2015 Head unit issues

Recently my 2015 Tacoma has be giving me some head unit issues.

Back in 2017 it would sometimes freeze up and my music would stop for about 5 minutes. The head unit would restart mid drive without difficulty and things would resume like normal. I called Toyota and they said my truck needed an update. Gave it to them for about and hour and all was well until last week.

Monday of last week the head unit would come on for less than a second and go to black screen for about 3 seconds and it would do this over and over. After restarting the truck it kept doing it and wouldn't stop. So I left it overnight and didn't think much of it.

Tuesday I get up to get some groceries and food during this outbreak, the trucks dash lights come on as usual but I get a click out the starter and no more. I seems like my head unit was pulling power from my battery overnight and drained it. Thankfully I had my Camaro to get my things. I put it on a charger and it refilled my battery. Later that day I pulled the fuse (20 amp) on the radio, it turned off and I took the terminals off the battery to let the truck reset for about an hour. I put the battery and fuse back in and all seemed well.

Wednesday I was going to my camp to go fishing to burn time. The head unit worked as normal as drove along and had no issues. When I got out and turned the truck off the radio was still playing and it still was displaying the screen. I took the fuse back out and not sure where to go from here.

Toyota wanted $128 to diagnose the issue, talked to a few buddies and they have said bad grounds, a bad head unit, and a deeper electrical issue.

Has anyone had these issues or know how to remedy them? I don't want to spend at least 300 bucks on a new aftermarket head unit.

tldr: head unit is giving me issues but other people are saying its a deeper electrical issue

Any help or suggestions is appreciated.

Also looking at new head units so suggestions for those too would be nice.

 

I’ve had the same issue with the headunit for awhile. But every time if it ain’t restarted while driving I just shut down the truck then start it back up and it’s fine.

I know someone who could probably have some solutions tho..
@Muddinfun

 

Yea, I turned the truck on and off a few times and still nothing. Not sure where to go from here

 

I only have schematics for ‘06, but here goes. There’s 10A radio fuse in the under hood fuse box that supplies constant power to the radio. The 7.5A ACC fuse in the under dash fuse box is the trigger to turn on the radio. If the radio is on with the key turned off, pull the 7.5A ACC fuse. If the radio continues to play, the problem is either in the radio or somehow power wires are shorted together between the fuse and the radio. If the radio turns off when you pull that fuse, then there’s a problem with the ignition switch.

 

Update: I feel stupid, make sure you battery is still good. My 5 year old Toyota battery gave out, since replacing the battery the head unit works fine.

 

Update 2: Nope wasn't a battery, although it was bad. Head unit is still dead

 

Have you tried updating the software on the head unit yet?

 

Does it have navigation? I have a 2015 and it's a non jbl system without navigation. The radio has rebooted a few times in the past, but it's starting to happen more frequently.

 

My 2015's radio was troublesome as well, but not to this extent. I dealt with it a short while and ditched the unit for an aftermarket head unit.

Try the fuse pulling scenarios to see what you get. My bet it's the radio.