Problem with my electrics cutting out - any idea why?

[Carly]

Hello!

I was wondering if anybody here has had the same problem, or might possibly know why my Yaris is behaving strangely!

Basically, today I drove a car load of stuff up the motorway (done this previously, fine) and as I'm overtaking all the electrics suddently cut out. The engine is still on but the radio goes off and the electronic dashboard goes off too (i.e. speedometer, petrol meter etc).

It happened a couple of times, just for a second or two and then it all comes back on.

A few different lights flash up, but then they go off. The ABS is always the first to flash up before they all go off. That one kept coming on, but the last few times it happened (with an empty car, going slower on the way home) all the lights flickered on and off. Braking also felt odd as if the ABS had conked out or something for a second or two.

I tried to check through the owner's manual and it did say something about electrics cutting out if the car overheats, but I'm not sure if it meant the whole car would cut out, not just the dashboard.

What do you think it could be??

Cheers :)

[yarisugi]

Check your wire connection on the battery, both + and -. Also, check the other end of the - wire from battery. It should be connected to the body of the car. Something might be loose and may be why you have intermittent loss of power. You might want to check your fuses, too, just so nothing was shorted out.

[Carly]

Thanks for your reply.

I called a mobile auto electrician who did a diagnostics test for me.

He couldn't find anything wrong, nor did the computer bring anything suspect up. He did say there was something all over the battery and he cleaned that for me. All wires and fuses were OK!

Then he noticed there was something missing off my engine and I then took it to another garage just now and on the engine something had popped off. I think he called it a blower or something! The coating around the wire was a bit melted, which explains the burning smell I smelt - but luckily it hadn't split so it still OK just to put back on!

All very random! Hopefully somewhere between those problems being fixed the electrics should be fine!

[Gazhat]

I know this thread is 14 years old but did you find out what caused the issue? My 2008 Yaris is doing the same right now….