Dashboard delayed after cranking

[Toystory2]

Hello all,

This is a new one for me.

Cranked my 2007 SR5 4WD V6 (177k) and it fired up no problem. The odd thing is it took nearly 30 seconds for the dashboard to activate. No lights, no needles moving or anything. It happened once before about 2 weeks ago. Alt and battery check out OK. I will note I have driven this rig a lot less in the past few months.

Any ideas?

 

[Toystory2]

Low voltage. bad cluster. bad wiring. could be a bunch of stuff. get to work.

This may be the most solid answer ever. I agree, it’s time to get to work. I was hoping to save some time by maybe getting some tips or leads. I hate electrical gremlins.

 

[SurferUK]

This may be the most solid answer ever. I agree, it’s time to get to work. I was hoping to save some time by maybe getting some tips or leads. I hate electrical gremlins.

Start with easy things. Multiway connectors. Fuse(s). Ribbon connectors properly seated.

If you're not getting errors/glitches and it's simply nothing comes on for a bit, I think it should be something simple.

 

[Toystory2]

Start with easy things. Multiway connectors. Fuse(s). Ribbon connectors properly seated.

If you're not getting errors/glitches and it's simply nothing comes on for a bit, I think it should be something simple.

Thanks for the tips! Yea so far everything seems to be working normally. I’ve driven everyday this week and it has not happened again. It has only occurred so far after leaving it parked for a few days to a week.

 

[Toystory2]

Update: the gauge cluster has stopped working completely. The dash lights (such as seatbelt, check engine) all still work. The TPM is flickering though. However, all of the needles and odometer are completely dead. Checked fuses all look good, battery good, alt good, removed cluster and reconnected…I guess I’ll check the ECU next or what else should I check? I’ve heard it’s rare the gauge clusters go bad, but I suppose that could be it.

Hello all,

This is a new one for me.

Cranked my 2007 SR5 4WD V6 (177k) and it fired up no problem. The odd thing is it took nearly 30 seconds for the dashboard to activate. No lights, no needles moving or anything. It happened once before about 2 weeks ago. Alt and battery check out OK. I will note I have driven this rig a lot less in the past few months.

Any ideas?

 

[riceandpho]

check the interior fuses? also unplug anything you have in the odb port, chances are, your alternator might not be providing the amperage, or you have shorted a wire with the obd port.

had this happen to me, had a cut on my cable for my scangauge, and it shorted, also my alternator failed to provide the amperage output. rebuilded the alternator and replaced the obd wire to scangauge, no issues anymore.

 

[Toystory2]

check the interior fuses? also unplug anything you have in the odb port, chances are, your alternator might not be providing the amperage, or you have shorted a wire with the obd port.

had this happen to me, had a cut on my cable for my scangauge, and it shorted, also my alternator failed to provide the amperage output. rebuilded the alternator and replaced the obd wire to scangauge, no issues anymore.

That’s interesting, thanks for sharing! Yea all the interior fuses are good (if you mean the fuse box right above the OBD port). I do have my scanner connected so I’ll remove and see what happens. Will also test my alt more thoroughly. I put a reman alt on it last year.

 

[Toystory2]

It doesn’t seem removing the scanner made any difference but still need to test alt again. I now have some codes C1201 for ECU:ABS/VSC/TRAC and P0500 for vehicle speed sensor “A”. Could these codes be related to the dashboard problem?

 

[AuSeeker]

It doesn’t seem removing the scanner made any difference but still need to test alt again. I now have some codes C1201 for ECU:ABS/VSC/TRAC and P0500 for vehicle speed sensor “A”. Could these codes be related to the dashboard problem?

There could be several reasons for the C1201 code, it's an ABS code, it could be there because of the P0500 code since the speed sensors are part of the ABS system, or a problem with the master cylinder/ABS assembly, check for a broken wire to one of the speed sensors or a bad or dirty sensor.

I don't know if any of these codes would affect the instrument panel, but I have never heard or read of them doing that, try to fix whatever is triggering the code/s and see if the problem persist.

 

[Toystory2]

There could be several reasons for the C1201 code, it's an ABS code, it could be there because of the P0500 code since the speed sensors are part of the ABS system, or a problem with the master cylinder/ABS assembly, check for a broken wire to one of the speed sensors or a bad or dirty sensor.

I don't know if any of these codes would affect the instrument panel, but I have never heard or read of them doing that, try to fix whatever is triggering the code/s and see if the problem persist.

AuSeeker! Good to hear from you my friend. I appreciate you chiming in as always. Thanks for the advice. Funny thing is I had just replaced the RR wheel speed right before this happened. But I’m thinking if I can fix whatever is throwing the code, it might fix the gauge cluster. Do you know of all of the vehicle speed sensors are located at the wheels? Or is there another sensor somewhere else?

 

[AuSeeker]

AuSeeker! Good to hear from you my friend. I appreciate you chiming in as always. Thanks for the advice. Funny thing is I had just replaced the RR wheel speed right before this happened. But I’m thinking if I can fix whatever is throwing the code, it might fix the gauge cluster. Do you know of all of the vehicle speed sensors are located at the wheels? Or is there another sensor somewhere else?

There's a speed sensor at each wheel, the fronts are located on the steering knuckle and picks up the rotation from the wheel bearing, check the wires for any damage and also carefully pull them and check for any dirt/debris that may be affecting their ability to function properly before replacing them.

Did these codes recently appear or have they been there a while, maybe from the rear speed sensor you replaced?

If they've been there awhile you can try clearing them and see if they return.

I'm also including a quote of a post by BlackWorksInc for a little more clarity of how the speed sensors work in the ABS system.

There is no Speed Sensor A... Are you chasing a P0500-Vehicle Speed Sensor "A" problem?

This is one of those codes that is kind of not very clear with it's description. Vehicle speed on 4th Gen 4Runners is calculated by the ABS Module by combining the 4 ABS Wheel Speed Sensor inputs and averaging them together. An intermittent P0500 can be caused by one or more of the ABS Wheel Speed sensors not reading accurately and/or dropping out intermittently. It can also be caused by an issue with the ABS Module Communicating with the ECM and/or the Combination Meter (the ABS module reports vehicle speed data to the ECM and Combination meter separately, the ECM uses it for transmission shift logic, engine management, and cruise control; the combination meter uses it for cruise control and reporting vehicle speed).

The easiest way to find out which sensor is causing issues is to get a scantool that can communicate with the Toyota ABS system and pull the live data to see what the wheel speed sensors are reading and to test drive the vehicle and see which one is dropping out/reading incorrectly.

You could also try and look for any damaged/stretched looking abs wires as well as removing the wheel speed sensors and making sure they don't have crap stuck to the tips.

 

[Toystory2]

There's a speed sensor at each wheel, the fronts are located on the steering knuckle and picks up the rotation from the wheel bearing, check the wires for any damage and also carefully pull them and check for any dirt/debris that may be affecting their ability to function properly before replacing them.

Did these codes recently appear or have they been there a while, maybe from the rear speed sensor you replaced?

If they've been there awhile you can try clearing them and see if they return.

I'm also including a quote of a post by BlackWorksInc for a little more clarity of how the speed sensors work in the ABS system.

Thank you for the reply. I had replaced the speed sensor, cleared the codes and it was good for at least a week or so. It seems around this time the dash started acting up. I can’t exactly remember if it was prior to the wheel sensor replacement or not. But initially the cluster would work, it was only delayed by 20-30 seconds after cranking. Then it finally just stopped. Now all the dash lights seem fine, it’s just the needles that aren’t working. I think Speedo, RPM, and Fuel. Ran some OBDII scans and it is not reporting vehicle speed. So I’m think it could be something to do with that RR wheel sensor I replaced or the gauge cluster itself went bad. I’ve seen where sometimes the stepper motors can fail on the needles, but not sure how likely that is. I’ll double check all the wheel sensors. It keeps reporting the RR one, so either the replacement is junk or like you said maybe bad wiring or sensor gunked up.