97 Taco Electrical Issue. Any Help? - Pirate4x4.Com : 4x4 and Off-Road Forum

fatty chris · 07-23-2007, 09:32 AM

i've got an interesting thing goin on with my truck. it will die when coasting to a stop when the brakes are applied, radio,heater and all other electrical will shut off. it will crank and not start unless i pull out the e-brake? weird! it usually will buzz from the left dash when it won't start. it has sputtered when on the freeway when the turn signals were used and would stop sputtering when they were turned off. seems like a ground issue, so i checked all grounds. truck is a 3rz, 5spd, 4x4. any help would be appreciated cause i'm stumped.

Dickfoster · 07-25-2007, 09:30 PM

Sounds like a low battery and the alternator has maybe crapped out. The ECU will try to run the truck all the way down to 8 or 9 volts but with less and less RPM and power as the voltage drops lower. Then again it could be dirty bat connection, a bad ECU ground (don't know about the 4 popper but the ECU ground for the 6 is on the intake manifold next to a diagnosic plug on earlier models) or a lot of other stuff. Start with the bat and terminals and alternator and the ECU ground and go from there. If the alternator is bad, 99% change it's just worn out brushes. You can yank the back off the alternator and replace the brushes for a few bucks inside of 15 minutes. The worse part of the whole job is the R&R that you'll do in any case. It's way cheaper than letting someone bend you over to swap for a rebuild or worse yet sell you new one. Chances are besides cleaning the dirt off, that's all they did to the rebuild.

Shefron · 07-25-2007, 10:17 PM

What voltage is your battery at when off and running?

In the old days testing the alternator was easy. Start the truck and pull off the positive cable from the battery. Truck should remain running if alt is good but this techinque is frown against today due to ECU's.

Autocrap and such will test alternators.

BigMike · 07-26-2007, 09:17 AM

/forum/toyota-truck-4runner/599388-electrical-issue-any-help.html

Dickfoster · 07-30-2007, 04:05 PM

After a rest period i.e. the truck has not been run for a while the battery voltage sould be 12VDC or better. With the truck started and running the voltage should read in the neighborhood of 13.8 VDC unless the battery was very low and the alternator is working really hard to charge it back up. You may have to rev up the engine just a tad to get full alternator output.

07-23-2007, 09:32 AM	#1 (permalink)
fatty chris Wheeler Join Date: Mar 2007 Member # 88819 Location: medford oregon Posts: 207	97 Taco Electrical Issue. Any Help? i've got an interesting thing goin on with my truck. it will die when coasting to a stop when the brakes are applied, radio,heater and all other electrical will shut off. it will crank and not start unless i pull out the e-brake? weird! it usually will buzz from the left dash when it won't start. it has sputtered when on the freeway when the turn signals were used and would stop sputtering when they were turned off. seems like a ground issue, so i checked all grounds. truck is a 3rz, 5spd, 4x4. any help would be appreciated cause i'm stumped.

07-25-2007, 10:17 PM	#3 (permalink)
Shefron Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Member # 80692 Location: Charlotte, NC Posts: 1,114	What voltage is your battery at when off and running? In the old days testing the alternator was easy. Start the truck and pull off the positive cable from the battery. Truck should remain running if alt is good but this techinque is frown against today due to ECU's. Autocrap and such will test alternators. __________________ Steel Shooting Targets Custom cutouts on request AR500 plate for shooting targets Now cutting 80% tomahawk for the DIYer

07-26-2007, 09:17 AM	#4 (permalink)
BigMike Marlin Crawler, Inc. Join Date: Jun 2001 Member # 5579 Location: Fresno, CA Posts: 930	/forum/toyota-truck-4runner/599388-electrical-issue-any-help.html __________________ Marlin Crawler Developers of the longest lasting and most successful Toyota Transfer case and Transmission products on the planet (888) 94-CRAWL / 888-942-7295 My 511:1 Triple Cased and World's first 3RZ-powered 1st gen Hilux

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07-25-2007, 09:30 PM	#2 (permalink)
Dickfoster Banned Join Date: Sep 2002 Member # 14006 Location: Los Gatos, Peoples Republic of California Posts: 350	Sounds like a low battery and the alternator has maybe crapped out. The ECU will try to run the truck all the way down to 8 or 9 volts but with less and less RPM and power as the voltage drops lower. Then again it could be dirty bat connection, a bad ECU ground (don't know about the 4 popper but the ECU ground for the 6 is on the intake manifold next to a diagnosic plug on earlier models) or a lot of other stuff. Start with the bat and terminals and alternator and the ECU ground and go from there. If the alternator is bad, 99% change it's just worn out brushes. You can yank the back off the alternator and replace the brushes for a few bucks inside of 15 minutes. The worse part of the whole job is the R&R that you'll do in any case. It's way cheaper than letting someone bend you over to swap for a rebuild or worse yet sell you new one. Chances are besides cleaning the dirt off, that's all they did to the rebuild.

07-30-2007, 04:05 PM	#5 (permalink)
Dickfoster Banned Join Date: Sep 2002 Member # 14006 Location: Los Gatos, Peoples Republic of California Posts: 350	After a rest period i.e. the truck has not been run for a while the battery voltage sould be 12VDC or better. With the truck started and running the voltage should read in the neighborhood of 13.8 VDC unless the battery was very low and the alternator is working really hard to charge it back up. You may have to rev up the engine just a tad to get full alternator output.