several posts with similar issues relating to bad coil packs, but it seems like this issue typically includes throwing codes which my vehicle is not.
- APPS/TPS: Same as the coil packs, ive seen multiple posts with similar issues relating to APPS/TPS but they typically seem to throw codes if this is the cause.
Any advice as to which issues I could potentially rule out based on my situation would be great, and I would love to know where you would suggest starting my trouble shooting. I am going to go to an auto parts store later to have my battery and alternator tested to rule out any issues, and will likely drive around and try to replicate the problem.
2014 (118,000 miles) - Thermostat and gasket replaced
2015 (122,000 miles) - Master fuse box replaced
2019 (130,000 miles) - Valve cover gaskets replaced
2021 (131,000 miles) - New battery
While driving it to work yesterday, I started having some issues where the radio was making weird noises while driving. Specifically, there was a high-pitched noise coming from it which increased and decreased with my RPM's. On my way back from work the radio intermittently started losing power for a second and then powering back on every few minutes, and I noticed I was also losing power to my cigarette lighter ports as well. After about 10 minutes sitting in traffic, it got worse and was happening every few seconds, which was followed by complete loss of power to the vehicle. No power steering, brake pressure, electronics, etc. I was able to come to a stop, put it in park, and it started back up right away and the power issues did not happen again on the 20-mile drive home. I did not have any check engine lights or codes from this and the only code stored when I plugged in my code reader was P0125 for Insufficient Coolant Temperature for Closed Loop Fuel, which I have had since I purchased the vehicle 1 month ago. Both times when I experienced the issue, I was going 25mph or less, and I did not experience issues at higher speeds. My initial thoughts are it could be related to the work I have done this week, which includes cleaning the MAF sensor and trying to unsuccessfully program new remotes to unlock the vehicle.
- MAF Sensor:
I see several other posts where people have similar issues involving faulty MAF sensors, and since I recently cleaned it this would be my first guess. I unplugged the sensor, removed the screws, sprayed the MAF sensor with CRC MAF cleaner, let it dry for about 10 minutes, and then put it back in. I was careful not to touch the wires, and since returning home I pulled it back out to inspect it, and reassembled it to see if I possibly assembled it wrong the first time. I don’t see any obvious damage to the sensor or wiring harness. I also forgot to reset the ECU after cleaning, so I disconnected the negative terminal on the battery and have now reset it. The sensor appears to be functioning correctly, and my obd scanner shows .17 grams per second when off, 6 grams per second while idling (800 RMP) and when I increase the RPMs to 1600 it goes up to about 10 grams per second.
- Programing new remotes:
My land cruiser came with 2 keys, one which unlocks the doors and starts the vehicle, but does not seem to be a master key since the key/anti-theft light next to the AC controls does not disappear when I start the car. The second key unlocks the doors and glove box, and the car will turn over but does not start the car which makes me think it is not registered.
I unsuccessfully tried to pair my new remotes to the vehicle and followed several YouTube videos, and I am wondering if I potentially messed something up and the anti-theft immobilizer potentially what killed the power. This seems less likely, since the vehicle started right back up and I haven’t had any issues starting the truck at all.
Other possible causes:
- Loose battery connections: When diagnosing the issue, I noticed that both the positive and negative terminals were loose and I could remove them by hand. I have tightened them down now. There was no corrosion on the battery, and it is 2 years old. It could also potentially be an issue with wiring or ground. I don’t see any obvious wires that are loose or cut.
- Fuel pump, fuel filter: The one time this has happened to me was when I had about 1/4th of a tank of gas. I have seen several other threads with similar issues where the fuel pump/filter needed to be replaced. I am not sure if this potential issue would cause intermittent radio/cigarette power issues prior to full power loss. I have a new OEM fuel filter that I was going to replace, and I could replace the fuel pump as well since I am baselining the truck anyways.
- Bad Fuse's:
Similar posts with issues relating to fuse issues which could potentially cause similar issues. As noted above, the master fuse box was replaced in 2015 (15,000 miles ago). Could be an issue with the EFI main relay fuse? I have heard some people also suggest getting a bypass from Medtro as well.
- Coil packs: I have also read several posts with similar issues relating to bad coil packs, but it seems like this issue typically includes throwing codes which my vehicle is not.
- APPS/TPS: Same as the coil packs, ive seen multiple posts with similar issues relating to APPS/TPS but they typically seem to throw codes if this is the cause.
Any advice as to which issues I could potentially rule out based on my situation would be great, and I would love to know where you would suggest starting my trouble shooting. I am going to go to an auto parts store later to have my battery and alternator tested to rule out any issues, and will likely drive around and try to replicate the problem.