Strange Elecrical Issue

My 2006 6cyl auto has been acting oddly the last couple of days. My dash has lost electrical power a number of time off and on. It affects the radio, both 12volt power outlets, clock and power mirrors. Usually all work fine when first started and in a few minutes the power goes out. Everything else works fine. The power may come back on or not while driving. It will usually work fine again after shutting it down for a while.

I've checked fuses. No problems and they are on different fuses. Any ideas? Is there a main power buss supplying this group?

 

Checked the voltage coming off your battery lately? Or alternator?

 

Sounds like a loose ground wire.

 

Battery was at 13.6 volts earlier today. Ground wire connections sound like a good item to check.

 

I had a similar thing happen to me out of the blue last year. Weird electrical gremlins showed up - radio would cut out, air bag light would come on, clock would go out, no power at the 12v outlets, trip odometer would reset, interior lights wouldn't work IIRC. Then everything would cut back on out of the blue. Sometimes I could go 70 miles and a day or two before it would happen again.

After some trouble shooting I narrowed it down to a faulty fuse. I'm not sure which one was the culprit as I replaced my ECU and ignition fuses at the same time. One of them probably had a hairline crack in the conductor or something.

That was 10k miles ago and no problems since.

---

Here's a link to the thread I started. It turned into a big debate about dielectric grease, which was amusing. But the problem was solved in the end:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/well-that-was-weird-can-anyone-explain-why-this-happened.453829/

 

Cleaning your battery ground isn't a bad idea either. If your battery is good, then it's good. Check the fuses, I bet you're running a bum fuse.

It's frustrating, I know.

 

If the connections on the battery were poor, the truck would have starter problems. When they corrode, often all functions work as usual, but when you go to start it, the high current needed, just isn't there. It is not the battery.

The feeds to the accessories mentioned probably come from more than one source, but maybe through a single large plug. You can try pulling on as many plugs under the dash as you can get to while someone watches the lights. If you hit on a loose one, the problem will show.

 

X2 - but not at the battery. If the issues are on separate circuits the common link is the Ground. They may have a common ground point - but "That" location is not properly connected to ground.

If you are sure it's not an upstream fuse(s) then Try this .... go to an easy access place with this problem (12v/ Lighter Sockets?) and attach a ground wire FROM the socket ground to a nice cleaned/bare spot on the FRAME with a heavy wire.

This may prove if it's the ground or not ....

 

The continuing saga. I checked all the grounds in the engine compartment. Then I pulled a number of the fuses, checked their connections and reinserted them. So far yesterday and today running errands, no problem, but I'm not holding my breath

 

any time you get crazy electrical problems the grounds are a good place to start.....