Will not start

well i tried starting my truck tonight and when i turned the key, i heard a click and EVERYTHING shut off, now not a single light will turn on even when i open the doors, no locked key symbol will appear on the dash (the anti theft symbol), absolutely nothing. the steering will is locked, i believe the gear selector is locked although i haven’t tested that bc i’m on a hill, and even my keys won’t work for locking the truck with the buttons. i haven’t tested the horn and other things but i will when i’m back home and i’ll update this, if anyone knows what’s wrong or knows someone who might, PLEASE let me know, thank y’all and happy fourth!!!!

 

Sounds like the battery isn't strong enough. How old is it?

 

I just went through a similar incident with our Acura RDX. The battery was 6 months old but the vehicle had been sitting for days. The battery just up and died from sitting too long.
I had no way to enter the vehicle ~ even the metal key on the fob would not open the door. Tripple A to the rescue.

When I got the battery out it showed 2.5 volts ~ not even enough power to operate the door lock solenoids.
Installed a new Costco warrantied battery and I'm up and running again.

Of course, this may not have any bearing on your situation ~ I'm merely telling my story here.

Good luck with your issue ~ I hope you're back on the road again really quickly.

 

Easy. Dead battery.

 

dead ground battery cable?? loose ground connector, a bad ground or a bad battery... just giving more options, as my friend's Silverado long ago in Fl was struck by lightning or something, but the ground wire melted on that B... and we were stranded, had to call our school house mentor to come get us.... My SC400's battery died and everything was off once I inserted thw key, it had sat for about 3 weeks and battery was 3 months old....

 

Start with the simplest solution and work back from there.

Simplest would be the battery itself - put a jump box on it and if it starts - take cables off battery - clean terminals and charge battery to 100%.

If it does it again - new battery time. As long as it’s a bad cell/battery issue - new battery will fix it.

Sucks but I does happen - I’ve posted by woes with new Toyota branded batteries. They just don’t have quite enough juice to them and drain off too quickly. North Star or Optima make pricey batteries that seem to last better.

I personally went Optima - just based solely on availability locally - heard money horror stories how the new ones are junk and nothing like the Optima of 10 years ago / was fully prepared to return in 30 days and get the Northstar. Had it 6 months and zero complaints.

I tested the replacement Toyota battery the dealer gave me - test fine still - just does not have enough cranking power and doesn’t hold charge for more than 4 days when in use. Weird - but it is what it is.

 

Completely agree here... I will need to look at Northstar batteries myself... I went through enough Toyota batteries to convince the stealership to go halfies on an Optima, after the 3rd one we both realized Optima batteries hate heat, much like all the other ones, so I transplanted my Celica's 6 year old battery to it and held well... I'm on my 15th battery in 12 years of ownership... Currently have an Optima, which may be my last... Northstar may be my next one...

 

Thank you guys! It turned out to be the alternator which blew the battery, as well as a loose ground connection. got the battery replaced today and we’re getting the alternator fixed/replaced sometime this week