pathynoob

well i think i found my problem. the tow hitch electrical thing wires were dropping onto my exhaust pipe and melting themselves. so after taping them up and out of the way i havent had any problems after about a 100 miles. such a simple thing after ripping out my dash carpet and trying to check everything under teh hood. thanks for all the help and maybe now i can get some new tires and enjoy my pathy.

i have been blowing my meter fuse and several others for a while now and am also trying to fix mine but i just thought i should mention that the battery light is comming on because that fuse connects to your alternator and while the fuse is blown your alternator is not charging and you are running on straight battery power. so make sure you have a fuse to put in there so you dont kill your battery and die in the middle of nowhere like i did.

well it turns out those fuses i was blowing for the speedo dash lights and turn signals are needed for the alternator to work. so i am back to where i was on the original electrical problem but at least she runs. now the first alternator did test bad at autozone but i still dont understand how the truck ran for as long as it did off a jump start without that fuse. so now i guess she will run as long as i make sure to keep the fuses good. which since they blow pretty often i need to figure out what is causeing my meter fuse to blow. i suppose my next thing to try is replacing the instrment cluster and check those grounds for wire rot. on a side note tmoore where are you from i grew up in burnsville NC just across the border from unicoi country TN if i remember correctly.

after the second one blew i figured it wasnt the alternator but i have checked all the connections as best as i can and not found anything. i am taking it to the shop tomarrow to see if they can figure it out but i am very worried because everyone says it could take 10 minutes or it could take 10 hours. i blew a started relay in my tacoma and cant remember exactly how i figured it out but it took awile. a fuse i can look at and tell if its bad but i dont know of anyway to test a relay. tmoore it is a duralast and i think that the guy was an assistant manager. he had a grey shirt on. normally the lower down the less they give a @!*% thats why i have gotten two new batteries from walmart without them even testing them. i think that as long as i say that i figured out the electical problem he wont give me a problem. normally i am not like this but since i need this vehicle to run and while im good mechanically i hate electronics so i am very worried because it is all in someone elses hands, but thanks for all the help and hopefuly my mechanic can fix it.

i have gotten two new batteries because it was under warranty. so the batteries were new minus some charge to drive to autozone.

i was advised to try to use jb weld to seal my exhaust manifold leak. will jb weld work or should i try to go though all the hassle of replacing the exhaust manifold gaskets. from the look of it the exhaust manifold is rusted and has a good chance of some bolts breaking off.

because i am almost broke i went back to autozone and got another one. the guy at autozone gave me alot of @!*% for replacing it after only a week and said that if i didnt get my electrical problems fixed he wouldnt keep replacing them. so i replaced the one and drove to work and it died on my before i could get home. a total of maybe 30 min of driveing. now i find it very surprising that a alternator can die that soon but if i have a electical problem that serious i am in deep @!*%. i have looked it over as best i can and dont see anything that could be causing the problem. so at this point i can go argue with the guys at autozone and try to get another alternator, break down and buy a good one from wherever i can find, or take it to the shop and hope they can find the electrical problem affordably. if there is something simple i could check like relays i can do that but i am at my wits end as what to do with this truck because i need something that runs reliably and really dont have the money for another car.

so what kind of alternator is the best for the money. if it was just an issue of replacing it i could live with that but i cant live with the fear that its going to cut out on me 100 miles from anything.

i have been haveing an electrical problem that blew a bunch of fuses but didnt seem to cause any major problems. then my alternator went out and i replaced it with a reman alternator from autozone. ( its made in mexico but has a lifetime warranty) i got a jump start and drove it for about a half hour until it stopped about 10 miles up a dirt road. so after a bitch of a time getting it back to civilization i check all the connections and they all seem fine. it seems like an alternator problem (it runs just fine with jumper cables on but dies instantly when i take off the negative connection of the battery). someone mentioned that it might be a bad alternator. i am going to take it off to check it but i will have to tow it to the shop for lack of a better place and not being able to drive to autozone not to mention they are a bitch to take off. has anyone had any experience with reman autozone alternators suggesting that it might be bad.

i have put the old speedo back in and have traced the wires as best i can to try and find the problem and have taken apart the headlight and wiper control thingies apart but i am still blowing the fuses for the speedo, dash lights, and turn signals within an hour of putting new fuses in. i have a haynes manual that i have tried to interperet but without much success. since it doesnt blow imediatly when i put in the new fuses i am assuming it is just a few slightly frayed wires that only touch occasionally. if any of you have had this problem and/or know where these might touch i would be very thankfull.

i checked my fuses and had the meter which seems to control the speedo tach and ac blower, the tail lamp which seems to control the interior dash lights that come on when i turn on my headlights, and stop lamp which i dont know what it does all blown. they are all supposed to be 10a but i found a 15 to use in meter slot which worked for the 20 minutes before i could get to checkers. after checkers and replacing all three fuses i start driving again. within a minute both the meter and tail lamp are blown. i havent switched back to my original speedo yet and am wondering if having a speed senor from an auto and a speedo from a stick would make the speedo off. ( i thought i read that autos have 4.3 and sticks have 4.6 rear ends) also since i also am blowing the tail lamp fuse could i have a bigger electrical problem or is it something i should just stick some bigger fuses in for.

its a manual but i think the speedo and possibly the speed sensor came from a auto. and yes the battery is the only light on.

when i bought the truck the speedo and odometer were not working so i went to the junk yard and put in a new speedo. that did not fix the problem, so after some pleading i got the junkyard to give me a speed sensor which fixed the problem. now after a couple weeks my speedo and my tach are not working. it also has the little battery light on. i shouldnt have a low battery because the problem started at the end of the day after driving 150 miles or so. im kind of at a loss as to what could have now caused both the speedo and tach to go out and also dont know what else i should check or replace since i already did the speedo and speed sensor, granted with junkyard parts. i have already checked the connections and would aprreciate any help.

by orange sticker do you mean the one that says lsd oil only. i have an SE mt 4 disks power everything sunroof and the stereo was ripped out

im in flag and would love to join yall sometime but i dont think i can afford to take my rig on anything hard core for a long time right now my prioritys for my truck are speedo cv axles both of these should be fixed by this weekend or so fixing the body damage getting new tires maybe new shocks but i might just wait until i can afford a sus lift and if i find a nice grill guard lights cb radio or anything interesting for cheap i find on the way but it wont be until at least next summer before i can afford to put on a lift kit