New Battery weirdness

Hi, This is my husband’s 2006 tundra rs5 4.7. Last week he stopped for gas and the truck wouldn’t turn over. He got a jump, but it died right away. He put in a new battery, driving home the dash battery gauge was jumping a bit erratic, Previously pretty steady in center on gauge, also battery indicator light went on. So he checked alternator belt, was a bit loose. Installed new belt and battery terminals. Still jumpy dash gauge and battery light on. So he just went ahead and put in a new alternator. Same situation. Found a fuse alt s, it was blown. Replaced, battery light went off and gauge went center.
A few minutes later idle went low and battery gauge fluctuating again, idle low. He took for a drive, when accelerating dash gauge center normal, foot off gas or stop at light or park the idle is low and gauge is fluctuating again.
So I would appreciate any thoughts on it. Is it possible the ECU is trying to reset itself after no power and it is causing the jumpy battery gauge and liw idle? The battery light on the dash has not gone back on, so that is good. Other than the low idle and jumpy gauge when the idle is low it drives, starts right up.
thoughts?

 

That weird behaviour might be a bad ground due to a corroded cable. Most likely from the alternator.

Just a guess though.

 

I’m guessing bad terminal, bad ground, or he has what dozens of other here have had: Corrosion INSIDE the power or ground cable to the battery.

 

It makes sense to be a ground or corrosion. The terminals are brand new, the battery is brand new. This weekend he is going to go back over it. He decided to drive it today to see how it went a distance. He said drives normal until he hits a light and it drops a quarter on the gauge from center. Still no battery light. I told him to take his AAA with him. I really hope he gets this sorted and I will give an update either way. I forgot to mention a few weeks ago I noticed one of his tail lights was dimmer than the other but he insisted it was new bulb vs old bulb. I was being hopeful reading through threads that those that had unhooked their batteries were having it do the same sort of weird behaviors while the ecu was resetting. So his commuting this week will resolve that thinking, either it starts running itself normally or the weekend has him hunting again. You know I love a toyota but the issues they do have are not easy to rectify and the rust and corrosion are pretty inexcusable. We sadly were one of the ones whose toyota dealer didn’t say your frame is getting soft until 6 months passed the frame recall time frame. He had been getting his oil changes there so they knew he should have been told. I have a lexus hybrid and love it but when things go they are a PIA to work with and it’s a 2015 and think the frame on it seems a bit too rust prone for comfort. Thanks for input!

 

Welcome from VA, that’s pretty cool of you to be researching this for him. I don’t know what part of the country you’re in, but for your newer vehicle I’d try to clean up the frame as best as you can and treat it with something like wool wax or fluid film. It’s fairly easy but a bit messy. I think the frame recall/warranty thing might be worth pursuing more. Shifty knows a lot more of the specifics on it than me.

 

There are very few things that'll kill these trucks!

A lot of the things that will kill them are in this post over here. i.e. rust on frame, must change timing belt every 100k miles or 10 years, CANNOT use aftermarket lower ball joints, replace radiator and LBJ at least every 125k-150k miles. They also DO NOT like certain store-brand parts, specifically: Alternator. Starter. Fuel pump. Electronic sensors, especially cam position, crank position, O2, coolant temp, etc.

As long as you're aware of those things and understand which brands Toyota used for their "OEM" parts, they're easy enough to keep up with. A lot of people don't seem to realize that the quality of store-brand parts has massively gone down the shitter in the last 10-15 years, and it's not uncommon to get defective/DOA storebrand parts straight out of brand new boxes. But it's where we are these days, and as long as people keep buying, they'll keep getting screwed. They also aren't aware that storefronts like Amazon and eBay are notorious for selling counterfeit parts; doesn't matter if you go straight to the brand name's "store front", you can still easily get sent coutnerfeits. They don't police their inventory!

The vast majority of charging/starting issues we see, more often than not, have nothing to do with the actual OEM equipment. It's more commonly:

• Loose or poorly terminated battery terminals
• Corrosion inside the sheathing for the ground cables and/or battery cables
• Bad grounds or missing grouds -> With starting, this sadly can be the ground right next to the starter if you're leaking coolant into the valley
• Issues (splices/nicks/etc.) somewhere between the positive terminal of the cattery
• Shorting/arcing of wires under the fusebox itself, especially for the main 120A-140A "window" style fuses in the fuse box directly next to the battery, but it's a bitch to properly lift the fusebox, it opens in a confusing way (part of it actually drops out downwards/out, and ppl break shit trying to lift it up/out)
• After doing timing belt changes, people will fuck up the routing of the crank position sensor or cam position sensor, which it will then get nicked by the serpentine belt, which interrupts normal running of the vehicle, kills power to the fuel pump, etc. (it's all linked)
• People don't understand that disconnecting the negative battery cable for more than 10 minutes causes the ECU to reset running parameters, and force the ECU to relearn, which can be a huge problem if you have dirty MAF, dirty throttle body, or you're ignorant about the importance of the upstream O2 or "air/fuel ratio" sensors (some people stupidly ignore O2 sensor codes because it's "treehugger bullshit", obvlivious to the fact the ECU desperately needs their input to set fuel/air ratio properly)

I'd start with verifying that bulleted list if this were my truck, and that thread I linked may or may not help with examples?

 

Thank you!
It is definitely a bummer on the rusty frame. He has like 360,000 miles on this tundra and until now it has been a bear in all but the frame arena.
I love the forums, whenever in doubt hit the forums because owners have already pushed the wheel up the hill. Every time we go to the mechanic route it’s regrettable, diy always serves when forum hunting first and foremost. wool wax, now that I just added to the list.
We were thinking about that frame that frames in the frame. We have a local guy who installs them.

 

thank you!!! I am copying all this and adding to my tundra file. Now I am eyeing the alternator, it was from local place. He pulled it back out when it stayed with same issue, and now I am wondering if that alternator was meh.
They really are workhorses, when we go out into the beach trails I never worry about breaking down and I am the type that always used to worry about breaking down until we switched to toyota/lexus. I still have my 2005 lexus that my younger son drives and bar the rust below, seems like the biggest issue with toyota, that girl looks sharp and runs like a tank until you hit a wonky issue like a leveling sensor that you have to become a detective to discover as being the issue for a shimmer.
Thank You!

 

General rule of thumb: If it behaves exactly the same BEFORE and AFTER you dropped in a new part, 99% of the time, that part wasn't the problem you needed to fix.

In that thread I linked, if you look in the 4th or 5th line of the 1st reply, you'll see a bunch of links. One is "Service Manuals". Click on it. Click on the 2006 factory service manual at that link, then tap the download button to grab a copy while it's still available. It may help with troubleshooting, and it shows all the "Official" processes for diagnostics and repair. There is also a link in that 4th or 5th line to wiring diagrams for the Tundra and Sequoia, I'd recommend clicking on a copy of the wiring diagram and downloading it too.

 

Ok I will let the wandering alternator eye go. Downloading! Thank you again

 

I am going to tell you, I had to take a moment with that thread. I have never seen anything like it. It is beyond impressive. My hat is so totally off to you. I feel like I should genuflect. There are likely uncounted numbers of tundra owners that Thank you before going to bed at night. I can’t thank you enough. I can not wait to show all that to my husband when he gets home tonight!

 

Wasn't me alone. That's a community input thread. Basically filled with everything we've learned and seen here on the forum that may be helpful to newcomers, so we're not repeating the same stuff over and over again.

 

it is a masterpiece. I will be reading, reading, rereading whenever we hit a speed bump. Now that’s a community!

 

Most of the flaps can test both your battery and your alternator.

 

Worth adding for the less old-school folks, “FLAPS” = Friendly Local Auto Parts Store.

Sometimes the F may be substituted for another word in moments of frustration, though.

And to that point…

It may be worth carrying the old alternator into the auto parts store and having them test it if you didn’t already return it on core.

 

Seeing as our alternators are becoming NLA, I probably would not return it for a core charge but rather rebuild it my self or take it to one of the remaining old school alternator shops.

 

If you have a bad battery cable, don't put a clamp on terminal on it, replace the cable. Those terminals cause problems.

 

I just told him this. He put terminals and my eyes from day one has been looking to the cable before he even replaced the battery itself because years ago we had a car just dying out like that and it was the cables causing the issue