Electrical system shut down while driving
 

Twice in the last 7 days while driving my 4Runner, the truck's electrical system has completely "shut off" for just about a second (maybe less) and immediately turned back on. Each incidence happened while driving, each time lasting for a quick second - gauges and displays go out, radio off, etc. Power returns immediately after this "blip".

I have a 1 year old battery, no mods under the hood. New head unit radio installed last summer but that was at least 7 months ago and this gremlin just started. I do have LED backup lights I installed in late December. No recent 4wheel driving or off road use.

Any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks!
Pete

Loose battery terminals?

I checked the battery terminals and they are squared away

Take them off, clean them, re-mount them to make sure they're mounted snugly.

Sounds exactly like a battery terminal issue.

I just took a wrench to the battery terminals. Tightening them more than they were was not possible. They were not loose in any way and they don't have a spec of corrosion on them - they are completely secured and tightly fastened.

Check for evidence of rodents chewing wires in the engine bay.

I put in a kenwood a few months ago and it shut off 3 times but the gauges stayed on. I'm assuming a loose or hot wire.

What head unit? When mine was first put in they tried to salvage the factory xm wiring and that is what was giving me issues

Will do - I've read a lot of posts about that on here but totally forgot.

Thanks.

It's a Sony but I'm almost positive I paid for new XM-wiring. I got it done at Best Buy so I could have them check.

Thanks

I wonder if you’re being effected by the glitch that caused the latest recall that they haven’t sent notifications out for yet...

Toyota recalls nearly 700K vehicles to fix faulty fuel pumps - ABC News

I've got a 2013 model so unless they expand the model years affected I doubt it.
Thanks,
Pete

Cheap LED's can cause you electrical problems. I've seen it many times at work (building facilities). We switched some on/off indicator lamps to led a while back and they started shorting causing failures. took us forever to trace it to the led lamps, but sure enough, they were the problem. Just an idea.

So I do not know what the story is in Tampa but around my neck of the woods in North Texas rats chewing up wiring harness is a common occurrence and that causes all kinds of strange issues to those effected. I am no expert in vehicle electrical systems but I do not think LED backup lights would be causing a problem driving down the road. They would not be getting power at that point, to short anything out. I do not know about how a loose battery terminal would affect a running vehicle but you can pull your battery out of the car once it is started no problem and it will run just fine. It would seem that a bad terminal would be affecting your startup more than your vehicle as it goes down the road. I would vote for either rats or other creatures chewing on your wiring or possibly the wiring for your radio. Just because it did not start right after you got it changes does not mean the wiring did not work itself loose. This is not the same issue obviously but I brought my wife's Sienna into the dealership some years ago for a number of issues, one being a totally dead radio. They told us it would have to be replaced at a cost of $800. I was like I do not think so, I get an aftermarket radio. When I picked it up, the radio worked just fine and continued to work until she was hit at an intersection years later.

A failing voltage regulator in the alternator can cause similar symptoms...

Sounds more like an alternator problem to me.