Battery Dead, Jumped Then Truck Dies For 1/2 Sec But Revives On Freeway

Hey guys,

Had a dead battery. I got it jumped, then while I was driving on the freeway my tacoma died for about a half second, every light came on and my gauges were going crazy. Then it just revived and kept going like nothing happened. I got home, turned my engine off and tried to turn it back on and the battery's completely dead. Won't turn, and doesn't even have the clicking noise.

Any idea what this could be? Could it be an alternator wire? Just seems weird that it would die then revive.

Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks!

 

Could be the alternator not charging the battery. Or a loose connection. Or a bad battery the only way to know it to test the system and eliminate it one by one. Can have any auto store test the battery. Can visibly check connection and wiring

 

Ok, I'm gonna take it to an auto store I'll report back

 

Much more likely a failing battery than an alternator. An alternator has nothing to do with starting a vehicle and it won't charge a failing battery. . First and foremost, clean and tightened the terminals and see if it fixes the issue before getting the battery load tested at a local auto parts store.

 

I’d start by doing the following

1. Charge the battery. (If it will) - DO THIS FIRST - Do not used the alternator to do this. Use a battery charger.

2. Test the battery. (It needs to be charged to test it.)

3. Clean the connections.

 

Heat kills batteries.
Good when off is 12.6 (2.1 per each of the 6 cells) so volts on battery if 10.5 you lost a cell shorted and you can jump probably but may die again as too low a voltage to run the ECU and other things. Good alternator running is 13s and up to 14s. So as others said test the system off and running. That will determine if the battery or alternator.

 

I took it to Oreilys and they said it was the battery. $170 to replace. There was a bunch of corrosion on the positive terminal, I probably should have cleaned that first. So far so good. Thanks everyone for the help

 

Sounds like an alternator or your battery is so dead the limited time you had it running didn’t give the alternator time to charge it up enough.