Truck died, lost panel except tach and all front door controls. Also somehow AC.

[JayhawkLB7]

Hey so real weird situation here and I'm freaking out a little bit because it really doesn't make much sense to me.

Hold up to my kids school today, accidentally left the key in start instead of auxiliary. Went to fire it up 30 minutes later and it was dead. Jumped it, let it run about 20 minutes, then took off.

Problem is when I took off I realized none of my instrument cluster are working. Except speedometer and tachometer. I hear them powering up and the needles bumping when I turn the key on, but they can't go any further. I've also lost all the electronic readout knowhow... So mileage, range, oil lifetime. I've also lost power to both the front doors, except my left mirror control for some reason. No windows no locks no seat heater.

Also noticed the climate control fires on and I can modify it, but when engaging AC it is not kicking on. Another weird thing was that my done lights were stuck on for about 15 minutes of my drive home, maybe it thought the driver side door was still open? They have since turned off and now I can't turn them back on via rotary knob, but can via manual buttons.

Does anybody have any idea what in the hell is going on here? I saw one post that was similar on another forum where there was a wire that maybe stripped running down the steering column. Is it possible that the jump start caused that wire to burn out? Maybe sparked it? Anyway ... I'm left without the ability to roll up my windows or lock my doors unless doing so manually. The remote lock and unlock and panic button are also not responsive.

I'm stumped. And in deep ***t, I have kids to run to and from school tomorrow and was going to be leaving Thursday for a 5-hour drive-thru probably ungodly hot Kansas.

 

[JayhawkLB7]

Oh sorry I should also note... None of the dummy or indicator lights except for turn signals function either. I am showing an airbag, ABS and battery light. I'm guessing this is a communications problem. The lower four buttons on my steering wheel do work, but my stereo controls do not.

This happened about 3:30 today and I've been at baseball and softball game since so I haven't even looked at anything. Going to try pulling both battery grounds and letting everything sit for 15 or 20 minutes When I get home here in 20 minutes. See if maybe I've got a bad memory hanging around in there.

 

[2004LB7]

Didn't happen to let any of the jumper cable ends touch the TCM case? Or anything else except the battery terminals and known ground point?

 

[JayhawkLB7]

Didn't happen to let any of the jumper cable ends touch the TCM case? Or anything else except the battery terminals and known ground point?

Sorry modifying my last post to condense it. I hooked them up via the ground tab and positive tower in the little plastic case like I normally do. And then went to get my daughter and my father-in-law who was jumping me through a second set of jumper cables on. Also black to black and red to red. Just Daisy change them via the pair I put on. That's the only wrinkle I can think of. I would normally wait in 5 minutes and turn the key, he's an old oilfield guy and doesn't have 4 minutes to let science work.

I can't imagine that would have fried anything. That's basically just a second parallel connection which increased capacity not voltage... I'm not sure why that would even Make a difference. But I'm not a power guy.

I did pull the batteries for about a half hour and plugged them back in. The worst part of it is that my stereo remains on. Even when I plug the batteries back in it kicked right back on. It's like it's stuck in ignition mode and nobody has opened a door yet. I'm just fully perplexed.

 

[BrandonLLY]

A couple possibilities I can think of:

A power surge came through the cables somehow and possibly damaged your ECM. Hopefully that isn’t the case.

Being optimistic, maybe it’s your batteries. I would replace both at the same time if you’ve been having problems, seems like they need to be replaced anyways. I have had some very very strange things happen electronically when my batteries were going out.


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[JayhawkLB7]

A couple possibilities I can think of:

A power surge came through the cables somehow and possibly damaged your ECM. Hopefully that isn’t the case.

Being optimistic, maybe it’s your batteries. I would replace both at the same time if you’ve been having problems, seems like they need to be replaced anyways. I have had some very very strange things happen electronically when my batteries were going out.


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Hey I was typing my last response when you posted this. Could you read back through that? Do you think his doubling the cables up could have created that? Thanks a lot for your guyses quick responses. I'm going nuts over here.

 

[2004LB7]

If removing the battery cables for a few minutes doesn't do it then I'd start looking at the fuses. Particularly the mega fuse.

I doubt doubling the jumpers would have done anything bad. Of course assuming they all connected to the same voltage reference point.

 

[BrandonLLY]

Hey I was typing my last response when you posted this. Could you read back through that? Do you think his doubling the cables up could have created that? Thanks a lot for your guyses quick responses. I'm going nuts over here.

I also don’t think doubling the cables could hurt anything, that would just provide more current at the same voltage. My guess is that he possibly had the cables on wrong before you showed up, or your batteries need to be replaced. Or like someone else mentioned, something happened to your mega fuse although I would think if that went out the truck would turn off.

Also verify all your battery cables are tight, not just at the batteries but the other end of them as well.


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[JayhawkLB7]

Awesome. Man thank you guys so much. I will dig in first thing tomorrow morning after dropping the kids off. Going to just disconnect my negatives for the night so my stereo doesn't drain the battery. Really appreciate everything.

 

[Ron Nielson]

I hooked them up via the ground tab and positive tower in the little plastic case like I normally do.

Particularly the mega fuse.

Not sure what your little plastic case is. If you attached your jumper+ to the mega fuse, concentrate there to start.

 

[2004LB7]

Not sure what your little plastic case is. If you attached your jumper+ to the mega fuse, concentrate there to start.

The LB7 and maybe even the LLY came with an actual location to attach the positive and negative jumper clamps. The positive was inside a little red plastic box atop the engine. I'm assuming he is referring to this

 

[BrandonLLY]

The LB7 and maybe even the LLY came with an actual location to attach the positive and negative jumper clamps. The positive was inside a little red plastic box atop the engine. I'm assuming he is referring to this

My LLY has it too.


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[JayhawkLB7]

Yeah, sorry that's exactly what I'm referring to. The little positive/negative post.

So I'm headed to get new batteries. I decided since I was going to do that this morning anyway I just let the power drain again. Jumped it off my wife's 4Runner this morning and everything was back to normal on startup. I don't know if it caught a bad memory, I would think disconnecting both batteries for an hour would have cleared that but... For whatever reason the temporary fix was to let the batteries drain again and jump it again.

I will get a new pair in here in a couple hours and just keep my eye on things. Really odd. I know someone else mentioned some weird electrical stuff goes on when batteries are bad but... I wouldn't have imagined this scenario.

 

[2004LB7]

Yeah. When the batteries are low the voltage regulators in each computer has a hard time keeping a steady voltage to all of their sensors and other lines. That can make things act really funny. Sometimes the batteries are bad enough that even the alternator can't supply enough current to keep the voltage stable. A good set of batteries can make a big difference in how it will act if you've gotten used to it with the bad ones. May be worth having them check the alternator too while you are picking up the batteries

 

[BrandonLLY]

That’s awesome news that’s the only issue. Had a good feeling it was the batteries. Use a volt meter with the truck running when you get the new batteries and make sure voltage at the batteries is around mid 13’s. That will tell you the alternator is working properly.


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[2004LB7]

That’s awesome news that’s the only issue. Had a good feeling it was the batteries. Use a volt meter with the truck running when you get the new batteries and make sure voltage at the batteries is around mid 13’s. That will tell you the alternator is working properly.


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Correction. Should be closer to mid 14's

Typical voltage is 14.2 to 14.6 with 14.4 being the most common. Newer vehicles will very this even more with around 13 on the low end and up to 15 or so on the high end. But his vehicle should be close to 14.4 volts

 

[BrandonLLY]

Correction. Should be closer to mid 14's

Typical voltage is 14.2 to 14.6 with 14.4 being the most common. Newer vehicles will very this even more with around 13 on the low end and up to 15 or so on the high end. But his vehicle should be close to 14.4 volts

Interesting, my LLY I believe is usually in mid to high 13 range. Maybe I need to double check. I do think I have a parasitic draw somewhere that I need to figure out.


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[2004LB7]

Interesting, my LLY I believe is usually in mid to high 13 range. Maybe I need to double check. I do think I have a parasitic draw somewhere that I need to figure out.


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Yeah possible. That would make that battery always dead or close to it so whenever you test the voltage it's lower then normal. If you have access to a DC amp clamp meter you can see if the battery current ever drops to almost nothing after a good drive. Should be no more then a few amps if the battery is fully charged. A bad battery can draw 10 amps or more all the time keeping the voltage down. A shorted cell is well known for doing this.

Also, a bad alternator regulator or loose/bad connection can do that too

 

[JayhawkLB7]

Damn thanks a ton guys. Good to know for future reference. Current batteries are four years in the nose this month. Time must have gotten away from me, I swore I replaced those more recently than 2019.