Need HELP calling all Toyota Techs/ wiring Gurus

Bullet points at the bottom

This all started when I installed my Gentex compass mirror. From all the threads I have read on here the supplied OEM wiring connector for the mirror option is the green wire

$14 is 12v 13W adhesive polyimide heater plate 70mm

is 12v switched on, red wire 12v constant, and the white w/ black tracer is ground. Upon installing, I was testing voltage with my multimeter and the green wire was never switched on power... Kind of bizarre, but went on with the install and just wired the power to the red wire and the mirror works fine besides it staying on all the time, which isn't a big deal to me..
However, after all this my alternator is no longer charging my battery. Found this out by taking a 20 min drive and going to start the truck and it wouldn't start. Got a jump, truck fired up but didn't make the trip back home. Ended up getting stuck on the hill and getting towed home.. Being mechanically inclined, I got the volt meter out and tested power at the alternator outpost. Sure enough it was reading 11.5v( truck running) sounds like a bad alternator right?? Well I took my 62k mile OEM alternator to the local auto part store to have it tested and to my surprise it PASSED. I said no way... Test it again, and sure enough it passed again so I took a picture of the print out and had them test my OEM Toyota battery that is 2 years old.. Told me it has a dead cell in it.

This is where the fun at the dealership begins...

I take my truck to the dealership and they tell me my battery isn't dead just deeply discharged. So they offer to diagnose it for me however, it was late on a Saturday and they didn't have time to do it. I was supposed to go on a off road trip with the boys next day so I had the option of picking it up or leaving it till there till Monday for the charging system diagnoses. I picked it up went to Napa and had them test the alternator with their system. Ended up buying a premium plus Alt. and a new relay for the Alt. Went home and tossed it in and STILL getting 11.5 volts w/ truck running..
I take it back to the dealership Monday and give them the OEM 62k mi Alt. in the back seat. They tell me this... Since its a Napa Alt. we need to install an OEM Alt to check your charging system. $800 dollars to get this simple 1hr job done.. I told my service advisor this is not going to fix the problem and any reasonable shop that sees a customer testing his good OEM Alt. and a Brand New Napa Alt. would look deeper..
This is where I should have known to pull the truck out..
I reluctantly said yes because it was the only way to get the ball rolling.. Well sure enough the Alt. DID NOT fix it. Next I was told it was the junction box. It is located in the driverside knee bolster where the fuses are located. I was told that there is no power going to ign circuit 2.. So therefore the unit was bad and it was going to be $2,000 to replace... I was furious at this moment because I was already on the hook for a $800 alternator.. I went into the dealership and had a meeting with the service manager, tech and my advisor. We agreed that they would cover the cost of the alternator and that this junction box would fix my problem.. Well if you have read this far the story gets worse from here. Junction box did not fix the truck and they ran a "jumper wire" from the junction box to the relay box in the engine compartment.. Bare minimum got the truck running and charging. Worth mentioning, the tech left live wires stuffed behind panels un-taped and the grommet to where the main wiring harness passes through the firewall was not properly installed creating a very loud cabin noise. Service manager says this is his best tech and he stands behind his work... They give me the truck back and now none of my interior fans work (resistor recently replaced, fan motor is working)
They are telling me that my wiring harness is severely compromised and that I need a $6,000 wiring harness to properly fix my truck.. Otherwise they want to charge me another $1,400 to run another jumper wire to make the fans work... I don't trust a word they say at this point. Again my truck is a 2014 62k mi 4x4 that was working totally fine prior to all this.

My question is what could be going on here?

• 2014 4x4 62k OEM alternator tested good but not charging the battery
• poorly diagnosed by the dealership
• took my truck to the dealership for their expertise and ability to have access to wiring diagrams etc.
• Replaced alternator and junction box and still didn't fix the problem so the tech ran a jumper wire to get the truck to charge the battery BUT now my interior fans don't work.

 

WOW! That’s quite the story. The dealership guys are a bunch of idiots. ^Fuse IG1 NO2 feeds a bunch of stuff, including the the mirror, alternator, power windows, and a bunch more.

I wonder if anyone has checked IG1 NO2 fuse, or checked to see if there’s power there.

Here’s something else you can check. The wiper fuse and the IG1 NO2 fuse run off the IG1 ignition switch terminal. So, IF the wipers work, you know the ignition switch is feeding power to the fuse box. From there it’s important to the diagnosis to see if there’s power to IG1 NO2 fuse.

 

Thank you so much for that!!

 

I was told they checked and replaced IGN NO2 fuse and it was ok. Pertinent info, when I did the compass mirror that fuse was popped and the windows were not working. However, the whole reason for the junction box replacement was because they were not seeing power at IG1 NO2

All other functions work. Headlights, turn signals, wipers, windows, everything but the fans.. I guarantee my junction box was fine, and there is a short in one of the wires in the diagram above^^

I really appreciate the help guys. This timeline of events has been over a month with this dealership

 

Good luck, but all cause you wanted a mirror with a compass. Ugh!!!

 

Most expensive, absolutley ridiculous mirror of my life

 

Toyota corporate just got back to me, looks like they are going to be sending out a "build tech" to the dealership to give the guys there a dose of some real diagnostic work..

You know whats insane, is that I HIGHLY doubt the tech there duh has even seen the diagrams caribe makaira posted... Thank you again!

 

This compass is 100% guaranteed to not short out your truck.

 

A gremlin had the 10A IG1 No. 2 always ON...then melted it...so the Gen failed to charge the Battery...The Gremlin made into the the Battery and assassinated a cell....got out in time to mess with the Junction/fuse/relay box....it's still there...

Keep us posted...

 

You have been a tremendous help. Thank you so much! I am going to foward the info to the build tech that will be going to the dealer this week. I will definitley update the thread

So is it possible that the body ECU is not permitting the fan to work? The fan control lighting and recirc flap lights up.

Also in post #13 where does 1O go above 1E?

 

10A IGN1 No.2..again...

 

This dealer you’re going to is performing absolutely amateur work. I can understand a service manager wanting to stand behind his guys. But it sounds like his best guy isn’t all that great.

The deal with the alternator, it sounds like they want to punish you for trying to fix it yourself with an aftermarket piece. They could have easily pulled it out, bench tested it, confirmed good, put it back in.

If a fuse was bypassed with a jumper wire, or their jumper wires here and there totally fried your harness, then I can understand the need to replace it. They should be looking for a pin pushed out of a connector, or a pinched or abraded point in the harness. Having a wiring diagram with wire colors and connector PIN numbers would help. I would want to know with absolute certainty I’m correct before telling someone they need a $6k part. Once I had the factory tell me to replace a wiring harness. 15 minutes later I found a connector plugged in but not snapped in tight. Corrected that, all problems disappeared. If your harness is fried because of something they did, they need to bite the bullet and eat it. It’s not something they like to do of course and the dishonest places will try to play their way out of it.

Since the new compass was the beginning of the problem, I would unplug it. Then diagnose what’s going on.

 

After reading this entire Cluster Fudge of a diagnosis. I have no words at all. None. And that was their go to technician. I would hate to see their worst tech.

OP I feel for you. Is that the only dealer in your area? God I hope not.

 

Amateur work would be an understatement... The dealership told me they were upset that I installed an alternator that Saturday and returned back Monday for their free diagnoses. Apparently I was not allowed to touch the truck. That was never verbalized to me... I was just trying to go on the camping trip with the guys...

Caribe was a huge help, providing wiring diagrams. I believe there is a short somewhere between the mirror and the junction box.