Sup2jzgte

I had an interesting situation today with my SC. After installing my new speakers I went for a drive and all is well, I came and left again a few times everything was normal. Just about an hour ago I went out put my key in the ignition turn it and the EVERYTHING in the car turn on then within a half a second went dead. It seemed to die when I tried to start it, but EVERYTHING shorted out nothing worked not a single light, sound.....nothing, the engine didnt even have a chance to try and turn over.


I took the key out and tried a few more times, but the entire car remained completely dead. I popped the hood checked the fuses, and not a single one was bad. For ****s and giggles I tried it again and the damn thing worked perfectly fine, BUT my steering wheel, Radio and clock were all reset.........its as if the battery was disconnected. I was under the hood for all of 5 minutes or so and didnt touch the battery at all.

It is to dark for me to trouble shoot tonight, where should I start? Oh the battery and starter is less than a year old, I'm thinking possibly the alternator but for some reason that does not sound right to me. I really hope to god its not the starter, I will be pissed if it is seeing how it is the ONLY part I had Toyota repair for me.

My thoughts are either Ignition Switch or alternator, what are your thoughts?

1sxyrxy

are your battery terminals tight? and clean?

Sup2jzgte

Super clean zero corrosion and so tight I need a ratchet to remove them.

schwarz

iTrader: (3)

Mine did the exact same thing...it was the battery terminals. Doesn't matter how clean or tight the terminals are on the battery as it has nothing to do with the connection on the battery post, it's where the wires meet the terminals. Replace the terminals and it should be good to go (and the dealer said this is quite common on SC's).

UZZ30-SC4

Mine did the same thing, spontaneous ground loss, and it acted the EXACT same way, this i believe, was brought on by the extreme HID work i had done not a week before. More load, not enough ground.

LiCelsior

iTrader: (32)

yea i had this happen to me too..played with the terminals and car started up lol..

Sup2jzgte

Well now thats rather interesting considering about 2 weeks ago I installed a set of VOLT Hids, but they are only 35 watts and my lights where not turned on when the does this. Do you think the hids could be the issue?

Any pointers on changing the cables?

Did you change your terminals?

schwarz

iTrader: (3)

You don't actually have to change the cables, just the terminals. You can get them from Lexus ($40 IIRC for the pair) or get a set from Walmart or AutoZone...the key thing is that the end of the cables fit over the end of the terminal (they bolt onto the terminal). It took awhile to find a pair that worked with our cable ends but I found a pair of marine terminals at Walmart for $4 that worked but I had to drill out the holes on the end of the cables to get them to bolt onto the terminals (the hole sizes are different on + and - cable ends). Once you get in there, you'll see what I'm talking about.

Sup2jzgte

Thanks I'm going to have to check out Autozone and see what I can find. I was reading on the supra forums that some people had an issue with cables being to short, did you experience the samething?

This is the one I'm looking at picking up
http://www.autozone.com/autozone/cat...rtId=prod62370

schwarz

iTrader: (3)

I didn't have any problems with the cables as I left the original ones there. And those terminals won't work. You need something like these:



The original cables have lugs on the end of them so they need a bolt on the end of the terminal to bolt to. You'll see when you get in there.

UZZ30-SC4

They could have assisted in finishing off already bad connections, no good way to know, but these are 10+ year old vehicles. They need there terminals/grounds replaced no matter what.

Sup2jzgte

Thanks for the help, I'm heading to autozone now to pick up some terminals, anything else needed lol?

UZZ30-SC4

You could pick up some 8 Gauge wire and some connectors and do a custom ground wire

Sup2jzgte

IS there a diagram for that, like I DIY?

UZZ30-SC4

Not really necessary, pop your hood and trace your negative battery cable, it stops at the chassis below the battery tray, then leads to the motor, very simple to make a new one and add a few new grounding points while you are at it.