New (to me) 2016 Tacoma - A few issues

R

RVan

Member
It is now in my garage.

A 2016 SR5 double cab w/long bed and 108k miles. It is just what our family needs. However, the drive home and the engine start here in the drive indicates I have some unanticipated issues I need to resolve promptly. Note, I do have the FSM in pdf format.

1 - The cruise control stopped working after a brief stop my wife and I made on the way home from picking up the truck. I have read the FSM to learn some of the system diagnostics but I do not have time to work on the truck until Tuesday evening. Is it possible this is merely a contact cleaning issue? I prefer not to buy any parts but will do so if any are clearly determined to be NG.

Edit - On/Off appears to be working as the icon/symbol for this function continues to appear in the vehicle information display.


2 - When I started the 3.5L to put the truck in the garage the driver's information center indicated I needed to check my charging system. I find it hard to accept that a Toyota alternator is bad after 108k miles. My first effort will be to examine and clean all electrical connection. The battery in the truck is not new and feature a reserve capacity in excess of 2 hours. My drive home was ~6.5 h so the alternator is providing some level of charge to the battery.

Please let me know if you have any ideas that will allow me to diagnose or resolve these issues promptly.

Lastly, while my speed on the trip is best characterized a speed range (55-70) I was thrilled to read an average fuel economy was 24.4 mpg when I got home.
 
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Take it back to the dealer to resolve.

If you bought it from a person.....you may be in a hard spot. As this type of sale is typically an "AS IS" sale. From a dealer, you may have a bit more leverage........wouldn't count on a strong lever.

Seems you have several issues. Pick one and work on it. Then move to the next. Resolve step by step.
 
Cruise worked today but I chose to use the truck only to fill the tank. Cruise also worked when I test drove the truck several days ago. This information may allow me to conclude the switch and cable are okay. but I will also remove them and take the measurements required in the FSM.

The warning message regarding the charging system occurs only at key up before the engine is started. It is not active or displayed while driving but this issue is my priority. I need only to remove the alternator as everything to enable this was done this evening. I will call to see who can test it and get that done Friday morning.

Edit - I found numerous examples of owners questioning this warning message w/engine not operating - it could be normal as the ignition state is draining the battery and no charger or the alternator are replenishing this charge.

The FSM indicates cruise will not work if voltage to the ECM is not correct so the 'soft' nature of the charging system warning suggests my problem could be worse but I am not going to take it for granted, The intermittent operation of the cruise control is consistent with this. I say 'soft' because it is displayed only under static engine conditions rather than while operating the engine.

I had no idea the 2016 was problematic other than the auto, rear exterior cabin light, and the cam position sensor location (?). Mine was a single owner vehicle so this fact attracted me to the truck.

The dealer is openly listening but they are located in a different state.
 
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Did the out-of-state dealer offer any sort of warranty? In writing?

If you have a warranty, will it transfer to a local dealer? Can't hurt to ask. Worse they'll do is say No.

If so, then work with the selling dealer and a local dealer. Sometimes they will scratch each other's back.


Check the condition of the battery. If its the OEM battery, it could have 1 foot in the grave and the other foot on a banana peel.
 
As far as the battery, if you live in a very hot year round climate, the battery is likely toast by now.
 
the sticker date on my rigs battery is 1/15 ... 8 years, bot it in May '15 iirc dieHard brand
and the stock Toyota battery on relatives '11 lasted 10 years in this cold to very hot climate
they now have an Interstate green battery that i heard is not the greatest anymore like it may have used to be
 
But then again these newer than my 97 vehicles have all kinds of electro gizmos that need a constant source to drain and feed from
 
I just changed out the battery on my 19. What started me looking was I was getting moisture on top of the battery by the vent caps. Checked it and it was only holding 12.2 volts. Hadn't given me any problems starting or anything else, just figured I'd take care of it before winter got here.
 
Bad bad bad for de owner, and bad for de engine vith only seventy for tousand miles. He doesn't seem very enthusiastic about wanting to work on this engine.
 
I love my trd long bed do cab '16 only issue was recall on thrird brake lite leak and cuz it leaked i'm getting new carpet and headliner from dealer in a couple weeks. I did just change out original battery last summer. Put in an Interstate. Guy said Interstate makes Toyota battery. 20221002_114500_Film3~2.jpg
 
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