Toyota Vios electrical problem

[wadams]

My Vios suddenly lose all electric power while driving. Anything that requires electricity stopped working. The car will run for a while then it will stop. The next day it will start normally but after driving for 20 or 30 minutes it will do the same thing again. While it was running I disconnected one of the battery cables and the motor continued to run. Any ideas what could be the problem. I have a friend who owns a Toyota truck that's having the exact same problem. Toyota dealership told him they couldn't find a problem and suggested he purchase a new vehicle.

[KannikaP]

My Vigo is 9 years old and never any problems EVER. I'll do you a good deal!      555

[worgeordie]

You need to get it checked out at a Toyota dealer, electrical problems

could cause a fire in the car, strange how when you disconnect the

battery and car still runs, that should only happen with a diesel engine.

regards worgeordie

 

[Crossy]

I don't know the Vios but I'd be looking at the ignition switch and its wiring along with any relays that are activated by the ignition.

 

It may be enough to just disconnect the connectors / pull the relays out then re-connect.

 

Intermittent problems of this type can be a nightmare to sort ???? 

 

[canthai55]

When the car is running it is the alternator powering the car.

 

As always with electrical Gremlins, check the grounds first. 90% of problems caused by bad grounds.

 

Newer computer controlled cars have many - on the engine block, on the transmission, on the body, etc.

 

Edited August 15, 2021 by canthai55

[transam]

10 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

You need to get it checked out at a Toyota dealer, electrical problems

could cause a fire in the car, strange how when you disconnect the

battery and car still runs, that should only happen with a diesel engine.

regards worgeordie

 

Once a petrol car has started, the alternator takes over, there are some rides that may stop on battery removal, but I have never had one...

[Denim]

If you can get it that far, take it to a repair shop specializing in electrics , explain the problem ,and have them run a diagnostics check on it.

[canthai55]

Where are you ?

Edited August 15, 2021 by canthai55

[Ralf001]

4 minutes ago, canthai55 said:

Are you in CNX ? Many people from all over the country post in the wrong Forum

Not sure what you are dribbling about but posting a car related question in the motoring sub forum is not that unreasonable.

 

Edited August 15, 2021 by Ralf001

[lodstewart]

14 minutes ago, transam said:

Once a petrol car has started, the alternator takes over, there are some rides that may stop on battery removal, but I have never had one...

I think thats wrong Sir. an Alternator needs a supply ,in order to generate curent

[transam]

2 minutes ago, lodstewart said:

I think thats wrong Sir. an Alternator needs a supply ,in order to generate curent

Depends on the alternator I suppose, I recall I did have a live feed to an alternator once, but I never removed the battery with engine running to find out. ????.

The cars I did disconnect the battery, the engines kept running... 

[wadams]

If the car is running and the positive cable is disconnected from the battery the car should continue to run. If it stop running that mean a bad alternator.

[itsari]

1 hour ago, KannikaP said:

My Vigo is 9 years old and never any problems EVER. I'll do you a good deal!      555

Our Vigo is seven years old and never gives problems  New battery one time but that was down to stupidity of the owners . 

[transam]

29 minutes ago, itsari said:

Our Vigo is seven years old and never gives problems  New battery one time but that was down to stupidity of the owners . 

One battery in 9 years in a Vigo, wow, that must be a record.....????

[canthai55]

1 hour ago, Ralf001 said:

Not sure what you are dribbling about but posting a car related question in the motoring sub forum is not that unreasonable.

I was going to recommend a shop to look at it.

FAH

[Kwasaki]

3 hours ago, Denim said:

If you can get it that far, take it to a repair shop specializing in electrics , explain the problem ,and have them run a diagnostics check on it.

Nail on the head you beat me to it. 

Dam cars these days run by computers. yuck. ????

 

Edited August 15, 2021 by Kwasaki

[lodstewart]

On 8/15/2021 at 6:55 AM, transam said:

Depends on the alternator I suppose, I recall I did have a live feed to an alternator once, but I never removed the battery with engine running to find out. ????.

The cars I did disconnect the battery, the engines kept running... 

ah yes I see now, my sincere apologies, in the old days the 'excitation ' current was always sent to the rotor via a dedicated cable

from the ignition switch. that circuit has changed now taking the initial 12v from the alternator output cable, which would receive it via the battery, but continue to receive after output is established , thus it is possible to disconnect the battery +, and run ok.

get out of touch in my old years 55

[transam]

17 hours ago, lodstewart said:

ah yes I see now, my sincere apologies, in the old days the 'excitation ' current was always sent to the rotor via a dedicated cable

from the ignition switch. that circuit has changed now taking the initial 12v from the alternator output cable, which would receive it via the battery, but continue to receive after output is established , thus it is possible to disconnect the battery +, and run ok.

get out of touch in my old years 55

Hmmm, I am old enough to be your father.....????

[VocalNeal]

On 8/15/2021 at 11:54 AM, wadams said:

While it was running I disconnected one of the battery cables and the motor continued to run.

But not driving it? Obviously it is vibration/bump in the road issue. As has been said unplug all the relays and reinsert them. 

If it still happens you are off to the auto electric place.

Location is important if you want a recommendation for a business/workshop.

[lodstewart]

42 minutes ago, transam said:

Hmmm, I am old enough to be your father.....????

we talking 6v with cranking handle , 55

[VocalNeal]

I think that let's him off the hook unless it was a Starting Handle?

[lodstewart]

because the name was Transam, I was thinking American, as an Englishman , yes we always said 'Starting Handle'

and the first Engines I worked on were 'side valve' believe it or not. So we have seen some changes for sure.

[lodstewart]

As far as the op's question goes , I think He would do well to clean up all the Negative connections first.

 

[mrfill]

Get an OBD2 reader and check the fault codes. The cheap ones only read fault codes (the expensive ones can do many more tricks) but that could be enough to pinpoint the problem.

 

Something like this..  https://www.lazada.co.th/products/obd-ii-elm327-i8555589-s10742883.html?spm=a2o4m.searchlistbrand.list.15.13f21ad3RCST6A&search=1

[The Theory]

On 8/15/2021 at 11:54 AM, wadams said:

Any ideas what could be the problem.

As Crossy advised, check the main relay and related cables.
Ignition supply from fuse box then from ignition to the main relay and its socket and wires. 
And check the relay contacts for constant conductivity. 
good luck 

 

 

Edited August 19, 2021 by The Theory

[xtrnuno41]

HAd a motorbike, when it was cold, simply just start no problem.

DRiving , motor gets warm, battery gets warm. Stopped, shut it of to do other things of bike.

COme back shortly and try to start, no way Jose. Cooling down again and it started again.

Changed battery. Think by heat then it loses its power, shortcut in battery.

[hotchilli]

Start with a good mechanic who knows what he's doing and owns a good quality scan tool.

Let them run a full diagnostics scan and see what it shows up.

[johng]

On 8/15/2021 at 12:29 PM, transam said:

Once a petrol car has started, the alternator takes over, there are some rides that may stop on battery removal, but I have never had one...

I once had a "strange" problem,dead battery not cranking over so  changed the battery  and it ran fine for a couple days (short drives) then stopped just pulling away from parked..battery dead again

turned out the alternator was bad so the battery was doing it all.

 

I also had an ignition coil  that would fail when it got hot..and seem to be ok again when it cooled down.

[rooinekrsa]

6 minutes ago, johng said:

I once had a "strange" problem,dead battery not cranking over so  changed the battery  and it ran fine for a couple days (short drives) then stopped just pulling away from parked..battery dead again

turned out the alternator was bad so the battery was doing it all.

 

I also had an ignition coil  that would fail when it got hot..and seem to be ok again when it cooled down.

Plug in an obd  £20 from amazon diagnos the fault. Easy,plug into fuse box and run the vehicle

[transam]

19 minutes ago, johng said:

I once had a "strange" problem,dead battery not cranking over so  changed the battery  and it ran fine for a couple days (short drives) then stopped just pulling away from parked..battery dead again

turned out the alternator was bad so the battery was doing it all.

 

I also had an ignition coil  that would fail when it got hot..and seem to be ok again when it cooled down.

I have had an alternator do a 'drain' a couple of times, just something amiss in its gubbins...The only thing that went wrong on my auto trans Vigo was the alternator, a rather splendid workshop in town brought a big fully charged battery, put that on and drove it to their workshop.

 

Took the alternator off, took it all apart and replaced everything, even fitted a smaller pulley on it to speed it up at low RPM, then brought it back, think they charged  me 3,500 bht. 

Mrs.Trans followed MY truck on her bike to the workshop and took photos of the sequence of events.....????