samueltobias

so i just replaced my waterpump, left my key in the ignition over night, and the next morning when i went to start it the battery was dead(brand new battery), figured it just killed it so i got a jump. went to turn on my headlights the low beams wouldnt work, i switched to high beams and those worked, but the dash indicator(blue high beam) never turned on. about 50 yds down the road the high beams went out too. all other accersories work though. as i drive anytime i go over 1500 rpms the battery light and airbag light will turn on, also the check engine light is always on. when parked the battery will drain in about 1 hour, charge it on a wall charger it runs and starts just fine, park for an hour and it will die to the point where it wont even crank, any suggestions? its beyond me!!!

Kiroshu

Sounds to me like you may have done alittle something during the water pump change..... What kind of truck? Clean battery terminals. Whats the battery voltage engine off and running? Check alt? All ground wires connected?

samueltobias

97 runner 2.7, terminals are clean. battery read 12.2 off(it was a day or two ago) and 14.3 running

Kiroshu

Whats the battery charge when it would not do anything? Go back in your mind and remeber what you had to take off for he water pump change. Check Belts and connectors. Theres alot of cars out there to where if the key is in the ignition even though its in off postion energizes alot ofthings in the car. The opening of the door energizes things in the car. If you have too high a parasidic draw it will kill a battery over night. Most cars should not have over 50 milli amps of parasidic draw.

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

Have you checked the headlight bulbs and the connectors at the back of the bulbs? Why? Well, low beams burned out would explain why the low beams don't come on and also realize that the high beam indicator gets it's power through the low beam filaments (when they are off), so it not working also says that there is no current flowing in the low beam circuit.

Pumpkinyota

To correct the last post, the high beam indicator does not in fact get its power through the low beam filaments, drawing power through a filament = filament glowing, that's kinda how they work.

The high beam indicator draws its power from the highbeam switched circuit that energizes/switches the highbeam relay. The common point to all of these seems to be the part of the wiring harness that travels up the inside of your steering column to the 5-position switch (headlights, brights, blinkers, etc). If you pull the cover off your steering column, you should find that there is a 20-pin connector that connects that 5-position switch to your wiring harness. Make sure that is seated good and tight, it sounds like it may be loose or making poor contact.

Also, make sure that your headlight fuse isn't blown or coroded, and is making good contact.

If these don't work, get a test light and a manual, and start looking at wiring diagrams...

4Crawler

iTrader: (3)

May vary with different years, but if you look at the wiring diagram ('85 FSM scan below), you'll see the indicator is connected to ground and sits between the low beams and the (only) headlight relay:


When the low beams are on, the headlight switch connects the low beams to ground, turning them on. When the high beams are on, the low beam filaments are "floating" and not tied to ground. But current *does* flow from the headlight relay, through the low beam filaments and then through the high beam indicator to ground. Why does the high beam indicator light and not the low beams? Simple answer is the size and resistance of each of the bulbs. The low beam bulbs are ~55 watts each, and in parallel a fraction of an ohm in resistance:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...shtml#HOrelays

The high beam indicator is likely a 1 watt bulb or less, probably 50-100 ohms resistance or so (have not personally measured that - but an educated guess) so with two resistors in series, the voltage drop across each is in proportion to the resistance, so you'll have 99+% of the voltage drop across the high beam indicator (tiny bulb, high resistance) and less than 1% voltage across the low beams. Light bulbs need maybe 1/2 their rated voltage across them to start to glow a decent amount, but with 1% of the voltage, there is no light out of them.

And when you add relays to the headlight system, you need to make special provision to feed back the current to the high beam indicator (that would normally have come through the low beams to make it work normally, full explanation below:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri...shtml#TechInfo

And yes, this may be different on different vehicles, I don't know which one you are referring to, but I do now how it works on my '85. And why did Toyota design it this way? Not sure, but several ideas is that is saves wiring and switch complexity. You don't need to run an extra wire from the headlights back to the dash indicator and you don't need to add a separate contact and wire from the switch for it. So instead of being called a "high beam on" indicator, logically that light should be "not low beam" indicator.

But yes, the wiring in steering column can affect headlight and high beam indicator operation.

toyotabull

I had this problem once, ended up pulling the altenator out and removing the cover off the back of it and cleaning the brushes on the rear shaft with ELECTRA-CLEAN. Put it back on and working fine without any more lights coming on in the dash. And that is the 3rd time with a yota I have seen this same thing happen, either mud or oil and dust can build up back there preventing the bushings from contacting the shaft.

Pumpkinyota

Apologies, I stand corrected =)

I just grabbed the FSM for my 79, and you are right, its the same. I wired my junk 10 years ago, and did another Yota, 2 Chevy pickups (56 and 65), a Studebaker, and a Buick within like 3 months, so my memories are probably fading and blurring together. However, it does seem a little odd to an old car guy / telecom guy to run an indicator lamp off of float voltage (though I can't believe I missed it lol). You are probably right, it was probably related to ease of installation when wiring the vehicle in the factory. Also, wrong about the 2 relay setup, dimmer switch takes care of that nicely. Apologies on posting potentially erroneous and misleading information, thank you for the correction.

That being said, OP- if you have checked your headlight connection already, both the relay and the disconnect in the steering column are good thinks to look into. Also, you might grab a meter or a test lamp and just start looking for voltage. Check the headlight socket, the fuse, the relay, etc., happy hunting!

samueltobias

ended up just replacing the alternator and all these problems went away, probably the more expensive route, but the less stressful, so it balances out! thanks for all the posts tho!!