Electrical system reboot while driving - losing faith

[bjarratt]

Looking to get some help with my 2022 4R with 49k miles. A few months ago I noticed that my radio was starting to reboot while driving. It would happen a couple times and then stop (working just fine after that for the rest of that time I was in the car).

After a couple months, things progressed to where the entire electrical system shuts down and turns back on immediately. This happened a couple times and I was able to get back home, disconnected my negative battery terminal, made sure everything was still tight and then re-tightened everything down. Everything was already still snug, but just as a second measure.

Everything seemed good for about a month, but yesterday 08/31, I was driving out to west Texas and had been on the highway for about 1.5 hours and the radio started rebooting again. It happened 4 times in pretty quick succession then stopped for about 20 minutes, but then the entire electrical system shut down. I got to the nearest town and as I was pulling off the highway and coming to a stop, the electrical system shut down and restarted at the stop sign. coming to the next stop sign it shut down and did not restart.

I have been combing through this and a number of other subs since this started, but I am losing faith and ready to move on to something else if this continues.

To answer common questions.

Mods:
The only mod that I have that is electrically based is a HAM radio that is installed. This has been disconnected after the firs time it shut down while driving. It was hooked up through a blue sea systems 100amp circuit breaker and a 6 panel fuse block.

I also switched to using the SDHQ billet terminals when hooking up the fuse block in order to keep the ring terminals clean and tidy.

No other mods other than a storage box in the back. (no lift, no big tires, nothing, factory radio)

Battery terminals have always been clean and tight.
I don't see any evidence of rodents chewing on wires, but I am still looking.
No split wires or ground wires being loose, but still looking.

I have done a lot of searching on the forum and the closest that I have seen to someone with a similar are in the following threads.

https://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/282411-electrical-system-shut-down-while-driving.html

but have also found the following

https://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/226682-radio-nav-rebooting-5.html
https://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-...ical-reboot-issue-ever-seen-scanguage-ii.html
https://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/306837-help-electrical-problem.html
https://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/308769-intermittent-power-loss-dashboard.html

I am going to get the battery/alternator tested today at autozone, but if those check out I am not sure where to go from here.

Any and all help would be great and I will try to respond as fast as I can.

 

[jp.vegas]

Double check all the connections on the battery, the ground in particular. Then check the chassis grounds, engine block ground etc. This is all pointing to a loose connection somewhere. I'd also check the power connections to the fuse block under the hood. What you're describing are all classic signs of a loose connection somewhere. I might even try disconnecting the aftermarket terminals completely and doing some testing after that.

I also have the 100 amp Blue Sea circuit breaker and the 6 terminal fuse block, this is the second vehicle I've installed the same set of them on and they've been solid since 2016. I highly suspect some other aspect of the install like cabling has gone awry.

 

[bjarratt]

Double check all the connections on the battery, the ground in particular. Then check the chassis grounds, engine block ground etc. This is all pointing to a loose connection somewhere. I'd also check the power connections to the fuse block under the hood. What you're describing are all classic signs of a loose connection somewhere. I might even try disconnecting the aftermarket terminals completely and doing some testing after that.

I also have the 100 amp Blue Sea circuit breaker and the 6 terminal fuse block, this is the second vehicle I've installed the same set of them on and they've been solid since 2016. I highly suspect some other aspect of the install like cabling has gone awry.

Thanks for the help. I have checked and double checked every ground that I have been able to find so far and everything has been tight. Haven't checked the connections to the fuse block under the hood, but I have removed the Blue Sea System to remove a factor from the equation.

 

[AuSeeker]

Thanks for the help. I have checked and double checked every ground that I have been able to find so far and everything has been tight. Haven't checked the connections to the fuse block under the hood, but I have removed the Blue Sea System to remove a factor from the equation.

Sometimes it's not enough to just check your grounds for being tight, they could be tight but still have corrosion in between the terminal and grounding surface, I have always loosened ground connections, hit them with a wire brush even if they look clean and then reconnect them.

Good luck

 

[Humble Leader]

can you give some more detail on how you installed your ham radio and exactly what you disconnected. do you have any sort of pedal commander system, remote start or alarm system that is aftermarket. do you have any LED interior or exterior bulbs?

I would also remove the billet terminals and go back to as stock as possible

alternator test would be helpful when you get those results

 

[bjarratt]

can you give some more detail on how you installed your ham radio and exactly what you disconnected. do you have any sort of pedal commander system, remote start or alarm system that is aftermarket. do you have any LED interior or exterior bulbs?

I would also remove the billet terminals and go back to as stock as possible

alternator test would be helpful when you get those results

The HAM radio was wired through the blue sea systems Blue Sea Systems fuse block with a 15amp fuse, and that sat behind the 100amp circuit breaker. When it originally happened I unplugged the Radio itself so that there would be no power draw (I have since removed the entire fuse block and circuit breaker just in case, so there is nothing connected to the battery other than the factory wiring).

I do have the Meso custom LED interior lights that I forgot to mention, but that is the only other thing that I have installed, no pedal commander, remote start, nothing. Will most likely unplug those if it happens again as part of removing another part of the equation, but I have not been able to replicate it again.

I unfortunately can't find the factory terminals, but going to order some new ones to go back to factory if I can't find them.

I went to Autozone and they ran their test on it. It indicated that the battery and alternator are fine, but the starter was failing (I know its not, it is cranking just fine and shows no signs of having a problem. Thankfully not my first rodeo).

 

[97BlackAckCL]

Sadly this is one of the main issues with the Entune and what made me replace it, it's unreliable even after firmware updates

 

[Humble Leader]

The HAM radio was wired through the blue sea systems Blue Sea Systems fuse block with a 15amp fuse, and that sat behind the 100amp circuit breaker. When it originally happened I unplugged the Radio itself so that there would be no power draw (I have since removed the entire fuse block and circuit breaker just in case, so there is nothing connected to the battery other than the factory wiring).

I do have the Meso custom LED interior lights that I forgot to mention, but that is the only other thing that I have installed, no pedal commander, remote start, nothing. Will most likely unplug those if it happens again as part of removing another part of the equation, but I have not been able to replicate it again.

I unfortunately can't find the factory terminals, but going to order some new ones to go back to factory if I can't find them.

I went to Autozone and they ran their test on it. It indicated that the battery and alternator are fine, but the starter was failing (I know its not, it is cranking just fine and shows no signs of having a problem. Thankfully not my first rodeo).

sometimes, just sometimes, LED lights can cause electrical issues. has the ham antenna been removed? you unplugged the radio but is that antenna mount grounded somewhere? remove as much as possible and go back to stock. the billet terminals I have heard and seen can come loose.

some other ideas: do you have anything plugged into the usb power slots? do you have a phone that bluetooths to the car? wiring damage is a possibility especially which is why we need to remove anything that we can that is not stock because sometimes that stuff does it. someone posted not too long ago with a similar issue. I believe it was their pedal commander causing the problem. chewed wiring can be really hard to trace though, have you done any work under the hood and perhaps a connector wasn't fully seated?

 

[bjarratt]

sometimes, just sometimes, LED lights can cause electrical issues. has the ham antenna been removed? you unplugged the radio but is that antenna mount grounded somewhere? remove as much as possible and go back to stock. the billet terminals I have heard and seen can come loose.

some other ideas: do you have anything plugged into the usb power slots? do you have a phone that bluetooths to the car? wiring damage is a possibility especially which is why we need to remove anything that we can that is not stock because sometimes that stuff does it. someone posted not too long ago with a similar issue. I believe it was their pedal commander causing the problem. chewed wiring can be really hard to trace though, have you done any work under the hood and perhaps a connector wasn't fully seated?

The HAM antenna has not been removed, but it is not a grounded antenna and the mount is on the rear hatch.

I am curious about the billet terminals coming loose and am curious if there wasn't enough clamping force on the negative terminal (started thinking about this after staring at it some more this morning).

The only thing plugged in is my phone via USB for carplay, but nothing connected via bluetooth. Other than that I have done nothing else to it other than change the oil about 3k miles ago.

Thank you for the help and ideas.

 

[flyrv9]

Do you have key or push button start? Also, what is exactly turning off - is the engine still running when this happens, or is the entire vehicle dead? I'm thinking of an ignition/run issue or perhaps computer control issue. Any OBDII codes to read? You might want to try to catch this on video for the dealer to look at, if it gets to that point. I'd also look back to when this first started and see if you can connect this issue to anything that may have happened just before.

 

[bjarratt]

Do you have key or push button start? Also, what is exactly turning off - is the engine still running when this happens, or is the entire vehicle dead? I'm thinking of an ignition/run issue or perhaps computer control issue. Any OBDII codes to read? You might want to try to catch this on video for the dealer to look at, if it gets to that point. I'd also look back to when this first started and see if you can connect this issue to anything that may have happened just before.

Push button start.
So normally the order of events is as follows

• Radio reboots 3+ times in short succession.
• Then the entire electrical system shuts down and restarts. All gauges drop out, dash turns off, then immediately comes back on.
• Then if it happens again it happens as I am trying to stop in a safe place of traffic. Then normally I come to a complete stop and it

I have been getting out on long rides over the last couple of days and going on longer drives in order to replicate the issue, but nothing yet. So catching it on video has been extremely difficult, but as soon as the radio starts to reboot I will start to record.

Honestly it started seemingly at random when it first happened. I was just driving home from work on day and the radio reboot a couple of times, but I was home shortly after that. Plus no codes or anything else to indicate that its unhappy. I hadn't made any changes to my memory vs when this started.

 

[flyrv9]

Ok, next I'd still look for codes even if you don't have a CEL. You could pick a rough road nearby and see if you can make it happen and maybe confirm a loose connection. If the radio / infotainment screen is the first sign of trouble then perhaps it's related to its electrical connections. You could pull the head unit and look back there and see that all the cables and plugs are on all the way.

You could also pull some fuses for non-necessary functions; however, you have to be careful as some fuses are on circuits that are not the main function the fuse is labeled for. I'd be suspicious of any LED lighting too. Other members here have shorted connections and damaged computers that control things because they changed bulbs without disconnecting the battery.

Lastly, you could research this problem for 4Runners like yours and see if anyone else is having this issue.

 

[bjarratt]

Ok, next I'd still look for codes even if you don't have a CEL. You could pick a rough road nearby and see if you can make it happen and maybe confirm a loose connection. If the radio / infotainment screen is the first sign of trouble then perhaps it's related to its electrical connections. You could pull the head unit and look back there and see that all the cables and plugs are on all the way.

You could also pull some fuses for non-necessary functions; however, you have to be careful as some fuses are on circuits that are not the main function the fuse is labeled for. I'd be suspicious of any LED lighting too. Other members here have shorted connections and damaged computers that control things because they changed bulbs without disconnecting the battery.

Lastly, you could research this problem for 4Runners like yours and see if anyone else is having this issue.

Yep so I have looked for codes even in the absence of a CEL, but nothing. Also everything I have done has been with the battery disconnected (long standing habit that I learned from my dad).

Yeah pretty much all I have done for the past couple of days has been researching this unfortunately. But still looking.

 

[Humble Leader]

The HAM antenna has not been removed, but it is not a grounded antenna and the mount is on the rear hatch.

I am curious about the billet terminals coming loose and am curious if there wasn't enough clamping force on the negative terminal (started thinking about this after staring at it some more this morning).

The only thing plugged in is my phone via USB for carplay, but nothing connected via bluetooth. Other than that I have done nothing else to it other than change the oil about 3k miles ago.

Thank you for the help and ideas.

my guess is if it's not the terminals or the USB it's a faulty audio/nav system. you should still be under warranty. replace everything back to stock even the bulbs and if problem persists I'd take it to the dealer. they may flash the audio/nav system or replace entirely under warranty

 

[bjarratt]

my guess is if it's not the terminals or the USB it's a faulty audio/nav system. you should still be under warranty. replace everything back to stock even the bulbs and if problem persists I'd take it to the dealer. they may flash the audio/nav system or replace entirely under warranty

Yeah everything is back to stock. The USB connection has always been a little lose (the usb-a input, not sure about the connection on the back) so that is also an interesting thought. Will probably pull the radio out tomorrow and just see if I can see any issues.

Hate the fact that a bad radio could cause something like this.

 

[mrblah]

i have a really funny feeling its those SDHQ terminals. Touch your battery after driving it. Is it too hot to touch, its your terminals. You have either a bad positive or ground connection or both.

i had something similar happen to me when i used aftermarket terminals (R4T version). i basically had to rough sandpaper the inner part of the terminals to make them "bite" and crank them down that those bastards weren't ever coming off.

When i went to my mechanic, he confirmed its the aftermarket terminals. HE basically said, i should go back to cheap auto zone lead battery connectors.

Aftermarket battery terminals is one of the few mods that i regret. I still have issues today (as in, i have to check on them ALOT).

 

[bjarratt]

i have a really funny feeling its those SDHQ terminals. Touch your battery after driving it. Is it too hot to touch, its your terminals. You have either a bad positive or ground connection or both.

i had something similar happen to me when i used aftermarket terminals (R4T version). i basically had to rough sandpaper the inner part of the terminals to make them "bite" and crank them down that those bastards weren't ever coming off.

When i went to my mechanic, he confirmed its the aftermarket terminals. HE basically said, i should go back to cheap auto zone lead battery connectors.

Aftermarket battery terminals is one of the few mods that i regret. I still have issues today (as in, i have to check on them ALOT).

So after continuing to look at everything I am leaning that direction as well. The negative terminal has a extra post that give a little bit more space, but that also sacrificed thread engagement and curious if that just works its way lose.

If you went back to stock, do you have any extra wiring that you have down and curious how you cable managed all of that? I don't have any plans on a lot of electrical things, but one day would like some additional lights and would like to keep the wiring as clean as possible.

 

[mrblah]

So after continuing to look at everything I am leaning that direction as well. The negative terminal has a extra post that give a little bit more space, but that also sacrificed thread engagement and curious if that just works its way lose.

If you went back to stock, do you have any extra wiring that you have down and curious how you cable managed all of that? I don't have any plans on a lot of electrical things, but one day would like some additional lights and would like to keep the wiring as clean as possible.

i never went back to stock, i just cranked everything down til it aint moving and there is no space between terminals and post.

any bit of play or opening between the terminal and the post will cause issues.

get a cheap auxbeam/lasfit 8 gang accessory panel for accessories.

 

[Carissa]

Were you able to find the issue. I'm experiencing the same problems with my 2018 4Runner with 80,000 miles. Replaced battery, alternator and belt, drove it for a week with no issues and two days ago the head unit goes off and on multiple times, followed by all power, then total power fail. Jumped fine, when jumper cables were removed it instantly died.

 

[2016toyo]

Sadly this is one of the main issues with the Entune and what made me replace it, it's unreliable even after firmware updates

That Kenwood doesn't block your vents? Looks huge.