Electrical problem

I have a 2007 Tacoma. I went to leave for work this morning. All seemed normal when I put my key in the ignition and turned the key, then everything electrical shut down and everything is dead. I have had no trouble out of the truck at all. I just got a new battery for the truck a few weeks back. I suspect I will need to replace the alternator. Have any of you seen this on your Tacomas, or do you have any suggestions?
Thanks,

 

Have you looked under the hood or measured the battery voltage yet? If you just changed your battery I would check that your battery terminals are snugged down and clean before anything else.

 

New batteries can be bad. Some sit on the shelf too long or have a bad cell.

 

Check the battery voltage first. If it's good, remove the terminal clamps and clean them. I would also recommend having the battery and charging system tested. Any auto parts store or a vendor like Batteries+Bulbs can handle that task.

I ran into a similar issue a couple of months ago after removing my battery. Every 40ish miles the radio would cut off and a few other electrical accessories wouldn't work (dome lights, 12v power outlet, keyless entry, etc...). I pulled the ECM fuse under the hood (in the engine junction/fuse panel) and replaced it with a new fuse. That fixed everything. Either the ECU needed a reset or the fuse had a hairline crack in the metal conductor (it appeared to be fine, but sometimes a crack can be hard to spot). Fuses just go bad sometimes as well.

 

The fact that you replaced the battery recently and now you're having a problem leads me to believe either your battery isn't holding a charge (bad battery) or your alternator isn't maintaining the battery well enough to power your vehicle. Have you tried charging the battery with a standalone battery charger?

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I haven't had a chance to try anything yet. All this went down at 4:30 this morning. I had to get to work, so I called some friends to give me a lift. One of them is going to let me borrow a battery charger. In the meantime, I will look into the ECM fuse.

 

What you need to do first is check the battery voltage. Very well could just be a loose connection at the battery.

The ECM fuse isn't going to cause everything to be dead.

 

Battery is bad or battery posts didn't secure.