Charging System Issue?

After sitting overnight tried starting 2011 SR5 4WD DBL Cab Tacoma and engine wouldn't turn over, battery was dead. Battery showed 10.x VDC. Had no prior indication of a problem. Battery is 2 yrs. old. Trickle charged for 2 hours and engine started. Checked alternator output and showed 13.84 VDC. Left run for 20 minutes and battery maintained 12.61 VDC after turning off. Checked for parasitic drain and showed 0.3 mA so no problem. After sitting over night battery still had 12.41VDC. Engine turned over quickly and engine started. What is different is after the engine starts the engine dies with 3 seconds. Engine will restart and continue running. Seems to start this way after sitting for 30 minutes, drove it to the grocery store and had no problems. Came out and engine died within 3 seconds. Restarts and runs fine.
Still can't explain why battery went dead the first time. Wife drove grandkids around all day in 100degF temps. They were charging their iphones and had radio and air conditioning on while they drove around. Typical routine for them. And their were no indications of any issues. only the next morning the battery was dead.
Could a bad battery cause this dying within 3 seconds?

On SS so don't want to buy a battery if I don't need one. Although it will be the first step unless I find out what is going on.

 

Odd on a 2 year old battery. Any warranty left on the battery?

It could be a dead cell inside the battery. It happens.

Try this.. Fully charge the battery with a charger. Disconnect it and allow it to sit overnight. If it dies while not connected it has an internal short. Or you could take it to an auto parts store and most will test it for you.

 

If the battery went dead , you lost your idle learn memory . It will take a few road runs to re-learn the engine idle . Not sure when you performed the last throttle body cleaning , but that may explain the truck dying completely after the dead battery .

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/how-to-throttle-body-cleaning-2005-v6.94203/

 

A battery usually lasts longer but they can fail that soon.

Any possibility the little ones got your keys, jumped in to listen to the stereo and charge their phones?

Sounds like you have and know how to operate a multimeter. If it has peak high and low, set it to peak low dc volts. Connect to the battery and start it. I’ve seen 10.4 on a brand new battery, if it’s lower than 10.0, 10.1, I’d start to worry about a weak battery.

Battery terminals should be not covered with a big acid booger. Posts should not be oxidized, look black. If they’re black a cleaning with a battery brush is in order. I was skeptical but now a believer in the felt pads to keep them acid free.

Also look at your alternator. Belt shouldn’t be loose. Big wire is tight. Small wire connector snapped in good.

If your battery has caps, wipe the area clean first, pop the caps off, look inside. Sometimes one or two will be crystallized and rock hard. I don’t know what causes it, maybe heat because I see it closest to a heat source.

If you have a dc amp clamp you could try this. Engine running, high beams on, amp clamp on the positive cable. CAREFULLY wiggle the alternator wires without injuring yourself. Moving parts love to grab and pull fingers into a belt pulley. Fans like to slice fingers and arms. While wiggling, see if the amperage changes suddenly.

 

300 milliamps is a little high in my opinion. Is there an aftermarket alarm installed?

 

Test the battery, it’s free at most most auto parts stores.

0.3mA isn’t mulch at all. (0 Point 3)
That seems low for a modern truck.
Where you on Amps when the test was preformed?
If so, that would be 300mA.
That is high.

Ideally, you want 50ma or less.
I remember asking this question once before here.
I think to do it correctly, the truck needs to have been sitting for 1Hr.
This gives the modules time to shutdown.

@Dm93 did a good explanation of how to do a parasitic draw test here
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/parasitic-voltage-draw.699458/#post-24774271

You’ll also find in this same thread, where a Toyota tech says .080a the upper limit.

 

0.300 = 300 milliamps
0.030 = 30 milliamps
0.003 = 3 milliamps

In my opinion 300 milliamps is getting close to half an amp, and that's a lot.

You are correct though.. you want to see a zero after the period. That puts you below 100 milliamps and in safer territory.

OP post a pic of your meter so we can see for ourselves

 

Yes, I agree.

300mA is over 3x what you want to see.
That’s too much.

And 12.41v is just over 75% on a Lead/Acid auto battery.
I’d start with a free battery check. Since OP is looking to not save money.

I’ve even tried talking to my truck.
I’ve yet to convince it to repair itself. But like Momma always said, “it never hurts to ask”.

 

I’ve found this doesn’t work. Ya gotta scream and cuss at it.

Once I decided to swap the #4 battery cables for 0000 cables. I also decided to move the ground point so it isn’t on a bracket attached to the block. Found a suitable bolt on the block. Turned it and it snapped off. Scream and cuss level 1. Ok, I have extractors and a helicoil that’ll work. Drill, extract, drill for the helicoil tap, tap the hole, the tap snapped off in the hole. Scream and cuss level 5, neighbors all came out looking for a crazy person. I got lucky with some needle nose pliers to get the broken tap out, found another tap, finished the job.

 

I worked with a guy who had a commuter car that had a bad enough parasitic loss that it would be dead when time to go to work. I had a cheap solar charger I loaned him. It was enough to offset the loss and start to get him home at the end of the day.

Of course this isn’t fixing anything but that car he had was a turd he didn’t want to spend money on.

 

You mean your neighbors deliberately avoid eye contact with you too?

And that drill/tap experience is almost exactly the same as mine, when installing an EGT Sensor in a 5.9 Cummins.