Thismakecents Posted July 30, 2007 Share Posted July 30, 2007 Hello everybody, I was wondering if anybody can lead me down the right rabbit hole before I take this to a mechanic and get my arm and leg bitten off. Sorry. Bad day. I am a little crumpy. I just bought this cute little 1986 toyota mini cruiser saturday. I test drove her wednesday with no problems. She has 67,000 miles on her. She has a a new battery installed last week along with a new alternator, and new brakes. I drove her with no problems again saturday when I bought her. But sunday morning came around and she started a little rough. And I drove around to front of the house to load up and she died. No power. So I pulled my sportage around and jumped her with jumper cables and she cranked right up. I let her idle for 30-40 minutes while I load for trip, thinking that the alternator should recharge the battery. Well when I went to put the transmission in drive, she died again and would not crank at all. I was getting annoyed. So I jumped her again and she cranked right up and I took off but I had a buddy follow me down the road. I made it a couple of miles until she started to run very rough and could not get over 40 MPH and sounded terrible. And then it died while driving. So I had enough and called the tow truck. $175 dollars latter I am trying to figure out what's wrong. Is this something simple like a spark plugs and cables or is this huge? Anything to help me troubleshoot befor I go to mechanic shop would be very helpful. Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokepolehall Posted July 30, 2007 Share Posted July 30, 2007 Could one of several things going on. Lets start by asking is the Toy fuel injected or carb. Does it have new plugs and plugwires? Usually alt. don't charge much at idle, but for the new battery to be dead/run down. There has to be a drain on it, something is on while key is off. Running rough or in your case not at all. If its EFI the injectors maybe badly clogged. It could be water or trash in tank or line or filter. Need some data please? Moosepucky will able to help trouble shoot also, i am volunteering him! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nolan Posted July 30, 2007 Share Posted July 30, 2007 Sounds to me like you have a charging problem or battery problem, when the battery runs down on voltage the engine runs rough until it can't run any longer and dies from lack of voltage to the ignition and related systems. If you have a volt meter, charge the battery check the voltage at the posts, aprox 12.7 volts start the engine check the voltage coming out of the alternator on the single large wire, aprox 14.5 check the voltage going into the battery at the posts, aprox 13.5, those figures are just ballpark but should give an idea if the alternator is doing its thing, if so your problems are somewhere else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bufbooth Posted July 30, 2007 Share Posted July 30, 2007 I have a drain on my engine battery, but a slow one that takes a week to drain the battery. A short term fast and cheap fix might be to add a battery cut off on the engine battery. Most auto parts stores sell them (autozone) and I even seen them at Menards (hardware/lumber) store for about $5. They install on one battery post and they have a dial that you give one complete turn, which disconnets the battery. This will allow you to test if it is a drain on your battery or something major. Charge your engine battery up, install the dial disconnect, and right after you turn the engine off, turn the dial to disconnect the battery. If after a week all is well, then you know you have a heavy drain on the battery. You might want to get a battery disconnect anyway if you plan on storing the motorhome for more than a month at a time. Dennis... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thismakecents Posted July 31, 2007 Author Share Posted July 31, 2007 Thanks everybody, I think it is fuel injected. I did not see a carb on it. It's a 4 banger and I checked the spark plug wires and distrub cap. Everything looks fine. The cables are still in good shape. I saw no discoloration and no dry rot on the cables. I will have to go out nd get a multi-meter though to check voltage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superbeefirebird Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Do you currently use a 3-post battery isolator, or a 4-post? I had a 1985 Sunrader with similar problems until I replaced my 3-post with a 4-post and connected the 'exciter' post to one of the alternator wires. Do you have a Nippendenso 3-wire alternator? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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