Won't start. Turns over but dash has no power

2011 4runner won't start. When I turn the key on sometimes the dash lights won't come on and It'll turn over but wont start. The radio comes on and the windows will operate but the dash cluster doesn't seem to be getting power and that makes me think the ecm isn't getting power either. Its an intermittent problem and I haven't found any common circumstances when it happens. It has also randomly died on me while driving. Doing 60 down the road and it'll just die. Any advice is much appreciated.

 

Not a mechanic but sounds like you need a new battery.

 

YES X2- I believe I would start with replacing the battery

 

If the existing battery has enough amps to turn the engine over, not sure the battery is the problem. Perhaps the OP could provide a lot more information. Does the engine crank slowly, or barely turn over? Or does it crank normally (as far as you can tell)? If the dash lights don't come on, but the engine cranks - it could be a power supply to the ECU, or it could be even the ignition switch itself.

 

You can also check to see if your alternator is working. If it died while it was running I suspect a bad alternator that isn’t working properly and charging the battery.

 

I have also seen alternators (on other makes) when they fail take out other systems / fuses / fusible links.

 

I can’t explain the cluster lights, I would replace the battery also first. If it still doesn’t start there is a neutral safety switch on the side of transmission that goes bad. Cheap part.

 

Battery is fine. Turns over fast just as it normally would. Alternator output was time. It was acting like a bad ground or corroded wire, as I have dealt with that type of issue before with other vehicles. I checked all fuses that control the ecm and dash for corrosion and just made sure they were good and checked the back of the blocks. everything looked ok. I'm pretty sure I found the problem. Behind the driver side kick panel there is a junction block/connection between the main wiring harness and the portion of the harness going to the cluster and ecm. There was a little bit of blueish corrosion inside the connector near one of the 12v pins that provides power to the rest of the connection. Cleaned it all up and sprayed it with electrical connection protector put it back together and it works fine. My suspicion is that because the sunroof drain was plugged it cause water to run down that area and created more moisture there than normal. All other connections and grounds were fine, but I sprayed them also for good measure. So far it's started every time and has not randomly died while driving.

 

That’s a good find. Did you happen to take any photos of the area while you were doing it? There have been many posts of people getting sunroof drain leaks and their main concern was unplugging it and drying out the carpet.

Your experience should prompt them to look into certain areas for hidden moisture and dry out connectors. Photos might help.

 

I can take picture tonight. Unplugging the clogged drain was pretty straight forward. There is a blue bracket that holds the connection I found the issue in that is held to the inside of the body with fixed plastic "rivets" that press in. Just pry that out, and you can see the hole through the body with the pink rubber tube (Mine was pink on the driver side and clearish/white on the passenger side), just pull the tube up and you'll see the white end cap. I cleaned it out and then from the top sprayed a little air from my compressor with a blow gun which pushed more junk to that tip. I repeated the process until no more stuff came out, just air.

 

Hey guys! I’ve recently ran into this problem the other day. 2010 trail with 12” type r subs running android 10 tcp my runner just died when I turned up the volume. No power in the instrument panel speedometer cranks healthy check the under hood fuses 1 20amp fuse was burnt ign2 and replaced. Tried to start nothing. Then checked again the under hood fuse nothing. I plugged in my odm2 reader all systems failed to connect to the t4r also left u plugged over night. I’m pretty sure I blow up the instrument panel. I was wondering if anybody could help me with a diagram of the pin outs behind the gauge cluster??
Thanks