Electrical gremlin has got me stumpt

[chootemclint]

My 2001 4Runner has been having a weird on again off again electrical gremlin. Mysteriously after sitting for at least two days my battery will drain, rendering the vehicle dead. I have changed the battery several times, also the alternator has been changed and checked a few times since. All is supposedly good on that end.

Randomly while driving the blinker will start ticking like it is engaged even when it isn't. This will continue for several minutes or hours, sometimes even through starting and stopping the vehicle. Messing with the blinker does not change it either.

If I open the vehicle and hear the ticking noise, then I are forewarned it will not start. I must then jump start the vehicle, which in most cases the alarm goes off and locks out the ability to start the vehicle.
I am lost with what the look at from here to fix this problem. I am very mechanically inclined but electrical issues not so much. Could this be a bad relay, or could this be an alarm issue? The alarm looks aftermarket under the dash, it was installed when I bought the vehicle. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Doc2012]

My 2001 4Runner has been having a weird on again off again electrical gremlin. Mysteriously after sitting for at least two days my battery will drain, rendering the vehicle dead. I have changed the battery several times, also the alternator has been changed and checked a few times since. All is supposedly good on that end.

Randomly while driving the blinker will start ticking like it is engaged even when it isn't. This will continue for several minutes or hours, sometimes even through starting and stopping the vehicle. Messing with the blinker does not change it either.

If I open the vehicle and hear the ticking noise, then I are forewarned it will not start. I must then jump start the vehicle, which in most cases the alarm goes off and locks out the ability to start the vehicle.
I am lost with what the look at from here to fix this problem. I am very mechanically inclined but electrical issues not so much. Could this be a bad relay, or could this be an alarm issue? The alarm looks aftermarket under the dash, it was installed when I bought the vehicle. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Bad relay. It should be in the fuze box under the hood. It'll have something to the effect of turn on it or something like that.

Had this problem before. I came outside one morning, and heard a "click click click" from under the hood, except my light wasn't flashing. Popped the hood, opened the fue box, and put my finger on the relays. I could feel the relay clicking. Pulled it out, put it back in, no more clicking.

Went to start the truck, it was dead.

Jumped it off, haven't had a problem since.


You should just be able to pull the relay, clean it off, and pop it back in there. At least, that's what I did.

If not, need a new relay.

 

[Buckaroo]

Sounds like you have excessive parasitic load. Good suggestions in this thread - note comments from fourwd1 and TheDurk regarding diagnosis.

www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/135917-vehicle-drawing-power-when-off-any-suggestions.html