Electrical issues! Taco won't start!

Hey guys, need some help.

2007 TRD PreRunner
Stocker

About a month ago i started having issues with my battery dying. Truck started fine, ran fine to and from but when i start it up again it would die. I had to let her sit for a while then it would start up.

I first assumed there might have been a short comeing from my stereo system which ran directly from my Yellow Top to a cap, then to the 2 amplifiers. I disconnected the whole system and it seemed to work fine..

Until today i went to start up and nothing. I had accessory power but the starter just would not turn over. Dead starter? So i replaced the starter, turned her over, success.

Turned it off, went to turn on again just to make sure. Dead.

I have since replaced the battery with an advance auto parts battery, and the battery died INSTANTLY.

I have no idea where to look now. All fuses in the circuit are fine, no loose cables that i can see. Help.


Help....

 

The battery terminals are all tight on the battery? Follow the ground wire, make sure it's tight.

 

Automatic? I wonder if your safety switch is the issue..i had an old car that did this now and then, jiggle the shifter and it fired up

 

connect a clamp on ammeter to the negative terminal and disconnect your accessories negative terminal one by one to see, sounds like you have a major parasitic draw on the system

 

Terminals are tight, ground is secure.

I will have to do the ammeter tomorrow, I've got an early day. But i agree, there is something that is just absolutely draining my power that i fear might require removing the entire dashboard and running wires. Its so intermittent that i cannot narrow it down. I'm not a rookie when it comes to this either, i work on weapon systems in the navy. Just curious if this issue has happened to anyone before.

I appreciate all the help guys.

 

So it really killed a brand new battery "instantly" do you have a dvom you can check the actual battery voltage?

 

I connected the battery, had perfect accessory power, turned her over, died. It simply clicked, the starter did not turn the engine over at all.

 

Sounds like you might have some green bastards living in either your ground cable or power cable from your battery to starter. Check for continuity across both cables. If your getting accessorie power and no cranking power I'd be checking for high resistances there 1st. Because if your battery is being charged we know it's not your alternator and if it sits over night and you get accessories power we know there isn't a draw on your battery and it's not dead.

If you find high resistance across either of the starter cables cut them open and look for green dust if you find that the cable needs to be replaced. High resistance can cause a high draw a suck back a lot of power really quick.

You could slso do a load test on your battery to make sure it's not dead and just a draw on the battery

12.6v is a good strong battery so that's 2.1v per cell and I think it's 12.2 is a dead battery I can't remember off the top of my head

 

This is true but I would make sure you have the arrow pointing in the right direction of current flow before you start pulling fuses.

But honestly I'd start with some simple voltage drops

 

I really doubt your pulling your dash to find this problem

 

As asked in post 3. Is it an automatic?

 

You were correct, combo of a loose connector and a bad cable. Thank you all for the tips.

 

.... and another happy ending on tacomaworld.