Long time, no post! I need some help, either thru direct feedback or pointing to threads that may have already covered this but my shitty searching didn't find...

I'm deployed, and I left my 2014 SR5 with my dad to keep it running while I'm gone. Best I can tell, he didn't turn it over at all for at least 2 months, and "suddenly" the battery died (say whaaat?!). He removed it, put it on a trickle charge, re-installed it with no luck. He took the battery to AutoZone and they confirmed it was dead, so he got a new one. Put that one in, no workie, so he returned it to the store (nevermind the fact that now I have no carcass to swap with). Bear in mind, he never once cracked the book either on swapping the battery. My brother-in-law has tried to help, swapping out the key fob battery as well but still has no luck. He thinks it's gotta get synced at a dealership, but my dad has my truck parallel parked next to a wall, so I can't just get it towed without doing some serious snatch towing to get it far enough away from the wall to swing around the nose...

Best I can gather from previous searches, there's something between the key fob and possibly the ECU that may be screwed up. Any other areas I can point my brother-in-law to since he's actually pretty competent when it comes to vehicles? As you can tell, I haven't gotten a straight story from anyone on what exactly has been done and in what order, so I'm reaching out to you guys for help. This ordeal started in November... FML. Any help would be greatly appreciated, as I'm feeling pretty damned helpless from half a world away.

So to clear something up, did the lights and accessories work with the new battery? But the engine didn't start? If so, then it could be an immobilizer problem, but I can't really think why that would be.

The second thing that comes to mind is that apparently mice and other rodents like the taste of the wire or wire harness wrap. Others around here have had random electrical issues because of rodents.

Working at Toyota I have seen it where when they sit for long periods of time with a dead battery they can loose the communication with the remote. It's generally on the smart key systems though. Can't remember one with just the transponder key offhand.

Also if your dad happened to hook up the battery backwards then it will blow the main fuses.

Good call on checking for rodent damage. Happens alot!!!

Good luck.


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My dad couldn't tell me if he hooked them up correctly or not, so I am assuming the worst and that perhaps he blew some fuses, but my bro-in-law hasn't confirmed this to me yet.

Also, from what my dad told me when he put the new battery in, the accessory power seemed to work but there was a lot of seemingly random electronics not working. Vehicle definitely didn't turn over. Again, since I'm getting this second-hand it's hard to get the story straight unfortunately. In a total role-reversal, my dad did something wrong and is backpedalling and bullshitting me now... karma is indeed a *****!

Thanks for the help, and good call on the rodents too, I'll have my bro check around for that.

If random electronics werent working then it probably was some fuses. Or communication with the key was lost. Sorry I couldnt help more. Thats all I know.

You were right on, guy at the dealership told my wife it looks like the battery was installed backwards, so the main fuses and ECU were blown. They were cool and also replaced all my fluids and did some more checks since it'd been sitting for a few months. Wife is driving her around for the next few days before she goes back into storage until I get back... this time my dad's not allowed near the truck!

Thanks for all of the help, you guys rock!

Glad you got it fixed. If it's going to be sitting for long periods I'd highly recommend a battery tender. Good luck.