Car just shuts off while in Drive

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jcxny

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I have a 2008 Sports 4 runner, after install MTEC HID over a week ago, my car just dies/ engine shuts off while I am driving. After taking it to Star Toyota in flushing , NY. The tech says its the HID I have installed. Has anyone ever had similar experience or heard of anything like that... I am so confused. I am left with a $150.00 tow bill plus $220.00 for diagnostic. Mind you I only picked up this car less the 2 weeks ago. The tech also said I don't have an original battery and that its a Tier 2 battery does anyone know what that means ?

I think the tech is wrong. I have installed this HID in 6 other vehicles I just can't imagine that to be true. HID causing the car to shut off completely while I am driving in the middle of the road.
 
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I would disconnect the HID and see what happens.......did you change out the original battery (not that it matters to much)? but in the absence of anything else, it worked before the install and now it does not. sounds a little dangerous as well.
 
I think I may have your solution I installed HID's as well and had a similar problem where the car would not start etc.. So I looked under the hood and the battery connected wasn't tightened good and the ground. So make sure those are good and I don't think you should have a problem.:biggrin2:
 
I would demand a semi technical explanation from that Toyota tech. Many of us have driven cars with dead batteries(just jumpstarters), Out of specs lightings like HIDs & LEDs, short-circuit electricals due to defective alarms..The worst I have exerienced is it wont start or if it will, there are dash warnings and beeps.
Or, are they crazy? their engineering will stop/shut off the engine while driving just because of that HID? What if you are in the freeway..praying that it will not happen again :(
 
Everything was connect because I have been driving the car for a week after the install without problems and then all of a sudden one day it stopped the car. Its been raining a lot in NYC but the day it was dry and the HID were off the car died. The tech said there was water in the connectors which is a bit odd. Could it be a short within the HID's ? Also I mounted the ballast under the hood but I used the screw that is holding two white wires to the car on both sides... Could this cause a short? Still so confused as I mention this is not the first time install HID's and the installation process is not rocket scientist. ?????????????
 
Hi,

Just out of curiosity....

Before your rig shuts-off/dies do the dash lights dim or anything like that before it cuts off?
 
Nope the car just shuts off but the lights on the dash stay on. The tech says that the lights are "Electronic controlled" so that is why HID are causing a short to the system. I am about to go pick up the car but I still think its BS, HID causing the car to complete shut off while in Drive... Anyone EVER has something like that happen to them ??????? And what the hell does "Electronic Controlled lights" mean anyways ???? I know I am not the first one to install HID on their car so why am I having this problem, please HELP.
 
By "electronic controlled", the tech probably means that the headlight switch on the stalk just sends input to a computer. The computer decides whether or not to energize a relay that turns the lights on. That's how things like auto off/on are able to work.

You mention that you removed a screw holding other wires in place. That sounds like a ground for something else, and maybe you disturbed that ground connection by borrowing that screw for the ballast. Are the wires still making good contact with the body (not just the screw)? Is your ballast in a metal package or plastic?

A ground problem somewhere still sounds like the most likely culprit, even if it's not where you put the ballast. If the engine computer gets confusing or bad input, it will "fail safe", or shut off the car.
 
jcxny as a bmw tech i could say that tech possibly found nothing wrong and blamed the hid because they are aftermarket. a few questions i have is when the car died, does it restart fine? how many times has this happened? also where did you tap in foe power and ground?

the only way i can see that the car just died because of the hids is maybe you tapped into a fuel or ingnition circuit. if you didn't tap into any othis i can't see the hids being a problem.

also what the real probably could be ia a bad cell in the battery or alternator is not charging and the hids are stealing alot if amprage from both of them( thats why i ask if car starts fine afterword).
however save your bill disconnected the hids and if you car still dies out, take it back to the dealer, and demand a refund since they were wrong.
 
hmr graphics I think you are right, I spoke to the tech personally and he said it's not the HID but because they are aftermarket that is what he is "suppose to say". ( Putting the blame on aftermarket produces) What is really interesting after is they told me that the factory battery has been replaced. The battery I had in there only had 550cca/ 90 CR which isn't enough for a V8 4 runner along with the Air Con going plus HID which could have put the computer below power causing the car to shut off. I have just replaced the battery with the correct one which now has 710cca /165 CR which is a huge difference I mean the battery size was different also. But because the HID are aftermarket I am stuck with the damn bill. When I am ALMOST POSITIVE that there wasn't enough juice in the battery.

As far as being connect to a screw with the white wire it shouldn't be anything the ballast is made of metal but the bottom part is made of entire plastic which is what I put the screw through. I had done this on other cars. So I doubt it was the white wire.

I ended up paying $232.00 for the Diagnostics , $150.00 for the tow , plus $143.00 for a new battery since I went to a different dealership to get it looked at. With taxes it came out to about $560.00 on a brand new car which I don't even have plates for yet. I am going to see what happens over the next few days with the new battery and will go back to where I purchased the car from.


Crossing my fingers and hoping this doesn't happen again. Could have been worst I could have been in the middle of the highway.


When it happened the first time the car would not restart hence I had to tow it into the dealership, but today while I was there he was turning the HID on and off like 50 times before the car did die and it started right away again, but this was before the battery replacement. Let see what happens now.
 
jcxny said:
I ended up paying $232.00 for the Diagnostics , $150.00 for the tow , plus $143.00 for a new battery since I went to a different dealership to get it looked at. With taxes it came out to about $560.00 on a brand new car which I don't even have plates for yet. I am going to see what happens over the next few days with the new battery and will go back to where I purchased the car from.
Click to expand...

That's awful! Good luck... I have a pretty good grip on some of this stuff, a 550CCA battery may give you trouble in the winter or if you left the lights on for a while etc. I find it hard to believe that the battery was the cause unless it was defective. If it is fixed I'd guess there was a bad connection (in spite of restarting) or a defective battery (internal loose connection).

Keep an eye on it, I hope it's trouble free.
:cheers:
 
So I took out the HID as the dealer suggested, and reinstalled the factory light bulbs. Driving around yesterday was fine till dawn came and I had to turn on my headlights. The car went crazy and died about 8 times in 20 mins. I was lucky enough to drive home on the highway without it dying till I reach two blocks of my house where the car went completely dead. The dealership keeps saying that it is a result of me installing HID lights. How can I prove it is not. I am going to have to pay more money on a car that has less then 700 miles... Please help me guys.

I have already spent nearly $600.00

I contacted the people at MTEC or where I got the HID from and they told me they have sold thousands of units without a problem. So honest what could it be??? I need some expert advise...

***SIGH***
 
sounds like a bad short somewhere in the headlight harness or in the steering wheel area, also can u take a pic of the battery and how the terminals are? maybe a corrosion?
 
My advise is, 1-call toyota corporater complain and ask for them to help you with this situation or .2 tell them u will take it to another dealer and if they find it. Being a manufacture default then they have to refund your money.
2
 
Also have they looked at the truck again. If you took the hids out what are they saying it is. Did they damage a control unit. They need to tell you exactly what happened. Also if they replaced any parts make sure they retuned the old part to you. Just so you can inspect it. Look for corrosion, missing or loose pins. Anything that would tell you that its a warranty matter.
 
You can contact Toyota corporate and they can document it, but at the end of the day they side with the decision of the dealer. They rely on the dealer to inspect and diagnose the vehicle, since they clearly can not do it remotely. Until it can be formally diagnosed as a manufacturing defect, there is not much that corporate can do....

So the dealer is saying that this is a result of the HID? And they stand by that even though the HID kit is no longer in the vehicle? Was the HID kit plug and play or did it require cutting/splicing wires? Has the dealer gone into details about why the HID kit caused this problem? If the dealer can not truly give you a reason about why this is happening other than "you installed HID's", you should ask if they can get the region involved and possibly a Field Technical Specialist (a corporate rep) can visit the dealer and inspect the vehicle further?
 
I hate to tell u this but Star Toyota's Service dept is a scam. I got scamed by them when I bought my 3th gen there and the roof was leaking water when it rained a week after taking delivery. They blamed it on me and said I exceeded the roof rack weight limits when i havent even used the thing and left me with a $100 bill.

When I bought my 4th gen there, they the showroom offered me first free oil change and when I got there, the tech says those aren't honored anymore. I went home and did a Mobil1 instead :-)
 
That's why I think the best thing to do is call corporate. ***** and moan and u might get what u want. I see it in my job all the customers call corporate and cry. Corporate will bend over backwords for them.
 
So after dying again that day. I was able to start the car again after discounting the battery to take out the ballast for the HID. As of right now nothing. I think it honestly at this point be a faulty ballast from the MTEC HID I brought. Maybe I was just one of those 1 in a 1000. (I mean MTEC is a pretty reputable companies is it NOT ? I brought over 5 sets and this has to be the first.) And it caused the car to short and stuff off. No problems today , hopefully will hold over the weekend as I am going camping. Honestly has everyone EVER HEARD of a HID ballast that caused a short to the car ECU which shuts the vehicle while driving. Thanks for all the help.
 
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