Battery or electrical issue?

I have a 2001 4Runner. It will not start unless I jump it. I can drive it for 30 minutes or so but then the check engine lights, battery, VSC, ABS lights all come on. The next morning the car won't start and I have to jump it again.


My mechanic says it's not the battery OR the alternator. What else could it be or can I check?

 

Do you have a replacement battery easily available? If so, do a swap out. That won't guarantee the alt. is okay but it'll certainly tell you if it's a bad battery. jm2c

 

Yes I may just buy a new battery and try it. Would a battery that tests 'fine' still possibly be a problem?

 

In short, it wouldn't be the first time.

 

I just found a blown 15A fuse to the power outlet. Could that be causing an issue (battery drain, parasitic drain)?

 

It could.

 

A blown fuse for the Power Outlet circuit won't cause any sort of drain. Just the opposite, it will prevent that circuit from draining anything.

If a battery tests good then it's probably good.

What are your voltages across the battery when car is running? (13.4v+?)

When car is off? (11.8v+?)

You must check this just to rule out a bad charging system.

If your charging system is fine, then time to check parasitic drain. You can do it with an inline ammeter or a clamping ammeter if it is sensitive enough or check voltages on all the fuses and use a fuse chart (found) online to determine drain if you have a circuit that isn't showing zero volts.

I would say, ALWAYS start suspecting anything AFTERMARKET. It's always some aftermarket crap people install.

-Mike

 

OK, so I reread your first post.

If your mechanic has tested the battery and the alt...then I would start checking parasitic drain like I said above. Or do your own charging test. Mechanics make mistakes too.

 

All good advice. If he has the equipment.

 

Check to see you have solid grounds too.

 

Agreed. My son has a 2009 Corolla that had an aftermarket remote start that someone had installed. It failed in such a way that it was creating a constant 200-250mA drain. He would typically let the car sit for several days, and it would be half dead or more when he tried to start it. Sometimes too dead to start. Another symptom was that, intermittently, the starter would stay energized for 1-2 seconds after you released the key, and the engine would spin it until it disengaged. While troubleshooting, I had my voltmeter (set to amps) inline, checking the drain, and the meter pegged twice, and the internal fuse blew. Maybe 20 minutes later, it energized the starter briefly. This one piece of aftermarket convenience took the battery, starter, and alternator (voltage regulator) with it, as we eventually replaced all three. I had replaced the alternator brushes, which were down pretty low, hoping that would fix the problem, but no go (this HAS fixed/prevented a few problems for me in the past). Anyway, I located the two 30A in-line fuses for the remote start and pulled them, and the drain stopped, and the problem went away. So YES, suspect anything aftermarket.

 

Also, it could be that when he jumps it, he is also reversing some corrosion in the starter circuit. This reversal will allow starts for a time. But after sitting, corrosion comes back just a little worse and the car can't start again.

I have had 2 cars with exactly his issue. After ruling out the charging system and parasitic drain, it wound up (on both) being that the battery cables were rotting out from the inside. On the 4Runner, I had to cut 6" off the negative cable and splice\solder in a new terminal. Inside, it was all green near the terminal.

The starting circuit is a simple circuit. If the battery and alternator are good, and no parasitic drain, and it will always start from a jump, it MUST be bad cables or a bad ground.

 

Unless the battery was load tested, you don't know if it's good or not. You need a carbon pile tester, or similar. Most auto parts stores do load tests on batteries for you. Sounds like it might be the battery has a bad cell.

Having said all that, it's time to break out the multimeter. As has been said, you should check the battery voltage with the engine off, and with it running. That can help see if the trouble is the battery or alternator. If the alternator isn't charging the battery after a start, it can only run the truck for so long before it's voltage gets low enough to trip the ECU to start turning on lights.
However, the alternator and battery might be perfectly good, and the problem could be in the fusible link between the battery and alternator. The large, heavy looking wire bolted to the side of the alternator, under a rubber protector. If that's opened, then the alternator can produce lots of power, it just can't get to the battery, to charge it as the truck runs.
No charging, limited run time. That would show up as low voltage, and slowly getting lower over time, at the battery with the engine running. The fusible ink is easy enough to ohm out. Pull both ends off their connections, and ohm the fusible link, end to end. If it reads very low ohms, it's probably OK, anything much over about 0.05 ohms, probably no good.

Always remember to pull both battery cables off before ohming anything. Wait a while too. 2 minutes is usually safe from any capacitors, etc, that have a residual charge on them. It only takes a very small voltage in a wire to fail the meter, in ohms mode. Just a heads-up.

Definitely trust not aftermarket add-ons. Especially if they were put on by amateurs. IE, not a professional electrics type guy. Who knows if they connected the whatever correctly or not. Or if the add-on even works at all with a Toyota. Is the add-on causing additional drain that the system can't handle?

Check all the grounds. It takes a complete circuit to make an electrical system function. Including the associated ground(s).

Good luck to you! Lots of good information and advice in this thread.
Pat☺

 

@parkcity123 look forward to hearing what was required to clear your problem, once you get it sorted out.

ML