some electrical problems: are they connected? (1 Viewer)

[hatchethead]

About a week+ ago, the Nav screen and climate controls in my UZJ100 went dark. Tonight, I went out to move my rig (after moving it a couple times today already), and it wouldn't turn over. Dash lights came on and engined clicked, but no crank. I put it on the battery charger for 30 minutes and it started right up.

A month or so ago, I came out to the rig and it had a dead battery that wouldn't charge. The battery had died a few weeks before, too, but turned over after sitting on the charger.

Also, I think the windshield gasket in front of the driver, low on the window, leaks, letting water into the cabin so it drips on the driver's left foot. This has caused electrical problems in the past (lights go on, drain the battery). It hasn't really rained recently, though I have hosed off my kayak while it's been sitting in the rig's roof rack. That water might have infiltrated, again.

Are these problems related? What can a guy do to track down and fix the source of the problem?

Thanks for whatever advice others can share.

Jason

 

[CJF]

Almost guaranteed to be your battery or alternator.

 

[hatchethead]

Test all the fuses this morning. (Did know that they made tiny fuse testers! Guess I could have used a multimeter, too.). They all tested fine. Guess it's time to bring it into the shop.

 

[RND1]

How old's the battery? If old, I'd replace with fresh oem Toyota before taking it to the shop. Otherwise, sounds like you may have a parasitic battery drain. Mine was caused by 6 CD changer. Unplugged it and no issues since.

 

[landshark9]

Sounds basic but check all your negative connections

 

[CJF]

Guess it's time to bring it into the shop.

What?? You must like throwing money around.

At the very least, check the voltage across the battery while the rig is running to test the alternator, and also check the voltage with the rig off.

You can also disconnect the negative terminal (enigine off) and measure your amp draw.

 

[hatchethead]

What?? You must like throwing money around.

At the very least, check the voltage across the battery while the rig is running to test the alternator, and also check the voltage with the rig off.

You can also disconnect the negative terminal (enigine off) and measure your amp draw.

Done and done. Voltage looked good with truck off and with engine running. (No obvious sign of bad alternator, that is.)

 

[hatchethead]

Brough the rig to my mechanic on Monday morning expecting it to take him all week to track down the problems. Got a call on Tuesday morning that it was all fixed.

The guy tracked down the source of an electrical problem I didn't report (PS window not rolling down) to a connector that he replaced. That was great. Then he reported the nav+climate control was dead because a fuse (that I couldn't find, apparently) was fried. Mech though it was because of the battery low voltage problem or something. (This is still unclear to me.) Finally, he traced the battery problem to a Chinese switch I'd bought to try to fix the PS window problem; the switch was the battery leak. I had the original switch in the rig, and he put it back.

The rig now runs like a dream. Not a great dream, but a pleasant dream.

FIN