Random Power Lose, Need Help

Hey guys,

Ok so randomly my stereo will shut off, interior lights stop working and door locks stop working all at once, and then randomly they will come back on again.

Sometimes this lasts for 2 seconds or 20 minutes, I have checked all the fuses and they are all good and I have taken out the stereo to see if any wires are randomly grounding and could not find any problems.

I need some help solving this issue as it is getting really annoying, anyone else have this happen or know how to fix this issue?

I have searched and found nothing.

Truck info - 2009 4dr Tacoma, 6spd Manual, 4.0L engine.

Thanks,

 

alternator

stop by autozone and have it checked.

 

Terminals on the battery tight?

 

+1 alternator, sounds very similar to an issue I had with my last car

 

Terminals are tight, I will have the alternator checked, but everyone else still runs fine, the truck runs perfect just the loss of power to the stereo deck, interior lights and power locks. Any other ideas.

 

check this too, could be the terminals getting dirty, OR the wire going to the terminal from the truck... sounds odd, but ive seen it happen!

 

Do you lose the presets on the radio when this happens?

 

the problem is that those things are drawing power from the alternator, and if it is going to shit it will not power them, or could be shutting off intermittently when those things draw from it, so your truck runs on battery power for a few seconds, then the alternator kicks back on. they do some fucked up shit when they decide to take a dump.

 

Is there any way I can check it myself, what tools would I need, a voltage meter ?

 

yes, it is free at autozone or wal mart

 

I guess I will have to phone Napa here in Canada to see if they can do it. What kind of amps should it have 13 ish running?

 

There is a lot that could go wrong with the alternator. Here's a good video for some basic testing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQysE2oJAuo&feature=fvwrel

Edit: With just a voltmeter/Multi-meter

 

Check all of the connections including the battery terminals, where the battery grounds to the body, where the battery goes to the alternator. If that's all good, pop the top off of your fuse block and look at the diagram, it will show you which ones are which, look up the fuses and relays that pertain to the things that are losing power, it's possible you could have a fuse going or a relay that's going. Make sure the pertinent relays and fuses are all the way in their slots. There is a fuse box under the dash on the left side behind the coin box/drawer thingy, it too has a diagram, visually inspect the fuses that have to do with your problem, you can pic up a multi-pack of fuses at NAPA and swap out those fuses to0 see if that's the problem, JUST MAKE SURE TO PUT THE SAME AMPERAGE RATED FUSE IN TO REPLACE THE ONE YOU PULLED! And also, i would do them one at a time.

 

Check the alternator belt and pulley too. It might be slipping.

 

Well thanks for all the info guys, I will re check the fuses tomorrow morning and look a the batter cables and terminals plus the wires leading to the alternator and the serpentine belt to make sure it is not slipping, I will keep you guys updated on this and I hope I can fix this problem, with only 50,000km on the truck it seems way to soon for an alternator to be going or is that just me ?

 

If it's still under warranty I would take it back to the dealer

 

Just an update for you guys, so I go to start my truck this morning and no power locks at all with the remote, I have to manually put the key into the door lock to unlock them. So i do and pop the hood and look at the battery cables and they look good so I look at the alternator cables and they look good.

I start the truck and everything works all of a sudden, stereo, interior lights and power locks with the remote wtf ? anyone ?

Also my locks will still morning manually when i pushs the lock button on the inside of the door panel, is this connected to the locking with the remote ?

 

BUMP

 

Just curious, do you lose the presets on the radio when this happens?

 

yes I do loose the presets on the radio when this happens. what could that mean ? Also just had the battery tested and it is fine.