Towed 5 Hours...for THIS?! (Surge-Stall-"CRAZY"Cluster-No Radio? 2000 Toyota Camry)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- This "bomb-proof" 2000 Toyota Camry got towed to PHAD from 5 HOURS away in VA.
Less than 100k miles on the odometer!
Customer says that a YEAR ago it started running poorly: SURGING, STALLING, and the Cluster goes NUTS! Check Engine Light is flickering, and the gauges have a mind of their own.
Also, he says the radio stopped working at some point...
Deja Vu? We've seen "Crazy Clusters" before on these older Toyotas...
will this be a 1-Minute NO PARTS REQUIRED Repair?
No so fast...
ASTRO DC AMP CLAMP:
www.amazon.com...
TOPDON Phoenix Plus 2:
www.amazon.com...
Enjoy!
Ivan
Ivan ,there is a reason that folks will have their vehicle towed 300 miles for repair ... You actually fix the problem !
and that's a testimony to how bad general auto repair has become.
@@adotintheshark4848has auto repair really gotten that bad or is Ivan just better at showcasing his talents then some of the other professionals in the industry. Not disrespecting Ivan he's a superstar for sure but even Ivan would tell you after networking with hundreds of techs across America there's definitely lots of skilled competent techs out there that could've gotten to the successful repair in a timely manner if they're actually given the chance.
Yes, Ivan is exceptional indeed. He probably doesn't think so because he is humble.
And troubleshoot for the problem, instead of just keep buying parts
@@harrythompson5634 except alot of these customers have been diyers who very much just throw cheap parts at a problem instead of troubleshooting it or paying a professional.
Basically every Ivan video:
1) confirm customer complaint
2) look up wiring diagram
3) fix problem
But that's because he's brilliant!
Standard Operating Procedure 😁👌
A man who admits when he was wrong. Never see that with most politicians. I love watching this channel. I was hooked years ago when your wifes cvt ate itself. The carnage inside that JATCO was impressive.
That's what happens with every JATCO.... right? It fails, grenades itself, etc, etc.
@@deplorablelibertarian more often than not
@@deplorablelibertariantruth!!
"This car is not molested"
He says as we look at the half-dismantled dashboard.
Well, there is a big difference between “molested” and “undressed”.
Just ask strippers.
Apart is not molested it's just apart. Molested is cut up.
@@wayne5607That’s what I was going to say, You beat me to it! 👍👍🇺🇸
cut cut cut, aftermarket everywhere.. Loose Unsoldered Connections and Splices.... oh sorry that last one is a Lucas electronics joke
I am so impressed with the way you persist to repair faults . Being a 80year old makes me glad I don’t have to buy a huge computer on wheels .
Main problem : 8 min
Bonus : 28 min 🎉
I'm 10 seconds in, and can already tell the issue is a bad ground. #yawn
Thanks!
Nice.
@@jimharper6073 wow thank you for your support Jim! 🙏
Very nice of You Mr. Jim. 👍👍🇺🇸
Awesome
Great detective work and problems solved. As Eric O. says...."somebody was messin' where they ought not be messin'."
Ivan, when you service a car, you definitely give the customer his money's worth! Great find on that radio.
It’s crazy how a bad ground messes up a whole car and it’s the last place most people look 😂😂😂 love your channel
'NO Parts Required' thanks Ivan 🧙♂️👊👍
Just cured this exact problem on my 04 Tundra. Didn't know i had it until I removed my Bluetooth OBDII dongle from the Data port and the truck stalled. Reinstall it and truck runs fine.
Jumped pins 4 and 5 together (Ground and signal) and truck runs fine. Trace it to ground on manifold. Clean and tighten and all fine.
As for that stereo, when a speaker/amp leg is shorted to ground, the internal amp is switched off to prevent it from letting the smoke out. Once the short is repaired, the amp will usually come back online on it's own however there are times you need to power cycle it for it to work properly.
Rip it out and put in an Android head unit that has Android Auto as well as CarPlay for Apple fans. It reads texts aloud and allows you to answer with voice as well as full navigation. Bring that car into the 2020's with one simple and inexpensive upgrade.
For anybody interested, the Atoto F7 is a navigation only style head unit that allows you to do all this. The S8 is a full on Android unit with internet, Google, etc, etc. Everything your phone does.
I'm one of the weirdos that doesn't like Android Auto, I hate how it auto plays music that I didn't tell it to, it makes navigating a pain because now I gotta go through the dumbed down voice to text garbage, I don't like music getting interrupted by spam texts and I have to press "ignore" every start up for it not to read messages
pin 4 is battery ground. pin 5 is computer ground. your manifold is where the computer gets its ground.
@@perrytopness5903 Yes and since it wasn't grounding on the intake, it, in turn, grounded through the OBDII connector. A ground is a ground is a ground.
@@perrytopness5903 Yes and What's your point? The ECU needs a ground so I grounded it. whether that pin was tied directly to battery negative (which it is) or I tied it to another wire that goes to battery negative (which I did) it's the same thing.
So long as you don't overload the ground leg and start melting wires you'll be fine.
After all, a ground is a ground is a ground.
Atoto radios are the best, better than even the thousand dollar brand name radios.
I love my Toyotas for a reason. I like getting in the car and turning the key. When something wears out, I like to be able to fix it. I just replaced the rear muffler hangers on my 03 Camry I have owned since new. I ordered the dealer parts and completed the repair in 20 minutes.
When obama shut down Saturn, I went to junk yard and pulled 6 of those rubber exhaust hangers so I will always have some. Checkout looked at them, asked what they were, and let me out free of charge. 🙂
Yep, I agree! I own a 2007 Camry with the four cylinder. It has 53,000 miles on it. Bought it brand new too. Runs like a fine Swiss watch. Still have the OEM brakes on it. Love my Camry!
You need a shirt with it’s the ground wire dummy. This is the number one thing I’ve learned from you is when there’s a bunch of different problems that don’t seem to be connected it might just be a bad ground.
I think SMA might have one..😊
An early PHAD video .. Nice way to start my Saturday.. I Found my first green crusty and with a spray of contact cleaner and a small brush I fixed my blower resistor motor..It did not want to work on HIGH. I also recently did this firewall bolt cleaning - to Ivan Spec. All the gauges ABS and other stuff including the AC was cutting on and off. Both repairs I could do with my old age limited motion.. Thank You Sir... It was a bad time to try to get to a shop and it now seems fixed
Main problem was pretty simple , but the lesson for me was the radio/ speaker diag. I sure didn’t realize there is a bias voltage present, and did not know how to check the resistance on the speakers . Old dogs can always learn new tricks. Thanks Ivan. 👍👍🇺🇸
they're "floating ground" speaker outputs, both wires are driven positive and negative with the audio signal, so anything touching ground or leaking to ground can overheat the amp, cause burnout, blown fuse/speaker or safety cutoff(not all have safety cutoff).
most have been that way since the 1960's?(before my time). any speaker wire + or - to body ground or other circuits is bad news for the amp and often speakers, the other issue that can happen is speaker foam surrounds get old and crumble, then the voice coil starts dragging the metal poles which are generally vehicle ground and game over to ground.
A Master at his craft, Ivan you are the man! NPR repairs are always the best. A bit of advice when working on speakers if you happen to dent in the center cone, tape a section of fuel line brake line whatever to a vacuum hose and use the small line to suck the center cone back out if you happen to damage it (be careful) don't ask me how I know this =). Have a great day!
Great job Ivan! Honesty is the true sign of a GREAT person. Something society is truly lacking these days. Thanks for another great video! I'm always learning something from all your videos!
Pretty much all modern head units will have bridge tied load (BTL) outputs. This is effectively two amplifiers driven in anti-phase, so when when output is 0v the other will be 12v and vice versa. This doubles the voltage swing at the speaker which gets you around four times more power than you'd get with a single ended amplifier. Under quiescent conditions both outputs will be biased to around half the supply voltage.
And the protection circuit will kick in, switching off the output drive.
Almost always its going to be the TA8271H or BA3917, the main/ only audio ic on the boards.. theres usually 2 chips, the only 2 with thermal poo on em.. 30 pin and a 16 pin.. the 30 pin is the one that goes.. the other is just a preamp but goes out sometimes also..
How can we contact you
The video you weren't going
To show we learned the most
About car repair and life Amen
Thanks Ivan for your honesty, you certainly could have edited the video to cover up the “bad radio” initial diagnosis.
Ivan's a straight up mechanic. Everyone has made a wrong judgement call at some point in life. The important thing is that you learn from your mistakes and I'm sure if presented with the same problem again, he will remember this instance.
I had the same situation on my stepdaughters avalon rear speaker wire shorted to ground . I was thinking check to ground when you first checked the speaker wiring. Anyway another great vid thanks Ivan .
The king of NPR doesn't cease to impress, Thank u very much.
Ivan. You live in paradise. What a beautiful place you have there.
Ivan, I wish I lived closer to you for my auto repair needs. Fantastic diagnose and repair.
I been watching and listening to your videos since day one. When I listened to you describe and saw the symptoms the first thing, I thought to myself, it was a bad ground.
If I ever tow a car to you, I'm going to stay at a local hotel and just wait!
Ivan's Bed & Breakfast & Diagnostics. Extra income!
@@KaldekBochJust buy a whole hotel 😂
I'd just bring a folding chair and a book, sit under a tree for an hour and then head home. 😎
@@KaldekBoch Bed, Breakfast and Diagnosis
@@DaddyBeanDaddyBeansit and watch the horses 😊🐴🐴
Amazing as always. From watching you and Eric O I immediately thought ground issue. I am not great with electricity but know the basics
OUTSTANDING job Ivan, that tow was absolutely worth all the time and mileage.
Great diag! These Camrys are what I learned how to work on cars on. The 5sfe isn't as solid as the 1mz, but still a solid engine. As soon as I saw the symptoms I knew it was a ground from the Avalon video. One thing to look out for on the radio is that these cars sometimes have an amplifier under the passenger seat, I've seen those go bad before and you wouldn't really know it has one because they all use the same radio.
I'm going to put this as one of the top 5 videos I've seen from you Ivan. So much to listen and learn I appreciate your time and effort to educate the rest of us. Have a great weekend!
Great work Ivan, the 10 hour round trip commute was well worth it to get the car fixed right.
This reminded me of Columbo's style.... just one more question. Excellent technique and explanation as always.
Pretty crazy timing. My truck has always acted up if it is running while checking/clearing codes. A week ago it would fishbite while accelerating from a stop, but not always. Yesterday it was a crank no start at first but came out of it. Next stop, happened again. Dual batteries; messed with the terminal connections slightly to see if my check engine and wait to start message returned. Sure enough, it cycled multiple times without issue. Wasn’t aware of that radio diag - appreciate the info as always 👍
Another immensely happy car and customer.
Great video Ivan. Always appreciate the way you dig into things and explain what is going on. Thank you!
If I could, Ivan, I'd give you four thumbs-up on this one! Great job! (Best wishes for continued success from sunny...and very wet...Florida.)
Ivan, you never seem to disappoint friend. Another fun one with some “simple” problems that still required a strong diagnostic process.
Love the diags! For those out there, when Ivan touched the speaker, the reading is supposed to go all over the place. Speakers are a reactive load that changes resistance when signal is applied and the coil moves in and out of the gap. Multimeters aren’t fast enough to keep up with the reading which is why the meter went in and out when he did such. The 0.4ohms he got, (which the speakers should see 4ohm at the radio most cases) was the return of ground through the coil, back to the radio.
8ohm speakers are 8ohm a.c. much lower d.c. resistance
You guys are way beyond my skill level. The more I know the less I understand everything I thought I figured out I have to learn again. At least the song makes sense now 😵💫
I have a 2001 Camry even the same color as that customers, I will defiantly keep those symptoms in mind and I’ll go check that ground immediately. In addition to the radio issue, I thought my stock radio was going bad because it wouldn’t hold the radio pre selects and would blinking at times. The issue was the battery was weak even tho the car would start completely normally, apparently the stock radio demands perfect power. Keep the videos coming, even the simple repairs can be very valuable to someone out there. thanks!
I was about to call your bluff on that radio issue. I recently had similar problem. I tested oms reading. It looked fine. I too was about to call a bad radio. But a test light said otherwise. It turned out that one of the speaker wires was pinched under a window regulator nut. I'm glad that you did make a video of all those NPR repairs after all. Awesome job Ivan!
Great find on the tweeter problem, Ivan, you're the best.
After messing with radios in my teens and early '20s in the '90s the effect of grounding a speaker wire to ground or to each other is something we learned very early.
I was saying that to myself the whole video till you found it
My initial training in electricity followed conventional theory, which leads many people to think of electrical problems from the positive side. My eyes were opened once I was exposed to electron theory, to the extent that I now look to the ground or negative side as much, and more, when looking for unusual issues. Ben Franklin got it wrong.
Wow Ivan great video i had no idea a speaker wire can take down the radio. Thanks for sharing this video i have 98 Camry 256 thousand miles still keeps going and going.
Each video teaches me something. Great job, Ivan!
You am da man. Nice bit of info n the speakers. We picked my boy up a 2006 Camry to drive back and forth to work after he went to work for Subaru. It has small issues, but still one of my favorite cars.
28:28 I was thinking this was the case as soon as the radio quit playing after some time had passed. I have seen this more than once. The higher the volume the shorter the time before the internal amp “trips out”. I was sure hoping you’d find it because I was almost positive that there was a short. Good job Ivan!!
In my previous experience with audio systems if the audio in clipping or crackling on all or half the audio channels even at low volume then a bad speaker is usually the cause, on the other hand if the audio plays perfectly fine then just shuts off then it’s usually a speaker channel shorted to ground.
I need to remember that even though the ohm reading is good it can still be shorted. Good video Ivan!
The radio won't work if it ain't plugged in. Another fantastic video Ivan thankyou
Your approach is very refreshing
For reference, the reason why you’re reading DC voltage on the speaker wires is not because of a ‘bias’ voltage, it’s because the audio chip inside the radio runs in BTL or bridge tied load mode. In this mode each wire of the output floats at half battery voltage and each wire can move plus or minus 6 volts. This means the speaker can see +/- 24v instead of +/- 12v like usual, so you get twice the power. Neither pin can see ground though because they both float, hence the fault you’re seeing.
actually, 4xpower is seen (U^2/R)
@@miked4943 yes yes we get it, formulas and all that. In practice you rarely get double, often just short of double. The BTL audio chips in head units are notoriously inefficient.
You’re right and the +/- speaker output signals are both biased at half Vcc (not just floating) and operate in a differential mode.
Talk to you for your honesty amigo thanks for sharing
That's some great pinpoint testing Ivan. Nice work 👏
Thanks Ivan your radio diag could answer why my car (a 1996 vauxhall omega) oem radio not working I never thought of checking for shorts to ground on speakers. It also had a parasitic draw I tracked down to the amp hidden in the trunk, a short to ground on a speaker I never thought of checking that 👍
Great diagnostic and repair, Ivan! Of course, you already knew the probable bad ground from experience, but still, great fix! The problem with the radio is probably detected by the power output IC, as these are generally bridge amplifiers that cannot have shorts to ground (or battery) on the speaker wires, or they will burn - it's likely an internal safety shutdown of the power IC, to prevent damage, and not reported out of the radio. A good reference for future cases.
Well done Ivan, very interesting and insightful diag.
Thanks for the video Ivan.
Just for info's sake...AC light can blink on a Toyota with a loose/slipping belt...awesome as always, Ivan
That was my thought. Go look at the clutch while it is blinking. A 50% duty cycle would still make cold air unless it is baking outside.
there is a sensor on the ac compressor counts rpm they fail rpms has to match engine rpms 200 big ones
Do these have a separate ac belt or the single serpentine?
Another awesome diag and repair Ivan !!!!!
Awesome work Ivan!
One of the most reliable engines Toyota ever made. That ground was likely left loose from previous work. For the IACV, it is a spool valve with very tight clearances…they can get stuck if not operated for an extended period of time. That happened as the throttle position sensor was not commanding the IACV to actuate, possibly for years. No parts required.
Way to go Ivan, nice repair.
Thanks for the ground info Ivan. I have a 98 Camry with that same engine and I had a strange cluster problem a while back. On occasion while driving, the speedo would would just drop out then come back, sometimes indicate a different speed, and the trans shifting would get funky. When the speedo came back it ran fine. With a you-tube search I found that behind the cluster there is a tiny soldered in "resonator". It's just a lower accuracy oscillator. When it goes bad the cluster doesn't function right. Bought a couple resonators on line for a couple bucks then carefully soldered it on the cluster board. Been running fine for 2 years now.
@AndyTraver-iq5lx At first I thought the problem was the speed sending sensor at the trans that was causing the cluster problem but then I found out that the sensor feeds the cluster and also interacts with the transmission learning system. Seems there was a mismatch between the actual speed and what the cluster was processing, which probably is what was confusing the transmission. The shift points were changing while driving and I didn't want to damage the trans, so I minimized my driving until I could fix it. Once fixed the shift points went back to normal. Also, I first noticed the problem when the cruise control was kicking off when speedo dropped. I think the cluster has legs like a spider that go everywhere.
I've had several of them myself. Those are bullet proof!!! The lock nut on the throttle cable adjustment at the throttle body was backed all the way down to the end. Great job on the radio!!!! Thanks Ivan!
great detective work ivan😊
Great video and case study. It was well worth to have the car brought in since everything was addressed and no parts were needed. Instead of a bunch of aftermarket parts installed and causing a real mess.
So good vid with a ground issue. Thanks Ivan 🙌 (I didn’t know that a speaker short could kill a radio like this/ good one! haha), 🙏
I'm starting to be able to determine the "difficulty level" of the repairs needed by the length of the vids. 15 minutes or less: quick no parts required or minor parts. half an hour: genuine puzzler, medium electronic repair, mechanical cleaning. 2-3 parter: major electrical repair, minor to medium mechanical repair. anything bigger than that, and it's a full adventure.
I believe, after nearly two years of watching vids, that a good fifty percent of my car problems have been loose grounds and green crusties outside of the expected mechanical problems.
Seen that one before and it was a ground under the front bumper.
Guy had taken the car to several automotive electrical shops. Be sure the wire is angled so it tends to pull the nut tighter. If not the vibration will cause the tiny pull the wire exerts to loosen the nut.
Another conundrum for you Ivan thanks for this 😎👨🔧👍👍👍
Great video as always. You are so good you make me think i could do this. True professional. I'll stick to the shade tree. I did order a speaker repair kit for my blown speaker. I didnt even know they existed without yt.
Excellent fault finding and repairs, that tweeter problem especially was interesting find.
I seem to recall sticky iac's were a thing with earlier Toyotas. Used to clean the iac when I cleaned the throttle body....
They were so close on the radio problem...but Ivan for the win!
crazy man, always something interesting on your channel! I tried mentioning your channel in a comment on youtube yesterday, and the comment kept getting removed. I played with it for a bit and found that it was specifically your channel name being in the comment that made it get removed. When I took out your channel name and posted the comment again, it stayed. TH-cam's automatic comment deletion bot must want everyone to take their car to the stealership 🤣
Thats a lot of no parts! 😊😊😊 Great job Ivan! Love the horses too!🐴🐴🐴
The flashing AC light means the AC did not spin up at the right speed when the command turns on the clutch. Usually this means a loose serpentine belt. Fix is replacing the belt and tensioner. If the hydraulic tensioner is not there, and a manual tension adjustment is present, tighten the belt.
That's kinda funny, when I saw the cluster going haywired, engine stalling and jumping lol I immediately thought ground,or a shot battery 😅😂 Thank you for the great videos sir😻
Amazing what your able to do and you make it look so essy. I have certainly learned a lot from your videos.
Thanks
Another great one from Ivan!
Great diagnostic Ivan … great
The throttle cable jam nut is clearly loose. At 16:52 you can see the nut rotate from motor vibrations and there seems to be no slack on the throttle wire at idle. It should not be taut at idle.
I was pretty sure the first problem was a grounding problem
But I'd have bet a blown fuse in the radio for that problem. Some of them have internal fuses for the amp.
Have a good weekend, Ivan. 😊
Perfect to have Lionel Ritchie Dancing on the Ceiling come on. "Oh what a feeling"
That’s a nice job 👍🏼 !
Thanks Ivan !!
⚡️ 🔧 🎯
Yep, the car radio is using a "bridged output". Each +/- speaker output "floats" at mid-battery voltage. This design allows the radio to push an "extra" 10 watts into a 4 ohm speaker.
Big improvement in fidelity.
In the old days the output was driven by an output capacitor and a simple singled ended transistor.
Seeing (hearing) Ivan when he discovered the pinched wire was pure gold.
It would appear the radio output protection circuit was working as designed.
Most productive hour I have ever seen.
still classifies as a Mobile Diag, great work!
Same problem on sons fiat. This was in the footwell. Only happened with a passenger in the car pressing on the floor mat !
Excellent diag, Ivan.
Great job Ivan! Those cars were really good btw! I've seen a few with over 300k miles.
My ‘99 Camry (5S-FE) is about roll over 349,000.
@AndyTraver-iq5lx So far after 8 years of ownership my most expensive repair was a pesky oil leak last year that took several times to diagnose and repair. The oil leak was coming from the oil pump assembly, which disguised itself as an oil pump leak or oil pan leak. Overall after 8 years, repairs, maintenance, tires, brakes, etc have averaged about $880.00 per year. Some years more, some less.
not a drivability issue, but that radio comeback would've felt horrible. really glad there's communication, that the customer was on track to finding the issue, and Ivan fixing it at no charge.
I have that ground on my 07 Camry so know I know thanks for posting the video
Ivan check the ground on the a/c compressor it can coz the light to blink since the ground on the engine was loose plus timing belt was changed so ..or a crusty a/c relay, car is probably gone by now..nice work as always
WOW this was worth posting thank you
Most automotive radios utilize transformer-less audio output circuits. That is why you see DC voltage on the speaker wires. Early models of these types of radios will have their audio output components destroyed if either of the speaker wires are grounded.
One of the main reasons for this type of design is to eliminate loud POPS from the speakers when power is applied. The speaker coil is actually in series with the output component that drives it.
Great find.
Great diag!
Re the radio: All radios do this. At some point in time, perhaps 35 years ago or so, it became cheaper to have two amplifiers per output to save a capacitor, and as a bonus you get four times the output power.
If it had been an old school radio or booster from the 80's, you would had blown it with the short to ground test, but on the other hand it would likely not even had noticed the 400 ohms to ground.
It's a shame that the radio turns off all outputs when it detects a short to ground (or other error conditions). Would had been better if it only turned off that output.
P.S. Another reason for intermittent short to ground, especially for aftermarket speakers, are that the flexible wires from the speaker cone to the speaker terminals touching the chassis of the speaker (or any other grounded object). I've had to wrap the chassis of speakers with electric tape to solve this issue. You would only notice this with radios and boosters/amps rated at around 15-30W. Anything lower and it will have an output capacitor and thus zero DC offset to ground, and anything higher (separate amp) and it will have a switch mode power supply creating a symmetrical power feed, which also results in zero DC offset to ground. With those separate amps you might intermittently hear generator whine in the speakers, pops and other weird issues, as the intermittent short to ground on the speaker causes an intermittent ground loop.
To diagnose intermittent shorts to ground without needing to take apart interior trim and whatnot, you can feed the speaker with a separate amp (that can handle short circuits), test light from battery + to any of the speaker terminals, and check the voltage over the test light. If it goes above zero there is an intermittent short, and if it's the flexible wires in the speaker it usually happens when you play base sounds loudly.
Great job always thanks for your time and GURU knowledge.
Great work again.
Strange with the radio. The speaker output has a 6 volt on the pin to the speaker, normally there are a coupling capasitor between the midtpoint of the amp to the speakers, to prevent DC going to the speakers, since the speakers normally have ground on one side of the coil. And you had half the supply voltage on the output pin. If the radio have high output amp ( +25Watt) there are normally a switchmode powersupply involved, that provide a +/- supply, then they can skip the coupling capasitor since the amp has no DC in the midtpoint.