2005 Toyota Fortuner, ~84,000 km.
Sometimes, when I start the car especially in the morning. The dashboard can be completely dark and all the arrows pointing as if it's off. And I hear like a clicking sound, and then the arrows start blinking, and then the dashboard blinks and after driving a while it completely comes to life. It's as if something is charging.
I've put up a video for you to see. https://youtu.be/HGQ-3Q7xhkQ
What might be the issue?
load test your battery and alternator.
Thanks Yaser. A load test is something I can do myself with a multimeter isn't it?
Take the car to an Autozone to do it for free or have a mechanic to do it for you. Also, if you are a AAA member, they can do it for you as well.
You can do a very crude test. Put your multimeter on the battery in volts mode, and watch it closely while you crank the engine and immediately after it starts. The voltage shouldn't dip below 11V.
To test it properly, you would use a dedicated carbon pile load tester. Most battery dealers will do the test for you free of charge.
Battery and Alternator we load tested and all are fine. It seems to be an issue with the instrument cluster. This guy seems to have the exact same issue as me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2ts_MJflB8
I've also confirmed, just like him, that it gets worse when the weather is cooler, almost non-existent when the weather is super hot. Looks like something is failing, but with all his efforts he hasn't managed to fix it. I'm thinking whether it's best to try to fix it or just buy a new instrument cluster.
