Tundra tried to strand me today

Brand new here and hope y'all have a clue what might be going on.

So I ran my truck trough the car wash and the next time I shut it off (2-3 minutes later) and tried to restart it (ten minutes later) it acted like the battery was completely disconnected. No power at all. I called for a jump but before they arrived I popped the cover off the fuse block under the hood to see and I heard what was probably a battery relay click and sure enough everything was back on. I did loose my radio presets etc. but everything else seems normal. Battery voltage is right in the middle of normal.

I'm guessing perhaps something shorted when it got wet but I really have no idea.

BTW the fuse block was dry when I removed the cover

Any clue where to start looking?

 

No corrosion on battery terminals or no loose connections? And is their a cover on the positive post ? That's all ik lol

 

No corrosion or loose connections also no positive battery cover though.

 

Yep they don't come with one. That is strange I'm sure someone will chime in soon. Ik @15whtrd may have some good info

 

That’s a tough one. Possibly the wires underneath the fuse block got too wet and somewhat shorted out. Hard to diagnose when it doesn’t continue doing it. Make sure your battery is connected really solid. Check the grounds and their final termination away from the battery. Other than that I got nothing.

 

That's about all I can figure as well. Thanks

 

Hand wash for now on lol but at least it's not a ridgeline and it didn't catch fire .

 

Well Thank God for that! ha.

 

The positive battery terminal should have one. The negative doesn't need a cover. H2O can be a conductor.

 

Why did I see it said negative battery cover

 

Good call!!

 

While playing around with the TechStream software I noticed that one of the things you can do is actuate the starter solenoid. I didn't try it but I assume that when you turn the key to the start position it tells the computer you want to start the engine and it sends a signal to the solenoid. If so then your problem could have been the computer just needing to be reset. If so and it happens again I would pull the fuses just for the ECU for a minute to reset it.

 

Since your radio also lost all its presets, I'd pull both terminals off the battery and reset everything, clean the fittings really well, clean off the battery top then hook it all back up. Then coat the battery terminals with a protective grease. Might want to refresh all the ground connections on the body that you can access, too.

 

Many times when having electrical issue many people overlook the engine block ground, I would check and see if its tight.

 

It happened again!

Just like before only I didn't just come from the car wash. As before I popped the cover off the fuses and tapped on stuff and viola' started working again. I replaced the "sub batt" relay but while I had it out I tried to start the truck and it did just fine so it probably had nothing to do with the problem.

I'm going to need to have my wife drive it for a few weeks and just pray it doesn't happen to her too.

 

Sounds like a bad connection somewhere under the fuse box or on the fuses them selves. Check for any type of oxidation or corrosion on any of the connections in and under the fuse box. Similar to when a lightbulb isn’t working and then you tap it and it starts to work again.

 

If you said you lose radio and electric turn radio on so you can hear it with key on, not running. Gently start moving harness around until you get to where the radio starts sputtering. That will put you in area you need to inspect closer.

 

I didn't loose my radio presets this time. (last time either actually. It brought me back to the set up screen when I powered on and I thought it meant I had lost them but the radio battery/capacitor probably prevented that.)

I'm thinking it must be in the fuse holder or a bad ground.

 

Not losing presets because there is a memory, but if losing power because of loose plug you can have radio on, again with engine not running so you’re working off battery power only, and listen to it or have someone watch the dash as you go by the fuse block. If you start moving around the harness and plugs, when you get to the one with a bad connection you will hear the radio come in and out or lights on dash start to flicker. That’s when you know you’re in right area and start digging in that spot for bad ground or loose pin in plug.

 

Any modifications to the truck? Alarms, etc. A 12 year old truck with a finicky issue like this is typically an easy fix once you find the little bastard. Some great tips here. Process of elimination time. Nice truck BTW... My favorite color!

 

I'll try that thanks.

 

Thanks. I like the color too and happy accident it matches my wife's Honda color.
It has an aftermarket head unit (JVC) but it was installed with a harness no wires were cut and spliced.
It also has a couple LED lights on the front ranch hand bumper but it's pretty straightforward setup with it's own separate switch that doesn't seem to be a problem.
I don't see evidence that it ever had an alarm.

 

Go

good luck, electrical gremlins are always a fun adventure

 

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr