So had to get my baby towed home tonight

I live in Bakersfield California. I know there’s a few guys on here that live here. Maybe they have a trusted mechanic or a little more electrical experience then I do?

 

Too far for me to help, sorry

 

have you removed the negative battery cable for a few minutes then reattached?

grasping at straws here but who knows.

also as an fyi the firs time you start the truck after reattaching the battery cable it will stall. next start will be fine.

 

I know NOTHING about car audio in new vehicles and was able to installl a new head unit and component speakers in the front and rear successfully.

This guy must be an idiot. I did it Successfully but I wouldn’t tell someone else I know what I’m doing and can do theirs.

 

Yes I changed the battery today. It did exactly that, stalled first and then ran fine. Just drove it around the block and it ran fine but everything was shut off that’s electrical besides all the lights on the dash

 

Wow, I'm so sorry this happened....sucks!

I'm a computer engineer but have done a bit of electrical stuff on vehicles. While I doubt the ECM module(s) got blown, you do want to disconnect the negative from the battery whenever you replace any blown breakers to get them to reset. Do you have any friends with code readers? If you have a local auto parts store you may get one of the guys to come take a reading for you if it's not too far. (Most of them are pretty helpful, I've found...ask the oldest guy in the store for help)

Best of luck! (Why bring it to the dealer....just about ANY other car mechanic shop isn't as expensive...any Christian Brother's near you?)

 

That's good news! Drive down to your local car parts store and get them to read the codes (it's free)...write down ALL of them and post in here...folks are good at interpretation

 

I’m going to talk to my mechanic first, I’m sure they can handle it but I’m just really want it done right. I’ll figure out more this weekend and hopefully know what the cause of all this is. What’s my worst case scenario, fried ecu and I’m down 4 grand? I’d cry

 

I looked it up for you....it's bad but not THAT bad....The average cost for a Toyota Tundra Engine Control Module (ECM) Replacement is between $1193 and $1531. Labor costs are estimated between $44 and $56 while parts are priced between $1149 and $1475. Estimate does not include taxes and fees.

 

You’re the man, my lazy ass could have looked it up myself but being bad at electronics is what got me here in the first place haha. So it’s not like it’s totalled out, I was thinking 5 grand worst case and I would just have to take a massive loss and trade it in. Hopefully this will get resolved soon!

 

Update?

 

Bump

 

I don’t know why but I’ve been waiting on this thread all week

 

Sorry guys, im taking it to the best stereo shop in town Friday morning and if they don’t have the means to fix it completely I’ll be taking it to my mechanic who just so happens to be right down the street immediately after. Hopefully by Monday I’ll have this all resolved and be able to tell you guys what exactly went wrong and what the damage is

 

Thank you sir

 

Bumped

 

what happened? anxious to find out. I think many of us can identify with having dug into some mechanical or electrical aspect of a vehicle and that 'oh crap' feeling of having done something wrong.

 

Update?

 

Glad I’m not the only 1 wondering what’s up here

 

Update @tmart

 

Tried to get it to a stereo place and it wouldn’t run long enough for me to chance driving it. I’m getting it towed this week, just haven’t yet because I’m super busy with work and have a work truck that I drive. Sorry for the delay everyone but hopefully it will be fixed soon, it’s heartbreaking seeing it parked outside collecting dust everyday

 

It is driving me insane. I was going to get it towed this weekend but was scared of what the repair bill is going to look like so I put it off another week to get another paycheck to dump on it...I’ll definitey keep this updated

 

I have been purposely quiet about this thread to see the responses before posting.


A few months after buying my truck in 2014, I installed a aftermarket GPS deck. That deck worked fine for almost 3 years. Approx 5 months ago, I decided to buy a Chinese Android unit. Upon completion of installation, I was going through the settings and noticed there were settings that I never had. I said to myself well shit ! I’ll go ahead and enable them ! Moving forward, those settings never worked. A few days later I noticed the Android unit was shitty with the GPS. I subsequently returned the Android unit. Here is where it gets weird. I reinstalled the Aftermarket GPS deck and noticed right away that my P D R LIGHTS were not lit. My reverse lights also stopped working. It would also die immediately after starting it. But the engine would stay running if I restarted it. I was like, I fucked this truck up ! I tried disconnecting the battery, still fucked up. I called a good friend up and we checked every single wire for a open circuit, still screwed up. I also no longer had my factory deck, I had sold it on Ebay. Moving forward, I took it to the dealer. The only thing I told the service advisor was that it all of a sudden started doing it and the aftermarket deck had been in there for the last 3 years. 3 hours later the service tech makes contact with me in the lobby and says the tech found a uncapped wire that was causing the problem. I didn’t question him, I just wanted my truck back. 440 bucks later and I was driving my truck. Damm was I happy again !


For some reason, I don’t believe it was a uncapped wire. I believe the tech did some sort of a reprogram.

Approx 2 months later and missing the good looks of the factory deck I purchased a factory unit from a wrecking yard and installed it with no issues. My life was back to good.

 

Where was the uncapped wire located? In the head unit?

 

I didn’t ask because I didn’t believe it to begin with. And I certainly was in no position to question him..

 

Just seemed weird @jeremyd.

I know you was more elated to get back your truck and move on.