2015 rav 4 randomly started flickering as i parked, now doesn't start. batt or alt?

A

apollo18

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May 27, 2023
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hey all, i have a 15 rav 4 with 107k miles on it. i am not sure how old the battery is but the previous owner told me it was replaced recently but not sure if that is true. secondly, the alternator i assume is oem since it says toyota denso and i dont recall past owner saying if he replaced it.
just to add more to the info, last night it was raining super bad but when i drove the car home it acted normal and had no issues. parked it outside for the night (it rained heavy all night). got in, today in the morning and started up fine and didnt notice any issue. drove about 20 mins on city/highway and it acted completely normal. parked it and then fired it up as i left work, and it started normal and gave no odds sign. the drive today was prob about 20 miles to home on the highway/city with tons of traffic.

Right when i get home, as i went to reverse to adjust my park i felt a wierd feeling in the steering and thought maybe i turned it the wrong way. I looked at the dash and noticed the light was kinda flickering where the odometer is. thought welll, thats odd. so i backed up and parked the car and sat at idle for a few. i revv'd in neutral to see if the flicker would go away but it stayed the same. as the engine was on, i opened hood and checked to see if the belt was messed up but looked all normal. thought maybe it was an issue i could get to look at tomorrow or later .' so i shut the car off and got my stuff out

however as i went to lock the car, i noticed it didnt lock. so im like **** maybe batt dead or contacts are bad ? so i hopped in again, and tried to fire it up and nothing really turned on, no ding ding, just a dim little intermittent light in the dash.

so now im going to multimeter it soon and see whats up but looking for tips and tricks. if i didnt shut it off, i could have tested it as it was running.
any idea what it may be? would a bad battery cause this? or is it more likely dirty connections or bad alternator?

i assume i have to jump the vehicle and then test and see what i figure out? can anyone recommend a plan of action

i was thinking to multi the battery and if it says 12.6+ then ofc that means contacts are just super dirty, if it says like low like below 12 then ofc alternator is not charging the battery or the battery is not taking the charge. how can i figure what is the issue? i have to jump?

thx
 
Check the voltage. Anything under 12.0 V is pretty much completely discharged. You could boost it to start the engine and check the alternator voltage, but it would take hours of driving to fully charge. Best to put it on a charger.

Once you get the engine running, the voltage should read at least 13.5 V.
 
Update *

Checked the battery terminals and got 12.71 voltage, so I assume battery terminals are corroded

Gonna head to the store and clean them up and then will test after

I assume once I get them squeaky clean the problem will go away?
 
Check the voltage on the battery cable ends (not the battery terminals) while the ignition is on. If it still reads 12.7 V, then corroded terminals are probably not the problem, but it won't hurt to clean them. If that doesn't fix it, I'd probably start checking fuses as the next step, then relays.
 
twX said:
Check the voltage on the battery cable ends (not the battery terminals) while the ignition is on. If it still reads 12.7 V, then corroded terminals are probably not the problem, but it won't hurt to clean them. If that doesn't fix it, I'd probably start checking fuses as the next step, then relays.
Click to expand...
Thank you I will do that when I’m back the reason I left was because the vehicle had no power like barely enough to even lock the door or use the unlock button so when I tested voltage at battery and saw 12.7 it made me think it must be the corroded terminal. Truth be told they are dirty but never thought it was that bad

Correct me if I’m wrong but does this not make it seem like it’s prob dirty connection? Since batt reads 12.7 but vehicle isn’t getting thag
 
apollo18 said:
Correct me if I’m wrong but does this not make it seem like it’s prob dirty connection? Since batt reads 12.7 but vehicle isn’t getting thag
Click to expand...
Bad battery connection does seem most likely. Check that first. It could also be a poor connection at the main relay or fuse or something, but I wouldn't worry about that unless you rule out a bad battery connection.
 
*ok update guys*
got some noco cleaner and protectant and some wire brushes. sprayed the clear waited some time, scrubbed, rinsed it off, unscrewed both terminals and cleaned some more with brush and cleaner. rinsed.
re installed terminals and went inside and put the key in and had light, however went to turn it over and it started but immediately shut off

*in my head im like oh no maybe alt is bad but lets give it a few seconds to maybe reengergize or something *

turned the key and voila! it started, dash was bright and did not look dim and flickery.

went outside to the battery and started using the multimeter in diff places. was getting 14.23v on both posts, and on various different portions of the cable and post. i mixed it up and was constantly getting 14.23 ish. the cable is kinda covered up with plastic and other things so its hard to know exactly if i am touching the vehicles cable terminals but i played around and moved around alot

hopped in and took it for a short drive with ac full blast and headlights on and came back. this time parked, kept it running, max ac with headlights on.
mulitemeter to different parts of battery posts/terminal/ground cable area was getting 13.99v everywhere. i went inside and turned headlights off, and tested again. started getting around 14.1v ish, then i went inside and turned ac off. and then was back to 14.2 ish v

finally shut the hood and called it quits for today.

now the question is, are these numbers okay? on the drive and at idle it gave no symptoms of low volt or anything, no dimm, no flickering. i assume it didn't stay on the first time as maybe ecu was confused or maybe some other random issue

so i hope its get but would love some input

as well thanks everyone for the help and input!!
 
Seems ok, though you didn’t really show us how bad or dirty the battery was. That’s a major difference that would indicate a loose connection or worse.

I’d personally want to load test the battery to verify.
 
apollo18 said:
Update *

Checked the battery terminals and got 12.71 voltage, so I assume battery terminals are corroded

Gonna head to the store and clean them up and then will test after

I assume once I get them squeaky clean the problem will go away?
Click to expand...
Corrosion, terminal tightness, and fluid levels
 
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