howsthewater

I have a 1999 4Runner and have been experiencing electrical issues. It would be great to get a lead on what the problem is to see if I can fix it myself without going into a shop. Here’s some relevant information:

1. The electric locks always work when the car is running but after turning the car off they sometimes work and sometimes don’t. When they don’t work I can hear the lock motor turning, just not putting enough force to actuate the lock mechanism. Sometimes waiting a few minutes works, sometimes I need to manually lock the doors. (Voltage issue?)

2. When the car is running and I turn on the headlights the interior lights dim and sometimes the stereo system briefly turns off as if there was a significant voltage drop. The stereo always turns back on a few seconds later and the lights always brighten again. The same thing (stereo restarts) happens sometimes when I am going slowly and then give the car gas, but only early on in a trip.

3. Sometimes after driving and parking and sitting for an hour or so the car won’t start at all (won’t even crank). Depressing the brake pedal resolves this issue. Crazy, I know. I had the front brakes done by an unfortunately shoddy brake shop a few months ago. Related?

4. The starting battery is two years old and reads 12.6 after sitting overnight. The car almost always starts quickly and easily. After starting the voltage at the battery slowly goes up, leveling off around ~14.2. Immediately after starting the car the voltage at the battery reads around 13v but the voltage at the cigarette lighter reads ~14.4. (Perhaps the cig lighter is fed directly from the alternator?)

5. I removed the fusible link from the cigarette lighter a few months ago (before problems started) but didn’t notice any problems immediately afterwards and am not sure how those could be connected.

6. A remote entry / alarm system is installed. Sometimes the remote unlock works and other times it doesn't. I never use the remote lock anymore because it arms the alarm system and I'm never sure that I can disarm it by clicking "open" on the key fob.

7. A couple of weeks ago I went to pick a friend up at the airport and sat in the cell phone lot with music playing and my phone charging off of the cig lighter for about 20 minutes. The engine was off but I had been driving for a half hour before I parked. When I tried to start the car afterwards the battery didn’t have enough charge and I needed a jumpstart.

Okay, enough monologue. Electrical geniuses, what are your thoughts? Fingers crossed that the internet can figure this one out!

scuba

First thing I would do is check all the grounds. Make sure they are tight and clean.
Engine to body, body to battery, etc.
I had a bad ground and got weird issues like that too.

howsthewater

Thank you for the quick reply. I'm going to take the car over to a shop to have them load test the battery and alternator. In the meantime I tried to check as many of the connections as I could. The ones that I found looked good, although there is a lot of dust on the positive terminal of the battery that I will try to clean off tomorrow.

Regarding the ground cables, however, I could only find a cable going from the battery to the body. Where should I look for the body/engine and body/frame ground cables?

Thanks again!

scuba

There should be one on the firewall going to somewhere on the intake manifold.
On my 2.7L, it was on the passenger side at the back of the engine.
I also believe there is one going from the alternator or engine to the frame, couldn't tell you exactly where though.

DirtyODwyer

I have a 1999 Toyota 4Runner. The other day I left my hazard lights on overnight and it drained the battery. I recharged the battery at home and drove the car around but the battery soon died. I noticed the terminals were a little loose so maybe the battery wasn't recharging properly. The AAA guy checked the battery and said it was an alternator problem. But I'm sure that's not really the case because maybe the problem was really just the loose terminal.

I've since returned the battery since it was under warranty. I just installed the new battery and am going on a longish trip tomorrow to the mountains snowboarding. The check battery light is still on. Is this telling me I have an alternator problem or does that check battery light just need to be reset or something? Maybe I should just change out the alternator to be safe. Just want to be sure I'm not gonna have a problem on the road this weekend. Any thoughts?