[dharma707]

Hey y’all, sorry for such a lame first thread topic but after using the search tool as best I can, I’m still not any closer to an answer.

I’ve got a 2000 Limited with a 6 month old battery. Yesterday morning, all was well. Later in the day I go to run some errands and the engine turns over a bit slower than normal prior to starting (you tend to notice little stuff in a daily driver). Realizing I had forgotten something at my house I turned around and as I’m pulling into the parking lot, the power to my stereo head unit goes blank and my ABS light came on. Also noticed my Ultragauge light had gone dark. Deciding I’d better park it for a minute I turned it off, ran into my house and when I went to start it again, it half turned over once followed by the rapid clicking I’m sure most have heard at one time or another. I still have full power to the interior stuff like lights, doors, windows etc. but that’s it. Any ideas? Just my luck that the mechanic I take it to isn’t open until Tuesday so I’ve gotta arrange a ride to work with the girlfriend in the morning (should prove fun) and so I was just hoping for any guesses you knowledgeable folks might have before I bring it in Tuesday after work. There hasn’t been any other warning signs leading up to this. I’ve sunk about 10k into this thing over the past year (tranny, rear diff and the list goes on) but I love it nonetheless and it’s given me years of otherwise dependability. Appreciate any help or opinions you might have!

PS: please be easy on me. I promise I used the search tool. Scout’s honor ;-)


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[Skulking]

Originally Posted by dharma707

Hey y’all, sorry for such a lame first thread topic but after using the search tool as best I can, I’m still not any closer to an answer.

I’ve got a 2000 Limited with a 6 month old battery. Yesterday morning, all was well. Later in the day I go to run some errands and the engine turns over a bit slower than normal prior to starting (you tend to notice little stuff in a daily driver). Realizing I had forgotten something at my house I turned around and as I’m pulling into the parking lot, the power to my stereo head unit goes blank and my ABS light came on. Also noticed my Ultragauge light had gone dark. Deciding I’d better park it for a minute I turned it off, ran into my house and when I went to start it again, it half turned over once followed by the rapid clicking I’m sure most have heard at one time or another. I still have full power to the interior stuff like lights, doors, windows etc. but that’s it. Any ideas? Just my luck that the mechanic I take it to isn’t open until Tuesday so I’ve gotta arrange a ride to work with the girlfriend in the morning (should prove fun) and so I was just hoping for any guesses you knowledgeable folks might have before I bring it in Tuesday after work. There hasn’t been any other warning signs leading up to this. I’ve sunk about 10k into this thing over the past year (tranny, rear diff and the list goes on) but I love it nonetheless and it’s given me years of otherwise dependability. Appreciate any help or opinions you might have!

PS: please be easy on me. I promise I used the search tool. Scout’s honor ;-)


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It sounds like a weak battery to me. You could have an alternator issue which has led to it, or you could just be unlucky. To do some initial diagnosis, hopefully you have a multimeter and either a jump box, or jumper cables and access to another vehicle. Some alligator clips or another set of hands will also be helpful.

First, open your hood and check you battery voltage and let us know what it is with the car off. It should be around 12.6V, if it's below 12V that's a sign that your battery isn't charged.

Once you've done that, have another person hold the multimeter on the battery terminals and try to start the car and make note of what the voltage drops to when the starter is trying to crank the engine.

Now try to jump start the car. Once the car is running remove the jumper cables from the battery and check the voltage again. You should see something around 14V if the alternator is working properly.

Alternatively, if you can get the car jumped and it is safe to drive it somewhere, most autoparts store offer battery and alternator testing.

[RotaryDreamz]

After some unlucky times out on the road in the past, i always keep a multimeter with me as stated above, its a life saver. I ended up pulling out my clock and swapped it with a voltage reader to always monitor. Once you can find out what your voltage readings are, you can divide and conquer from there.

[brillo_76]

The life of the alternator brushes average are between 180k to 200k. So if the oem alt has that on it. It's possible the brushes are gone. If aftermarket alt, the die randomly.

Verify voltage at battery. Make sure your terminals are clean and your grounds are clean and good as well..

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[ryandc]

Gonna only be one of a handful of things, in order of probability:

1) Bad alternator. Meter across the top of your battery or the alternator when the car is running; you should get 14.2-14.6 volts. If lower than this, your alternator (or one of its subsystems, see below) is bad.

2) Bad battery. I always thought Optoma was the best, but my last battery of theirs was a dud. Your local autozone can check this. This is actually super-difficult to troubleshoot at times, as you'll still get 14v on it when the alternator is running, and might even have mid-13's when not being charged.

3) Bad alternator belt. Belts slipping are fairly noisy.

4) Bad ground. The ground for a 4Runner battery is tiny and corrodes easily. See where the ground from the battery goes into the frame and that it's affixed properly.

5) Bad starter contacts. This is a known issue on the 4Runner, and can cause hard starts and consume considerable amperage. But it doesn't explain the other faults in your electric system.

I'd recommend checking the battery (drive to Autozon with a wrench, pull it, bench test it). If the battery tests good, new alternator and belt; if bad, new battery.

[calimobber]

Your car was running and it slowly lost voltage and things stopped working so its pretty much 100% your alternator.


All the battery does it start the car, then the alternator takes over and powers everything and charges back the power it pulled from the battery.

[dharma707]

Thanks for all of the replies! I don’t have a multimeter but I do have AAA so I’ll give them a ring after work and have them come check the battery first. I’ll need them either way because if it ain’t that, they’ll be towin’ me lol. Appreciate you all!


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[gamefreakgc]

My alternator failed at about 210K miles. They go bad more often than people think, especially if you run accessories often like I do.

The only time I had a vehicle die while the engine was on that wasn't the alternator was years ago on my old Pickup. I installed a new battery at night to replace the old battery that was one start away from failing and was so proud of myself that I fixed it before it left me stranded. Drove to work the next morning and it died in the parking lot. Opened the hood to see that in the dark, I failed to remove the black post cap on the negative terminal. Oops.

[repo]

If you have a bluetooth OBD2 reader and an app like Torque Pro you can check the voltage that way, and see it drop as you're driving. It's probably the alternator, I had the same kind of symptoms when mine went (on theb5th gen, the 3rd gen is still original at 250k miles!)

[wcjeep]

Multi meters are cheap. Buy one.