I have a 2005 Toyota Sienna XLE. On four separate occasions it has lost power. This does not happen while the car is running, but immediately after it has been turned off. On 3 of the occasions it acts as though the battery has been disconnected once the car is turned off. The auto doors won’t open, the lights don’t come on, the locks don’t lock, there is absolutely no power to the car. However, within 5 minutes, and without anything being done, the car will start.
Today, it happened for the 4th time, but the car would not start. We were able to get it started with a jump.
Two other strange things have been happening. The clock resets itself to a different time before this happens and the dome light will occasionally flash when the doors are opened.
I have had it at the Toyota dealer twice, but they have not been able to find anything.
I don’t think it is the battery. Two of the four times it happened after we pulled into the garage and I put a charger on the battery. It only pulled 2 amps on a trickle charge.
I am stumped, and the wife is not happy. She doesn’t want to get stranded with 3 kids 4 and under.
Get the battery tested, It might need to be replaced. It sounds like you are about due for one anyway.
How old is the battery? If it’s original, you’re due. Have you pulled off the connections and cleaned them?
How many amps was the “trickle” charger? If it’s a 2 amp trickle charger, and the battery was pulling 2 amps, how do you rule out the battery?
I won’t say that it isn’t the battery. But I don’t think it is the battery.
That said a basic electrical meter can be had for not much $$ & is an easy way to find out about what the battery’s charge is during one of these “episodes.” It is also the case that most auto parts chains will test the battery and charging system of the van for free.
You also don’t need to go to a Toyota dealer. A good local, independent shop can usually provide a better mix of quality/price. In this case you’re probably better off at an independent’s shop. I doubt that the dealer’s shop has really put much time or effort into this. Sometimes “didn’t find anything” happens when an intermittent problem (such as yours) come in the door and the problem never presents itself while there. So sometimes no one found anything b/c no one looked at anything.
At minimum someone needs to inspect all of your cables, + & -, from the battery on out. They need to be cleaned & inspected for damage/corrosion. So while I don’t think that a bad battery is the root of your problem, a bad ground connection (or the like) for the battery very well could be.
Thanks for the replies. My wife mentioned a couple other things she has noticed. It seems to take the car some time to come up to “full power” after it has happened. So for example, the auto feature on the drivers window hasn’t worked for about a day after this happened. After about a day it works fine.
Yesterday, after we jumped the car and got it started it took a few minutes for the other electrical components to work such as the power doors, windows and locks. This makes me think it might be the battery after all.
I don’t know if it is the original, but would guess it is. We bough the car used in 2008.
Goldwing, good point, it was a 2 amp trickle charge.
Toyota has it now, so I will see what they come up with tomorrow. If they can’t find anything I will get it into a good local mechanic.
I would have assumed they checked the battery when they had it last month, but I guess one should never assume.