Odd Electrical Issues (1 Viewer)

[AppleTech]

Been battling an issue for a week or two now:
1. Battery intermittently working. A couple times now we’ve gone out to the truck and it was either dead or battery was very weak.
2. 2x now in the last week the truck has completely lost power (as in shut off completely) when going around a corner. Restarting works fine and continue as normal.

No codes, no battery/charge lights. Voltage reads 14V when the truck is running. Battery seems to lose charge over time so I’m thinking bad battery. Took it in and the guy said it looks weak but not bad. He thinks its been charging poorly. Alternator is a factory reman Denso unit That was installed ~3 years ago and its putting out 14V so I don’t think that’s the issue.

So what am I looking at here, a bad ground? I would say parasitic drain but all electrics are stock and the battery issues are intermittent. Truck is fine for a week or so then has an issue. I took apart the fusable link box behind the battery (on the positive post) and it looks normal and not corroded. Where else should I be looking?

 

[Smiles]

Been battling an issue for a week or two now:
1. Battery intermittently working. A couple times now we’ve gone out to the truck and it was either dead or battery was very weak.
2. 2x now in the last week the truck has completely lost power (as in shut off completely) when going around a corner. Restarting works fine and continue as normal.

No codes, no battery/charge lights. Voltage reads 14V when the truck is running. Battery seems to lose charge over time so I’m thinking bad battery. Took it in and the guy said it looks weak but not bad. He thinks its been charging poorly. Alternator is a factory reman Denso unit That was installed ~3 years ago and its putting out 14V so I don’t think that’s the issue.

So what am I looking at here, a bad ground? I would say parasitic drain but all electrics are stock and the battery issues are intermittent. Truck is fine for a week or so then has an issue. I took apart the fusable link box behind the battery (on the positive post) and it looks normal and not corroded. Where else should I be looking?

From what your saying I would fit a new battery as a starting point, reman alternator fitted less than 3 years ago, but how many miles has it done in the 3 years?

The guy you took it to said "looks weak but not bad" bit of a contradiction in terms there, He also said "thinks it's been charging poorly" the operative word there is 'thinks', if the alternator had been tested properly the answer shoud have been 'is charging poorly'

BTW, a battery that won't hold a good charge is doing your alternator no favours, also, how old is the battery that's fitted?

I have Varta batteries and have foud them to very good over the years, I also have a battey tender/conditioner (Optimate) hooked up to mine when the LC is not in use.

Good Luck.

 

[AppleTech]

The battery is ~3 years old or so as well. The only thing that has me thinking its something like a ground is the truck losing ALL power going around a bend. Its not slow or wavering power, the truck just SHUTS OFF as if the ECU lost all power and it has to be restarted. If battery or alt were independently bad one should provide power over the other in this situation.

 

[Smiles]

The battery is ~3 years old or so as well. The only thing that has me thinking its something like a ground is the truck losing ALL power going around a bend. Its not slow or wavering power, the truck just SHUTS OFF as if the ECU lost all power and it has to be restarted. If battery or alt were independently bad one should provide power over the other in this situation.

Yes, does lead you to believe something may be loose.

 

[AppleTech]

Does anyone on here have a link to a drawing showing ground locations on the truck? My Repair Manual doesn't include this.

 

[Somebodyelse5]

Does anyone on here have a link to a drawing showing ground locations on the truck? My Repair Manual doesn't include this.

Check the grounds first. This thread on upgrading shows their locations.

"The Big Three" Electrical Upgrade

You might have recently seen in the photos thread that I upgraded my engine-ground wires. No I don't have an upgraded alternator at the moment but plans for one are in the near future so that is partly why I decided to do this mod now. I went with 1/0 pre-tinned copper lug terminals from Little...

forum.ih8mud.com

Between the no-starts and the shutdowns, did you have to recharge the batt before it started again? If not, doubt it's an alternator issue. Theoretically you can remove the battery from the rig while running, your ignition system should run exclusively off the charging system and not draw from the battery.

 

[AppleTech]

I wonder if the issue could be the upper engine ground being completely disconnected? I guess we'll never know! Guess I'll try running the truck with that reconnected for a while lol

However, the odd thing is that the truck was running with that disconnected. Obviously there are several grounds on the engine so the fact that I was having issues indicates that perhaps one of the other grounds are not great and breaking contact under cornering? I'll see how it runs with that one connected but it sounds like I need to go through all of them regardless.

 

[Somebodyelse5]

I wonder if the issue could be the upper engine ground being completely disconnected? I guess we'll never know! Guess I'll try running the truck with that reconnected for a while lol

However, the odd thing is that the truck was running with that disconnected. Obviously there are several grounds on the engine so the fact that I was having issues indicates that perhaps one of the other grounds are not great and breaking contact under cornering? I'll see how it runs with that one connected but it sounds like I need to go through all of them regardless.

Electrical things can seem to behave like magic, especially to knuckle draggers like myself. I know that folks see a noticeable improvement in idle when they upgrade the factory grounds... but beyond bigger wire = mo' betta'... idk enough to comment. If the yoto engineers decided the upper was necessary, I'd assume it's necessary. Report back if connecting that wire solves the issue.

 

[AppleTech]

Electrical things can seem to behave like magic, especially to knuckle draggers like myself. I know that folks see a noticeable improvement in idle when they upgrade the factory grounds... but beyond bigger wire = mo' betta'... idk enough to comment. If the yoto engineers decided the upper was necessary, I'd assume it's necessary. Report back if connecting that wire solves the issue.

Agreed - I know the principles but it still behaves in mysterious ways! I get out of my depth quickly when it comes to that stuff for sure.

 

[donco]

Mine stays charged for weeks when sitting when it's dry, but if it rains, the battery dies in a couple days. I think water is getting in either thru a clogged sunroof drain or maybe a leak path thru the windshield seal. I'm guessing water is getting behind the inner relay box behind the fuse box in the kick panel and shorting something out. Sometimes the horn goes off or the fog lights come on by themselves when parked if we get a soaking rain. The battery can only sustain so many discharges, I'm on my 3rd one in the last 3 years.

 

[AppleTech]

Eeek what a nightmare!

 

[AppleTech]

OK so just to raise this again - I thought I'd solved it by finding that loose ground. And the truck has been fine for a while. But just recently started this habit up again. 2 most recent times were accelerating from a slow roll up a hill, just died. Restarted immediately and continued on just fine. Second was when my wife was in the pickup line at school - just lost power and had to restart. Confirmed the ground is just fine. Any other thoughts??