Dead battery or more serious??? Taco wont crank.

I drove my Taco over 100 miles yesterday and parked it and didnt crank it for a full 24 hours until just now. I turned the key and the video is what you see. I didnt think much of it until I went to jump it off with my wife's car and absolutely nothing.

I did notice that one time I opened the door and barely got any interior lights and the next time I did. I thought it to be strange that jumping it off didnt help.

The battery terminals are all clean and have never had one minutes trouble from the truck. All the auto parts stores are closed so there is no way for me to have the battery tested tonight. I'm all worried there might be some weird electrical problem. I sure hope not!!! Hopefully someone else here has experienced this to be a dead battery. If not I fear bad news.

Any other pointers to check this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHmbRp9dkFo

 

Check grounds. Don't think a dead battery would flicker like that.

 

After checking the blacks on the battery where would I start?

 

remove wires from battery then follow them...both of them....clean accordingly

 

Follow ground wire off battery. Maybe loose? Did you ground battery cable to terminal or frame when jumping? Check underhood fuse panel for loose or burnt relays or fuses.

 

Check the ground. To the right of the battery, on the side beneath the hood. Mine was lose and it caused my truck to die and not want to jump. Tightened it up and never had another issue.

 

UPDATE JUST NOW:

I removed the wires from the battery, cleaned and tightened. I was excited when I got in and turned the key and got all lights like normal. I then turned it over and click, clunk and nothing!

I wonder if my starter is dead and causing this?! CRAP! I measured my battery with my DMM and it read 12v.

I dont even know where the starter is for the ol' tap "fix".

Any more help fellas?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmmIOmdnk8I

 

Try jumper cables again. Ground off on oil catch lip around filter.

If you get it running, check alternator output.

 

I'm 99% sure the battery is toast. Can you remove the battery from your wifes car and try it in your truck or is it a different post setup? If your battery is toast it won't make a difference if you use jumper cables.

 

This is my hope. Her battery is weird so I will unfortunately have to wait until tomorrow.

Wonder why it freaks out electrical when I try to crank and then seems to reset until I crank again after removing the terminals and retighten?

 

This is what I'm getting at, but easier to use cables than changing battery. 3 years? Not very good longevity for a True Start...especially a 27F.

 

Yea I got airborne in my truck and it did the same thing. Ended up having a bad cell in my battery. Would read good volts but would not take a load. Dash showed same symptoms

 

if the batt reads 12v just sitting there, measure the voltage when you try to start it. If it drops to single digits when cranking, you may have a dead cell in the batt. Sometimes they just randomly short out across the plates inside the batt. Happened to me twice.

 

GREAT idea! I just had my wife help me w/ this experiment. The battery read a constant 12.70 when idle. I had my wife try to crank as I was still measuring DC voltage and the voltage dropped to 2.xx then stayed at 3.xx while she was trying to crank.

I really hope its a dead battery still. I just spent all my spare cash on a new home HVAC system- $4,000!!! :-(

 

No problem. Always happy to help someone out. Replace battery, continue fun

 

Well fealls....it was just the battery as I had hoped. I was thrown because I have never had a dead battery act this way in a Tacoma. I have owned 3 of these trucks and have replaced 3 batteries. Again, never acted this way!

I knew nothing would break on a Tacoma with only 54,000 miles.

 

This is why this forum and thread are great. I got stranded at Chilis last night, after I enjoyed my dinner reservations of course. When I came back to my truck this EXACT same thing happened! Dude my reaction was just like yours, never had a car do this..WTF?! Thanks for the help OP and fellow TW'ers. Guess ill be replacing my batt. now to pick a new one.

OP what did you go with?