Dead bird

busmup808

busmup808

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I just parked for my doctors appointment and my light started flickering and now my truck won't start.

funny thing is I didn't get no CEL light or any light for that matter on the cluster.

all lights, horn, and radio work.

anybody experienced this problem?

my truck is a 98 Limited automatic 4 wheel drive and it's raining in Washington
 
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I would start by checking the connections at the battery and then the starter.

I had a similar situation (without the lights) it was a battery connection.
 
x2 on battery check. I had that happen once and freaked out since I had no clue what it was. Popped the hood and found the negative terminal had somehow become loose. Eventually ended up rewiring a new one since the old one was bent out of shape.

It wasn't raining or wet that day was it? If yes you've got a possible wiring issue somewhere.
 
Does it click or turn over? or just nothing at all?

clicks/turns over + won't start = battery

Nothing at all, but electronics work = neutral safety switch or starter

pull it out of park and put it back in
 
Yes there was clicking from the starter but it wouldn't turn over.

I just got out of my appointment and now the truck is working I have no idea I don't know if it was because it was raining or I don't I just don't know.
 
busmup808 said:
Yes there was clicking from the starter but it wouldn't turn over.

I just got out of my appointment and now the truck is working I have no idea I don't know if it was because it was raining or I don't I just don't know.
Click to expand...

Still check for loose connections. Mine worked occasionally too.
 
Yeah, I had a bad battery connection on a Mitsubishi I used to drive while back and it did the same thing. Would act like it was dead other than lights.. But then I'd go wiggle around the battery connections and it'd start right up and be fine. Bad terminal connection.
Worth a try next time it gives you guff. Check battery connections then re-try.
 
If you're using a conventional liquid-filled battery, invisible-to-the-eye corrosion can occur between post and clamp, giving intermittent low-battery symptoms.
 
If you have battery power (light and key ding on when in ignition and turned to accessory) Then your starter contacts are probably all corroded up or possibly just worn out, a few good taps on the starter should clear things up temporarily.

If you don't have any lights, check fuses and battery terminals as others have mentioned, remove battery clamps (Positive first then ground) inspect under the clamps both on battery posts and the terminals themselves for corrosion, if you have a battery cleaner (Stainless Steel brush that fits over posts with a "toilet brush" like end in the cap for cleaning terminals if you don't know, available at wall-mart and most gas stations) go ahead and use it regardless of appearances as someone had mentioned there could be unseen corrosion or a this layer of dirt. Give your battery cable connections a good wiggle and make sure everything is clamped tight before reinstalling on the battery and tightening down the terminals. (In reverse order ground then positive)

If none of that works I blame electrical gremlins. (It's over my comfortable electrical experience.)
 
busmup808 said:
Yes there was clicking from the starter but it wouldn't turn over.

I just got out of my appointment and now the truck is working I have no idea I don't know if it was because it was raining or I don't I just don't know.
Click to expand...

Oh, so it was raining?

You most likely have a short. Somewhere a cracked/exposed wire (or poor battery terminal connections) is shorting when the wire in question is wet. That could also include the starter contacts.

Electrical shorts are the hardest thing ever to track down. My 91 Pickup has minor short while driving and to date, 4 years later I still haven't found it. I've looked over almost every square inch of the engine harness and over time replaced almost every electrical component. It's less common now but still haven't eliminated it.
 
Well I woke up this morning and took my son to school. It's raining again in WA and was dark, so I turn my lights on. As I was on my way back home from dropping my son off to school which is only 5 minutes away my head lights started flickering again. Parked it in the garage and what do you know I tried starting it again and a no go.

I got into my son's Lexus and jump started my truck and went straight to O'Reilly's. I had the counter guy inspect my battery as well as my alternator while it was in the truck. He said my alternator was running at 12. 2 volts which he said it's supposed to run at 12. 5 volts

Now I have to disassemble the alternator and bring it to O'Reilly's and then exchange it then reassemble the alternator. Good fun, happy faces.

My wife said just go ahead and grab the Toyota alternator, but I'm getting the aftermarket O'Reilly alternator for free. What what do you guys think I should do. Give O'Reilly's 1 more crack or just buy the Toyota alternator
 
busmup808 said:
Well I woke up this morning and took my son to school. It's raining again in WA and was dark, so I turn my lights on. As I was on my way back home from dropping my son off to school which is only 5 minutes away my head lights started flickering again. Parked it in the garage and what do you know I tried starting it again and a no go.

I got into my son's Lexus and jump started my truck and went straight to O'Reilly's. I had the counter guy inspect my battery as well as my alternator while it was in the truck. He said my alternator was running at 12. 2 volts which he said it's supposed to run at 12. 5 volts

Now I have to disassemble the alternator and bring it to O'Reilly's and then exchange it then reassemble the alternator. Good fun, happy faces.

My wife said just go ahead and grab the Toyota alternator, but I'm getting the aftermarket O'Reilly alternator for free. What what do you guys think I should do. Give O'Reilly's 1 more crack or just buy the Toyota alternator
Click to expand...

The alt usually will give back 14v. Not 12.5. This 14v helps put a charge on the battery.

Your issue is you have an crappy reman alt. You need to get rid of that and get an OEM toyota. I would trust my oem 240k mileage alt over any new cheap reman. I have gone through 4 remans in one year on a vehicle before. I now know OEM is way worth it in the beginning.
 
A .3 volt drop shouldnt cause those problems would it?

With a multimeter testing to see if the alternator is charging the battery the volts should read 14.6 volts give or take a couple tenths of a volt but not exceeding 15V. With the car off battery should read over 12V but no more than 13V. Maybe this will help understand what that O rileys guy was saying.

I saw this exact problem on a 1997 ford ranger. The terminals connected to the battery were split and vibrating around causing these symptoms. Check those first(like everybody said above) so you dont pull an alternator for nothing.

Get a toyota alternator if it really is a alternator problem

Good luck
 
I usually buy genuine Toyota parts but because I'm a stay at home dad I'm just using what I've got for now. 12.2 was read by the multi meter while the truck was running. Battery and alternator was bought by the previous owner before I bought it in January. The battery was bought in November 1st 2011 and the alternator was bought in January 2012 and I just changed that one a half a month ago. Sickening.
 
busmup808 said:
I usually buy genuine Toyota parts but because I'm a stay at home dad I'm just using what I've got for now. 12.2 was read by the multi meter while the truck was running. Battery and alternator was bought by the previous owner before I bought it in January. The battery was bought in November 1st 2011 and the alternator was bought in January 2012 and I just changed that one a half a month ago. Sickening.
Click to expand...

Like he states it should be around 14 to 14.6v when vehicle is running. If you get another free one its going to slowly fail again most likely. But they are hit and miss. You sometimes get lucky and one that may last a few years but believe me it wont last 240k miles and 18 years like mine is doing now.
 
I'm having somewhat similar issues. I thought it was my remote start system which was causing the toyota kill switch to kick in and it wasn't allowing me to start it. I popped the hood, hit the positive terminal with my hand a few times and went to start it. A couple tries of this and it started. Very annoying when you have to be somewhere soon and you can't start the rig.
 
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