I have an 87 runner w/ a 22RE. my charge light came on at the same time I lost my temp and fuel gages, dash lights, blinkers, and rear window switch. lights and wipers work fine on right stalk. radio and environmental controls are ok. it drove two days fine, would charge ok, etc. then it ran down the battery and won't hold a charge. I've replaced the battery and alternator with no change. I assume I need to tear into the dash and start spark chasing for a short, but have no idea where to start. anyone have any ideas or seen this before?

Start with the fuses and relays located in the drivers side kick panel. There are multiple relays and a circuit breaker (2 if alot of options) on the lower portion of the panel hidden by the cover. Start there. If everything looks good (including ground wire same location) then start tracing backwards until you find power.
Electrical issues are just SOOOOOOOOOO much fun aint they? <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />
~Darin <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/baby.gif" alt="" />

I had been chasing down similar for about a year, but I'll tell you what it was for me.

There are 3 crimp connectors in the main charge harness, off the charge wire. One was corroded, and this caused every imaginable charging problem, from no charge/brake light with no charge to charge/brake light while charging, to overcharging with lights shining brightly (this ended up burning through the harness at the alternator connector).

Pull out the multimeter, and check for resistance from the main 80 amp fuse to the alternator. Mine would fluctuate some. I also had a .4 voltage loss from the alternator to the battery, and a 2.6 volt loss to the chassis power supply (the pink and green fusible links). you need to unbolt the fuse panel and check the voltage underneath. If you have any losses, pull the battery, and peel away the tape on the thick harness running around the battery across to the other side of the engine compartment (in front of the radiator). Look for corrosion on the 3 crimped splices near the battery.

For pics and more info, check out this thread from last week. There are pics of the harness, and what I did to correct the problem. I am now kind of the resident expert on internally regulated alternator charging problems. I have gone through the entire circuit, poring over wiring diagrams as I went along. It took me almost 2 years to chase this one down, so I hope this saves you some time. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Let me know what you find out... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />

thanks. looks like I'm buyin lots of beer for a smarter man than I. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" /> I'll let ya know what happens

so to update, I have a blow fuse in the driver kickplate area, swap it out and everything works fine. my Haynes manual doesn't show that panel, so not sure which one it is. it is the middle bottom one and I'll try to get a pic posted if anyone cares. waitin on a buddy to bring more to replace the swapped one. so I'll see if it holds a charge, blah, blah, blah...

the next question I have, pending a good charge, is what caused it to blow, and is there still an issue.