Truck starts but won't engage electronics or shift into gear

I have noticed that within the past few months my Tundra clicks a couple of times after it starts (cluster flashes). Yesterday I went out to head to work and when I started the vehicle, the entire cluster was off, to include radio, a/c, etc. The interior lights stay on as if the vehicle is not started. The brake pedal is stiff as though I pumped the brakes with the vehicle off. Without the ability to engage the brakes, I can't shift the vehicle into gear just like trying to shift a vehicle into gear with it turned off.

There is a split second when trying to turn the truck on, if I am fast, I can get the shifter into gear before it locks up. Once in gear, the accelerator and brakes will work and I can get the truck to move. However, this still will not engage the cluster to come on and I can't drive like that. After turning the vehicle off and on around 10 times or so, it will finally engage the electronics and then everything works just fine.

I am pretty sure that there is a bad relay somewhere but I don't know which relay would control this. I have already checked every fuse that is part of the ignition, cluster, ECM, etc. but they are all good.

Has anyone experienced this before? If so, what relay was the culprit?

 

Maybe rodent damage? They love to eat the soy based wire insulation. Btw, welcome to the forum!

 

Check your battery. Low voltage or a bad cell/battery starting to go will do all sorts of funky things to electronics in the newer trucks.

 

Welcome from LA (Lower Alabama)! I agree with both possibilities listed above before checking relays. Are you still under warranty? Depending on how many miles you put on it, you should be.

 

To put this to a close; I took the vehicle to the dealership. I am not under warranty anymore for electrical issues. What they found though was a wire that worked its way loose. I don't exactly know how this would happen and neither did the service manager. Problem cost me ~$130 for the service charge to have it looked at. After they found the problem, they wanted to charge $411 to fix it. This amount wouldn't be completely horrible if they were going to replace the entire harness for the wire but the manager confirmed with me that they were only going to solder the wire back together. I had them leave the steering column disassembled and I will solder it myself. At least the issue is fixed now.