tazman1972

I welded back on my power antenna motor bracket and did not disconnect the battery. Now when the ignition is off, the power antenna, windows and radio still have power. When driving on bumpy roads the radio and antenna will randomly turn on and off. The battery will go dead even though the key is not in the ignition. When I unplug the power antenna everything (except the antenna of course) goes back to working normal and the battery stops draining. Did I fry a relay or the radio or the computer? I looked in the area where I welded to see if maybe I melted some wires but could not see any thing. My normal repair shop was not able to figure it out. Hopefully someone here has experience with bonehead mistakes like this.

Terrys87

iTrader: (1)

You do not say which year. The 84-88 trucks, the key will come out with the ignition still on. You have to push the button on the column and turn the key to the off to shut everything off. A quick check is if the key is out of the ignition and the clock display is still on.

If that doesn't solve it, I would start looking at the antenna.

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

Depends on just what year it is

If you welded the bracket to the right inner fender where it would go.

Lots of wires on the inside of what you welded to..

Disconnecting the negative battery cable would not have prevented damage from from heat.

Your lucky you did not have a fire .

.Figuring out if you did damage to relays will depend on the year.

It is possible you welded a set of contacts closed

tazman1972

Sorry. 1997 4runner with 3.4


Yes things did get hot in the right inner fenderwell but I pulled everything out that I could get to and didn't see any heat damage but it is difficult to get a good look from the inside unless you are a pretzle or remove the passenger side seat to lay down.

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

This is one of those things that is going to take lots of time!! There is no easy way!!!



I would guess your regular shop was willing to put some time in it

You would not want to pay 4 or even 8 hours labor.

Does every thing else work like it should??

Anything that does not work.

If you did not melt any wires . What happens is the your welding current can travel through any part of the electrical system.

If you don`t have a meter now is the time to get one.

Check all the fuse blocks for melting or arcing

The gray wire going into the antenna relay comes from the 15 amp acc. fuse if some how this circuit is energized some how it will power the radio and the antenna relay .

Which will be enough to drain the battery over time .

the battery should be charged with a battery charger.

tazman1972

Everything seems to be working except that they are working with the ignition off. My shop spent about an hour and then gave up. I think they didn't really want to try. They told me of another shop that specializes in electrical problems. These kinds of shops usually have a 3 hour min charge to diagnose the problem. I can do tha, but I was just hoping there might be a fairly clear solution, that someone here might know, based on the symptoms. I am not too good with wiring. Normally if I turn off the vehicle while the radio was on, the antenna motor would run until it was down and then would shut off. Then when the key was turned back on or accessory the antenna would automaically pop back up. Also when you turn off the ignition you could roll down the windows until a door was opened. I would think there is a relay that connects the ignition to the radio and window system? I think that relay is the problem since now those systems continue to work after the ignition is off and after a door has opened. Am I in the ballpark with my guess? If so I have no idea how to find it and what it looks like or how to test it once I find it. I do have a multimeter and know how to use basic functions. Thanks again for any help!

tj884Rdlx

To test for draw of open circuit, put a test light between your battery negative terminal and its cable. Light stays on while there is draw. Remove fuses until light goes out. (Be sure interior light circuit is off first of course)

If the power antenna is the only circuit still open and drawing current, you know everything else is OK from the welding work.

Then you can try replacing the switch. BUT I'm pretty sure on some SR5 models the power antenna was constant hot so you could lower it to prevent bending at any time, like at car washes. Do you still have the antenna switch in your dash? If someone bypassed it, it could be your constant draw problem right there, not a fault from welding.

Disclaimer: I was describing conditions for 80s trucks, that don't have the "window up after ignition off" feature. That is worth looking into further. Sorry I'm not familiar there. Good luck!

tazman1972

My 4-runner does not have a dedicated antenna switch. While ignition switch or acc is on the only way to actuate the antenna was to turn the radio on or off or to turn off the ignition switch. Prior to my antenna bracket "fix" once a door was opened you could not actuate the antenna or radio while the ignition was off. thanks

tazman1972

One thing I said that I just realized was wrong. The radio DOES still turn on and off even when the power antenna is disconnected but it does not seem to be draining the battery but when the antenna is plugged in the battery was going dead. I will try the test light and see if I can find the circuit that has power when it shouldn't. For my 97 4runner is the dome light and headlights the only circuits that should have power when the ignition is off? Thanks.

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

The radio and the antenna relay both draw voltage from the dome light fuse so have voltage at all times.

that is where the B+ voltage comes from to save the radio presets

This is a Blue /Yellow stripe wire if this is touching the gray wire it will cause your problem.

The gray wire is the voltage to the radio

if your windows are involved in this mess about the only place common the circuits have is the intergration relay which is not really a relay

If you were close to me I would be glad to help

Lets back up the bracket broke or rusted off and you just tacked it back on.

You did not change anything else ??

Did not install another antenna from any thing else??

Radio and harness are still stock ??

tazman1972

That is correct,just welded the bracket back on, everything else was not touched. radio and harness all stock. Thanks

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

Were you ever able to figure this out ??