aggierandy

Hi all,

New guy here. I am trying to help my mother fix her 4runner and I was hoping to get some help. I'm active over on the mazdaspeed forums and hope the experts over here can lend me a hand. I've searched but haven't had much luck.

She has a 2006 4runner sr5 V6 2wd. She was driving in a parking lot on this past week and she had her radio cut out. As she looked down at it, all of the dash lights came on. Literally all of them. Everything from ABS to low oil to check engine. She pulled into a parking spot and the car began to idle rough, nearly stalled out, idle fluctuated heavily from 500 rpm to 1800 rpm. The rear wipers came on and the alarm went off with the car running.

She tried to move the car and it died. My dad came to help her and they were able to jump the car and it behaved fine. They let the car charge for a minute and she drove it home. About a block from home, the battery light came on. The car would not start again after that.

In the past, I had an issue with a chevy cavalier where the alternator went out and the car was running just on the battery. It caused the ECU to go crazy as the voltage dropped. The car surged and revved uncontrolablly the lights went on and off. Overall, crazy behavior. We made the assumption that something similar had happened.

They jumped the car again, pulled the battery cables off and the car continued to run. The thought was still an intermittent failure of the alternator.

They spent the better part of the day getting the alternator off and took it to the parts store where it tested as OK.

That's where it currently stands. I think the plan is to still change the alternator and see if it helps but I was hoping to get some opinions from anyone here that may have had a similiar experience.

The car is 100% stock. No modifications. She is the only owner. 150k miles.

aggierandy

Suspicions were correct. The alternator was bad. New alternator and battery fixed the issue.

Hope this helps someone else.