Strange issue - no power (1 Viewer)

[Rednexus]

How do you do that? Probe each fuse at the box?

Abbreviated version below:

1. Disconnect the negative battery cable
2. Get a multimeter that has the capacity to measure 10A of current and set it up to read current.
3. Attach one lead to the disconnected negative battery cable and one to the negative battery terminal
4. Shut all doors and lock the GX and monitor the current. Within ~1 minute of locking the doors, it should be <50 mA of current draw (current flowing thru the multimeter is the parasitic draw on your battery - which will never be zero due to computers, clocks, etc). 50 mA is the Toyota spec for most vehicles, and would take ~1 month of sitting to drain down a fully-charged battery.
5. If you are over 50 mA, start pulling fuses and relays until it drops below that. When it does drop, you've found the circuit with the parasitic draw. If you pull fuses from inside the vehicle you'll need to keep the dome light switched "closed" (I used a small wood clamp on the switch in the door jambs for this).

It's a PITA and took me 2-3 hours, working with my wife. My draw only appeared when the dome light was set to "AUTO", so the test with it off was inconclusive at first. When it was drawing, the draw was around 175 mA, which was more than enough to kill the weakened battery overnight. I also had to buy a $80 multimeter to run the test due to the 10A rating of the current measurement. My cheapie multimeter was only rated to 1 amp, which the GX will draw during the first 30-seconds or so of shutdown. This blew the fuse inside my cheapie multimeter. I also used some alligator clips to attach the multimeter leads to both the negative cable and negative terminal on the battery.

 

[re_guderian]

Will try that after getting battery tested. I'm stumped as to why my relatively new digital battery charger would indicate a fully charged battery, yet -nada- when you hit the button...

 

[Rednexus]

Will try that after getting battery tested. I'm stumped as to why my relatively new digital battery charger would indicate a fully charged battery, yet -nada- when you hit the button...

Starter solenoid perhaps?

 

[cgs2k2]

so just circling back on this. i am 99% certain it ended up being some severely corroded battery terminals / connections. got a new battery and cleaned up the wires to make them look like new and have not had an issue since.

 

[re_guderian]

Key fob in cup holder, nada. No dash lights, no headlights, no dome light, done. Been charging 24hrs, says 100% capacity and sitting at float charging. Jiggle positive cable hard, and whole battery moves up 1/8". Headlights come on, car starts. Head to AutoZone, checked out with 12.7 V, but "bad internals". New battery from Costco, problem solved. Interestingly, with the bad battery I couldn't get my OBD dongle to connect to my Torque Pro app. New battery and it connected automatically. Considering it fixed and just strange battery failure symptoms.

 

[Hiluxforever]

Key fob in cup holder, nada. No dash lights, no headlights, no dome light, done. Been charging 24hrs, says 100% capacity and sitting at float charging. Jiggle positive cable hard, and whole battery moves up 1/8". Headlights come on, car starts. Head to AutoZone, checked out with 12.7 V, but "bad internals". New battery from Costco, problem solved. Interestingly, with the bad battery I couldn't get my OBD dongle to connect to my Torque Pro app. New battery and it connected automatically. Considering it fixed and just strange battery failure sysymptoms.

This is why I went AGM. We had 2 batteries mysteriously go flat in 6 weeks and I converted both to AGMs. Neither lasted more than 2 years, one was a lexus replacement and one was a Interstate/Costco.

The 4Runner has bad connectors due to hydrogen sulfide acid from the failing battery. I replaced the connectors with oem as it's Alex's first nice car.

Under volting can cause a lot of weird issues. Why I insist on calling it electric theory.

 

[Rednexus]

Agreed, once you go AGM you won't go back to flooded lead acid. I have an Odyssey in my GX. They are $400 from Summit. For a rig you rely on in the sticks you need a good battery.

I still suggest doing the parasitic draw test just to rule it out. The dome light draw in my GX was killing one flooded lead acid battery per year.

 

[r2m]

Key fob in cup holder, nada. No dash lights, no headlights, no dome light, done. Been charging 24hrs, says 100% capacity and sitting at float charging. Jiggle positive cable hard, and whole battery moves up 1/8". Headlights come on, car starts. Head to AutoZone, checked out with 12.7 V, but "bad internals". New battery from Costco, problem solved. Interestingly, with the bad battery I couldn't get my OBD dongle to connect to my Torque Pro app. New battery and it connected automatically. Considering it fixed and just strange battery failure symptoms.

Was your battery still under warranty?

 

[re_guderian]

Was your battery still under warranty?

Yeah, kind of. It cost $45+tax for a new one. Someday I'll bite the bullet and go AGM, but I've had those go bad, too. This one didn't even have any insane off-road pounding on it.

 

[Hiluxforever]

Yeah, kind of. It cost $45+tax for a new one. Someday I'll bite the bullet and go AGM, but I've had those go bad, too. This one didn't even have any insane off-road pounding on it.

Thats a plus, both of the batteries we had go flat were bought by previous owners and the warranty didn't transfer.