Ivan “this is the coolest thing ever “ customer NO, NO it isn’t 🤣

There aren’t too many things better on KZfaq than seeing a Pine Hollow alert with ‘Part 1’ in the title!!!

Toyota dealer, "you need a new car" Ivan, NOPE, I do actual diagnosis.

Nice car! This is literally the stuff of my nightmares....like really, I'm driving my Avalon, and lights start flashing, I see warnings I've never seen before, and it starts falling on its face. Then I wake up and go to the garage to find the car sitting there peacefully.

The fact that the guy drove it three hours without putting his fist through that clicking annoyance is what amazes me the most....

Anytime something turns on and off very quickly like that it's always a power or ground supply issue, same thing when you have a dead battery and try and crank the car and it makes that extremely fast clicking sound. What happens is the circuit turns on and draws the power supply below the voltage required to hold in the relay or solenoid contacts and then the circuit shuts off and the voltage supply goes back up and re-latches the relay or solenoid and this just continues and continues. Almost without fail it's a ground issue or a power supply issue. Sometimes back feeding is involved where the circuit tries to find a ground path through a light bulb or something else and that just adds extra fun to the diagnosis 🤣🤣🤣🤣

The display says April 1. The car is just pranking you!😂

Since you can see fuel pump relay glitching my next step would be to install a relay breakout between fuel pump relay and fuse box. Then monitor the power & ground on the control portion of relay with oscilloscope and see if its the power or ground dropping out. Really enjoy seeing how you work through these problems and it helps me in my work as heavy truck mechanic.

Only a minute or two in, and i can say I have already seem something similar. There is probably a ground out that is re-routing power as a result through the 4 way flasher module, which is why it is flashing.

29:57 Jumper cable from battery ground to engine block.

I paused the video at 13:01 and all I can say is this is very similar to an issue Eric O. had on a 2019 Tahoe/Yukon that had a bad ground on the frame that had been corroded by salt. Apparently, you are providing a ground by changing positions with the transmission switchgear, etc. Seems like Steven King wrote a book about a car like this, but it was a 1958 Plymouth. Just goes to show you all cars have issues, even the ones that have a "T" on the front. Ivan, you are just facinated with the fact this car is behaving badly. I don't think I have seen you this excited in a long time. GREAT VIDEO!

I would start by turning as many electrical accessories on as possible and see if all systems are affected. For example if the running lights flicker, the blower motor speed fluctuates, or the ac compressor cuts on and off you know it's something that affects the whole car, not just certain systems. That can help save a lot of time when determining what to look for.

I'd start by measuring voltage between the engine block and battery ground. A working alternator will stress that connection. Engine movement when going in/out of gear will mechanically test that connection.

Thank you PHAD. Appreciate your hard work in bringing us these videos.

The temp gage lost its damping for some reason- it is now showing ACTUAL coolant temperature which does vary as you go through different engine power ranges. NOrmally the system keeps this steady as long as within a given "normal" range.

Hey Ivan, we had a 2002 Aussie Ford in the workshop at one time. The Instrument cluster would go nuts with things flashing on & off, the temp gauge with a mind of it's own, tacho bouncing etc, very similar to what you have there. The problem only existed with the engine running, the car ran great with no apparent issues except a stall at idle sometimes. The problem turned out to be inductive spikes from the ignition coil pack, we changed the coil pack & everything was perfect once again. It did take some head scratching to work it out. This may not be related but it reminded me of this problem Ford.

Ivan back in the 80s. Volvo had a similar problem with them Temp and Fuel gauges. In Volvo's case it was a voltage stabiliser fitted onto the rear of the dash panel. Replace it and it was cured. Only saying.

Exactly what you said at the end of the video is what I would do next. Figure out what's connected between the relay clicking and the screen. Of that the check engine light went out for a bit. But none the less time to sit down n do ur research.

I remember an aftermarket fuel pump relay that was incorrect causing a similar issue way back and replacing it with an OE relay fixed the issue

This is Ivan's "Top Best Thing" After Christmass!

That was a similar deal as the story that I was telling you about a while back when I diagnosed & repaired my great uncles stepdaughters Australian built 1997 Ford EL Falcon Futura which was powered by Ford Australias "Thriftpower" 4 litre inline six cylinder engine. It was intermittently doing exactly the same thing & the engine was stalling back in 2022,it eventually needed to be towed to where I can fix it which was at my dads house because every time she would place it into drive then the engine would stall out. I found out the problem was under the steering column which was where the main ignition feed to the engines ECU & ignition system as well as the rest of the cars electrics was connected to a crappy aftermarket engine immobilizer which was actually what was causing that "clickety click" sound & flashing lights on the dash as well as a stalled out engine. The first owner did a bit of a botched installation by running the main ignition switch feed directly through the immobilizer unit instead of a relay switched by the module which was 25 years old & the electrical connectors which were used in house wiring they used to join the wires. I just cut the main yellow/red ignition wires then added an extension piece to extend the length of the wire then I soldered both ends together as how Ford originally wired it up at the Broadmeadows factory in Victoria. So I totally bypassed the aftermarket engine immobilizer/car alarm then the car drove flawlessly, she has been driving the car for the last 2 years without any problems. So in the Avalon,if there's no additional modules such as the engine immobilizer then it's likely going to be the ECU which is faulty,I know that in my 2002 model Holden VY SS Commodore I had a faulty ABS module cause the air conditioning system not to work or cut out as well as making the instrument cluster go haywire. So it was messing around with the body control module,in the Holden Commodores that faulty ABS module was also known to cause other problems like causing the alternator to overcharge the battery, etc !

My hypothesis: the relay provides a ground path and when it’s fluttering the system is hunting for a ground.

I've seen something like this before. It turned out to be a poor ground between engine and frame. It was grounding through the drivetrain.

Hi Ivan, love your work. My theory is this: You have a voltage regulation problem of some sort at or after the alternator. The car doesn’t like anything over 12 volts, which is what should be regulated to the 12v components such as the dash. Seems like that relay is not getting regulated voltage of 12 volts between it and the alternator. Noticed no clicking happens when you have the car running just off 12 volts battery signal. This is the route I would take. Check the voltage regulator on the alternator, and then trace voltage from that point in between the wiring where it leads into that relay. It could be the alternator regulator is bad, the relay is bad, or some of the wiring in between is causing the voltage not to regulate down to 12 volts so the system is happy like it’s supposed to.

The relay has GREEN on the contacts ! The fuel pump is a large current draw, and it is going on and off ,spiking the system. Keep going.!

This a good one Ivan! I can’t wait for part 2!

That is a very important thing to do the way you scan for codes then look at live data. I am able to scan better because you showed me that. I appreciate you and wish you the best in life.

That fault is wild. Love it. Can't wait for part 2 :D

Great video!! And I really enjoy all the fantastic input from the fans on similar issues and the experts out there. Thank you all!!

Love this diag so far. ❤

I bought a low mileage Corolla with an automatic transmission once that acted crazy. It turned out to be the speedometer. I pulled out the cluster and replaced only the speedometer with a junk yard replacement and it drove like a new car. Toyotas are a different breed.

Very cool, i love the fact that you are excited by unusual problem cars. Eric and Bernie display a similar attitude. Its something i try to emulate when i am faced with a broken car, it puts you in the right frame of mind. Interestingly, looking at the diagrams, that looked to be the C/open relay you pulled. So the next logical step would be studying a wiring diagram to see whats connected to that relay. I am waiting impatiently for part 2. Thanks Ivan.

Crazy stuff. Thanks Ivan!

Check the panel that the fuel pump plugs into. He stated the problem got worse when it rained. Plugged drain in the cowel may have water leaking into that area and its corroded.

Wow that is a Very Strange Electrical Issue Ivan, Looking Forward to part 2

Guess it's time to pull a wiring diagram and see what's in common with that relay. I'm suspicious of the control side. Is it a power or ground issue that is in question or maybe a module. Can't wait for the next Video! Thanks for taking the time to post this one!

That 'clicking' sounds like a 1960's TeleFax machine!

This car reminds me of a GM vehicle that I had many years ago. All lights flashed when moving the gearshift lever and at various speeds. The only ground was through the gearshift cable and/or speedo cable. Good body ground, bad engine ground, replaced the bad negative battery cable, the shift cable and the Speedo cable as they were cooked from the current.

I'm not gonna be able to sleep until I've seen part 2 Ivan. I'd love to work with you on this one. !

Wow I can't wait for the final diagnosis on this one!

I see the dash date is April 1st - April Fool's Day ! Nice one Ivan !

Most Interesting ⚡⚡!!

“This is the coolest thing ever!!!” Haha love it!!

love seeing you get excited over cars showing off SUPER weird behaviors but holy shit thats something that would make me leave the battery disconnected until its at the shop god knows what that electrical ghost would turn on.

Here's my opinions... when it was stalling out you could hear the whine from the alternator when it was hooked back up. when you hear that familliar whine of the alternagtor in my experience its something drawling way to much current/amperage possibly a direct short to ground , but a dead battery can do this too if it wants more juice the alternator can provide. This usually makes the belt squeek or if its a near dead or dead short to ground it'll stall the engine it might not kill the battery but its enough strain on the electrical system to stall the engine after you hear the overloaded alternator start whinning . Im saying these seneros because vehicle electrical systems operates on DC current and don't like it if any form of AC current which will make things act wonky in so many differnt ways. Motors and light bulbs wont care about the AC on the system. Also .. An alternator turns the DC battery voltage into AC current as the engine spins the alternator and its Stepped up to anywhere from low voltage AC to lets say 120volts AC for example like residential electrical service But also its in a 3 phase star/delta configuration. There's a Diode package inside the alternator that takes the 3phase power and rectifies it back to DC its still not at battery voltage yet. and the rectifier also takes the 3 phase power and turns it into single phase power. at This point the power is not a clean DC power its almost clean its a pulsating DC current. AS the Battery can and will Filter the pulsating DC into a Clean useable DC current. as it has capacitive properties to it all that is needed to stop the pulsating DC and make clean DC is 1 or many capacitors that will smooth and filter DC output of the diode rectifier . Then sends it to the voltage regulator and is regulated down to 12 volts to 14 volts of semi useable DC. the regulator does add some filtering of the pulsed DC. The unclean DC doesnt mess with Things like if there is AC on the system. AC is an NO NO on DC circuits and devices. unless its powering a light bulb . Like Ivan said You'll need a OSCOPE to see the waveform on the system . AC will show up as noise and an actual sine wave depending on the severity of AC present. A clean DC signal will look like a FLAT line on the scope with a frequency of 100HZ. Pulsed DC will look like morse code with long and short dashes that alternate high and low. A Digital volt meter can show AC on DC systems but it can only show the voltage of the AC . You have to put the meter on AC to read AC on DC powerd circuits.

My money is the installation of the “after market” radio.

Wow, you don't see that every day! What a great case for your channel.

Ran across one just like this, flashing clicking, stalling, the engine to body ground was bad, all green and flaking apart.

Wiring diagram will be interesting to see what kind of power/ ground distribution this vehicle has, and what exactly powers up those relays. Can't say what my next step would be until I see a wiring diagram. Those older Toyotas can be very complex. Great job gathering evidence so far 👍. Looking forward to part 2.

Eric O did a similar video a couple years ago on a Chevy truck where the dashboard went ballistic. Solution: He installed a separate ground wire from engine block to chassis. My 04 Blazer did the same thing and the ground wire also fixed my run-away dashboard lights. Thanks Eric!

Detective Ivan on the job!

To the analytical mind, this is content GOLD! The problem is unique, the symptoms Many! Get after it, Ivan, and rock this car's ghost! 👻👻👻

“This is the COOLEST car ever!” Ivan’s version of discovering cheats in a video game. 🤣🤣🤣 I would scope the power and grounds at the instrument panel and that relay and go from there. This should be fun!!

Wiring diagram and see what controls that relay, and if it shares a power, say off a maxi fuse, with anything else. Same thing with the gnd. Does it share a common gnd. I'd have to start there. I think the trans code and coolant temp if true, may be separate issues. Who knows!?

My money is on a cracked solder joint, and you make a “No Parts Required” repair. Also, I noticed an aftermarket radio……I like to quickly disconnect aftermarket accessories b4 diagnosing electrical gremlins. Just me.

Who needs all these electronics..Great video..

Man this seems all too familiar with a 2010 Honda crv with a bad ignition coil striking the computer randomly. Problem only occurred while running with cel flicker and random stall and it drove perfect with no misfires before changing the coil. I was getting a pcm internal fault code and etc relay control code. PCM and throttle body was replaced and it ended up needing #4 ignition coil. At least I know now the car has good powers and grounds to the pcm and the complete etc relay control circuit! Your symptoms are a bit different because the relay going crazy for me was the etc relay (throttle body) Cool car Ivan!

It's funny that many of us give you what to look for but since it's already found ,but this one is easy to diagnose because it's not intermitent . wiring diag scan, amps loads circuits check basic stuff for me.

An aftermarket radio could make big trouble in those Avalons.

i remember a steven king roman,she drove herself just after midnite😂🎉christine

My guess is you forgot to disconnect the main bat charge lead from alt. The diode pack is bad in the alt and its allowing ac voltage to ripple in the line messing with the electronics. I would personally hook up a dvom on a/c scale and see if detecting 1v or more. Just because you unplug the reg plug...doesnt mean it cant ripple ac back through the main cable.

Have a 07 Buick Allure, did almost same thing, 2 yrs ago. Pulled the ECM (has a casing ground). Aluminum body was corroded. Wire brushed it and all dash/radio/keyless start issues vanished.

I would be curious to see power into and out of the ecu. But I agree with others that it could be a grounding issue. And, i have seen ungrounded aftermarket radios cause issues as well with power feedback through electronic circuits.

Adjust the regulator to 13.2155 volts call it good ! LMAO great video

I would check the wiring going to the fuel pump for signs of damage or corrosion. I'm sure the car has a in-tank fuel pump but that doesn't mean the connection isn't damaged somewhere. The pump is shorting to the unibody. Possibly.

In the movie The Sting I believe it was Pau Newman's character who stated thatthe perfect con was the one in which the target never knew that they had been swindled. Ivan, I congratulate you for running the perfect con. The smile on your face when you encounter a diagnostic dilemma clearly suggests that folks are paying you to do something that provides you with a degree of joy sufficient to warrant you paying them for the entertainment value you get while solving these problems.

Check grounds and add extra. I had afew of those with bad ground and also alternator is going bad without any charging issues but lights flicker

Toyota's will always delight!

Fuel pump collar loose . It destroyed by proxy the relay . Often the wrong tube type on fuel pump is used

Interesting one again :D My guess is something wrong with the wiring for fuel pump / fuel gauge, or ground related to them. That relay may be faulty too after all that crazy clicking :D

On my Hyndai Getz car, all the lights started flashing and clicking, I checked the masses between the body and the engine. I put a thicker new wire between the body and the engine, I took off the instrument panel and cleaned all the connectors. Also the ECU connectors. The gauge readings all moved to the end and zero alternately. letter errors. I cleaned all the test legs, relay legs and sockets. This both in the engine room and in the cabin. Apart from that, everything is as it should be. Conclusion, from time to time, all electrical connections on the car need to be mechanically and chemically cleaned.

Cadence is key here, Fuel pump surge?, damper diode on relays? Harmonics? Capacitors? Coils? can all create havoc, remember the engine noise thru the radio back in the day and resistor sparkplugs? Yep fun little puzzle you got here, Curious to see what "ripple" is on the line if any? and pump amp draw? Looking forward for the fix. I had a diode glitching out a Parker drive one time and that took me a day to find it. lol Have fun it Ivan, It's magic.lol

That dashboard is like a bad Eastern European disco club!!!

I like trying to guess as the vid plays. At 13.26 I'm wondering if the flickering is linked to the seatbelt reminder 😂

I suspect a compromised main body ground. The thick ground cable from the engine block to the battery is likely fine since the engine cranks normally. The fuel pump and other items ground through the body of the car, and by removing loads, the bad ground may be able to pass just enough current to work. I figure the problem will be located at the body ground wire where it attaches to the negative battery terminal.

In the beginning of the video The reason the problem improved when you put it in Drive is the RPM's lowered and put out less voltage

I've still got like 90 min left in this saga but I'm gonna attempt a 1st quarter prediction of a failing relay with that clicking

I had an older mazda rx7 that was going batty. Tracked it down to thr center instrument cluster that everything seemed to pass through that had a boat load of cold solder joints. Fixed, no parts required.

My first thought was something shorts when the clicking noise is heard. Lowering voltage on other circuits. I would pull fuses one at a time or monitor individual circuit voltage.

I was thinking Alternator just before you mentioned it because of the temperature gauge. I'm curios why you didn't check the DTC code yet. I saw a mention of the turn signal flasher and agree the clicking sound made me the think of the emergency flasher. Good head scratcher. I have a feeling you all ready have a good idea what it is. Are green boogers in our future? lol

Just started watching @ 4:30. If it is anything like many older Hyundai's my bet would be the BCM.

This is a really good case study. I'm not sure where to start looking just yet. But my first impression is that we may have a poor power delivery or ground issue to the BCM. Let's see what ALLDATA has for us.

Had a very similar problem with a Pontiac G6. Found ground G105 bad. My best guess is an engine to chassis ground. Putting car in gear when it stops is a good clue. When you put car in gear engine and transmission tighten up in the suspension causing a ground connection to make a better connection.

beat on the dash when it screws up....sounds like a shorted cable

At a guess, there was a big clue in the email. Maybe a red herring but cudtomer said a garage had cleaned the earth and it went away for a day. Could that be a coincidence ? Certainly acts like a bad earth, now I've had a guess can't wait to see the outcome.

Crazy. Sweet problem! I guess I would do some swap Tronics with the relay and check the grounds at the ECU make sure they can carry current. Since the clicking sounds like a turn signal and since there is a reported rain issue I would wanna explore a weird backfeed problem.

Throttle body on Toyotas do this too. No codes. Clean throttle body and recheck.

I think looking at the schematic for the transmission actuator code may reveal something. Ultimately, I think it is a power/ground issue with the PCM/Engine computer. I'm curious where the trans. actuator gets power from. I had a car I worked on once that kept setting intermittent trans. actuator codes. What I found is the fuel pump relay feeds power to the trans. actuators and the crankshaft sensor was bad, cutting in and out as the engine warmed up. Replaced the sensor and the car was fine after that. As I mentioned though, I think it's a power/ground issue.

My money is on a ground issue somewhere, locate clean and test every ground wire then start the diagnostic process if problems aren’t resolved

I'm 3 minutes in and my guess is alternator/alternator wiring harness.

Iven you genius imagine after going to seven shops it turns out to be an alternator amazing

Ivan, With the battery charger, you probably should be doing two tests: 1st with the charger grounded to the battery as you already have done, but secondly, ground the charger to the Engine block instead, so as to load the block ground the same way the Alternator does when producing power and see if you get any different behavior.

Clicking fuel pump relay would account for the start stall. Now hanging on the notifications for part 2. Really cool yer...except for the owner lol 😒😒 !

Before we found OUR Gen2 Avalon in good shape, we had a 1994 VW Golf in which a normal-behaving electrical system happened about 1% of running time. Then came a 2000 Taurus that developed intermittent no-start due to corrosion on the mega-fuse combined with an internal circuit open in the fuel pump driver module. No problems in the now 22 year old Avalon, but then, its an XL, not the upscale XLS in this video, which has a load more electronic bells and whistles.

Wiring in the harness that was disconnected, the alternator itself or connectors on that harness.

I knew someone who had a car that looked exactly like this one. It had electrical problems immediately after purchase and went back to the dealer many times, never to be repaired. I think they put a piece of tape over the blinking light and drove it until replacing the car years later. I'm curious about the voltage and ripple on the 5V supply coming out of the computer - but with the fuel pump being known to be the source of clicking, I'd look for a resistance in the circuit sending power to the fuel pump relay. I'm thinking that when the relay contact closes and the fuel pump draws current, the voltage to the relay contact is dropping. This much I do know for sure, this Toyota will be in submission soon!

Flashing to fade low fuel light + fuel pump relay clicking is tingling my senses... 😂

Switch contacts under the steering column have given such a behavior when the contacts get dusty.

Cool. Prndl park light out raises my suspicion meter. Powers and grounds, and or pcm likely suspects. I’ve not yet addressed the random ticking in cluster on ol’ red, but did notice it only occurs while in “D”, which is the prndl light that is out. Don’t yet know how or why, but seems like a back feed issue in that circuit?

I also remember watching a video a while ago on a Avalon n behind the center dash screen that's flashing they get corrosion on a connector some how n cause weird stuff. Not sure how that would have anything to do with the fuel pump thou.