Series of strange events, suspecting a broken ground??? Help!!!

Recently my friends truck (2005 tacoma v6, manual, 4 door) has been having issues, as follows.

-oil leak, suspect front timing cover.
-alternator bearing failure, which led to a snapped serpentine belt, which also cut the air compressor clutch wires.

After the alt. failed, I replaced it with a reconditioned unit from napa, and first time turning the truck back on a bunch of things went hay wire...

All systems worked fine for about 20 seconds, then things stopped and lights came on...

-The windows will not work from any door, none...
-The fan was running when first started then all of a sudden it stopped dead, and will not work in any selection.
-The clutch cancel start switch no longer does anything, it does not illuminate.
-The switch for the bed inverter no longer illuminates or works.
-There are some lights associated with all this, they were not on before but are now. (ABS, E Brake light, and the Diff lock Light in red. All three are on constantly) As a side note, my truck DOES NOT have a diff lock, or any associated switches or relays...

All fuses in the cab and under the hood in the main relay box were checked, and all were fine.

I am hoping someone has seen or heard of similar issues and can help me out here. I am going to start with simple wiring trouble shooting and go from there. I'm hoping its a broken ground or something like that.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

 

The warning light do strange things when certain fuses are out how did you check the fuses?

 

we pulled each fuse individually and looked to see if its blown.

 

So we tore into the truck for a couple hours and have repaired the compressor wiring, and I have noticed that his battery light did not come on when the alternator charge wire was disconnected. and I re checked all the fuses, and swapped out the gauge fuse with a known good fuse and it did not change anything.

Does anybody out there have any idea what it could be or where to start?

 

Try checking fuses with a test light, its easy to miss a blown one if you check by just looking at them. There are two fuse panels as well, but hopefully you knew that.

If you do find any blown, check for overcharging / voltage over 14.5V.

If none blown, I would try disconnecting the battery for 5 minutes. Maybe a longshot, but the price is right.

 

You more then likely blew a main fuse(100A alt fuse) . Check all ground straps are connected and the main power strap from the alt is connected.

Yes, it is the timing cover leaking, it always leaks. I've done quite a few covers on this motor.

Are you sure the alt bearing is what failed? Usually it's the A/C compressor.

 

Ok I will check all the fuses with a test light when I get home from work, and yes I checked the main one under the hood that contains the larger fuses and relays, as well as the one behind the small "door" on the left side of the truck.

I will also check for over voltage, just to see whats going on with the alt. My friend said that he bought the higher amperage alternator which is used on the trucks with towing packages, do you think that would have anything to do with these problems??

Also the battery was disconnected for about an hour yesterday while we were working on it.

Thanks Landphil!

 

I would do as was said already. Test the fuses with a test light, or continuity tester.

You didn't run the vehicle without a battery did you? If you did there is a chance of load dump, but I would expect Toyota to have all of the electronics protected from damage caused by it.

 

All the Main fuses look fine, but I will check them with a test light to be sure, I didnt see any ground straps removed but I will look to make sure they are all intact. The main power strap is connected, but I have not yet measured voltage on it.

It is actually the front main seal which is leaking, I took everything apart last night and could clearly see it leaking from the crank pulley and everywhere else on the timing cover was not

And yes when we removed the alternator it was siezed solid, would not move one bit, I had a similar situation happen to my hilux becausae it was submerged when offroading.

So if all of the fuses are fine, is there any reason the diff lock light would come on when the truck is not even fitted with a locker?

Is there some computer that connects to all these systems that may have failed?

Thanks 1GR!

 

Thanks, I will use the test light and use my multi meter.
No we did not run the truck without the battery, but we did remove the battery to have better acces while removing the alternator and a/c compressor.

 

Look very closely at the IG1 fuse in the dash fuse panel. If the fused side of this circuit doesn't have 12V you will get the locker light even is the truck doesn't have one. The ABS will also be disabled and the ABS light will turn on. Can't say about the brake warning light though.

 

You called it landphil!
Thats exactly what it was, the fuse looked fine but it did not have continuity going through it. I checked every system. ABS, windows, charging, everything was not recieving 12 volts. but I changed out the fuse with one I tested and knew to be good and it fixed it!!

Thanks guys!

Brodie

 

Gotta love a simple solution to a what seemed like a more major issue. Did you find any cause for the fuse blowing? I would still check the regulated voltage on the new alternator if you haven't already, just to be sure.