2009 Tacoma electrical problem

I have had my Tacoma for 14 months, and it has been flawless, as expected. Today though, coming home from town in the rain, an electrical gremlin struck. I was driving along listening to tunes, and all of a sudden, the radio shut off, the wipers slowed to a crawl, the battery,traction control,ABS, and brake lights on the dash all lit up. My headlights were on at the time. I turned the headlights off, and the cd player came back on, picking up the music where it had left off. I checked the radio, and all presets were still fine. When turning off the headlights, the dash indicator lights all went out, except for the battery light, which went on and off intermittently. I turned the headlights back on, and the stereo went off, and the same dash indicator lights came back on. I'm hoping that someone has had this happen to them and they could tell me what to look for, as a trip to the shop will probably be expensive, as electrical problems of this nature are hard to find. HELP!!
Thanks, Roger Corriveau, NH

 

Check your battery connections, I had something similar happen, not to your extent but it was because I had my truck in for a major service, and they disconnected the battery and didn't tighten it all the way and one of my connections was coming loose.

 

I hope it is that simple! I'll check when the rain stops and let you know if I find anything. Thanks for your quick reply!!!

 

Battery connections, battery load test, and alternator output test in that order. If alternator output is low, check the belt and tensioner. Should not be a huge expense in any case, worst case would be the alternator.

 

This.

 

Bad body ground will cause this. Check them closely.

 

How many cab/body ground points are there to check?

 

You all have given me some great points to start checking...thank you all so much!!

 

My thermometer and lights around the AC controls have died. Cant find the issue. Also, my stereo has been replaced by Toyota once and it has rabies every now and then. The radio will play without a display, turn itself off or arbitrarily spit out CD's

 

My 09 did that kind of stuff too lol. What a strange year

 

My 07 would continue to run after I removed the key lol,
the OP problems I suspect will be solved by the checklist presented above.

 

Thank you all...it's taken me a while to get back on here, but my problem was the alternator. Was only putting out 8.7 volts, killed battery. All is good now!
Thanks again!!

 

Do you have stereo controls on the steering wheel....?

Spiral cable.

Check VIN for recall

http://www.toyota.com/recall