eutahg

since I got the truck, I knew there was some weird electricity related stuff happening somewhere. I never looked into it because, well, it didnt seem a big deal. the only noticeable things were; 1) in reverse, the headlights come on instead of the reverse lights and 2) sometime the dash lights wouldnt turn on when the headlight switch was flipped (the trick there being shifting in and out of reverse a couple of times). I just figured somewhere between the reverse sensor/switch, the headlight lever/switch and the light wires/relays, something is plugged or wired wrong. whatever, thats the least of my problems.

other stuff dosent work either; horn dosent work at all(not sure if theres even a horn under the hood), radio dosent have power(if it did, there arent even any speakers)

on my way to work monday, I lost power to my temp and fuel gauges and at the same time the charge light came on. when I got there, I tried popping in and out of reverse a few times and nothing happened. I tried turning the lights on and off thinking it may help. and then finally, when I turned the lights on, and put the truck in reverse, power returned to my dash. as soon as I turn the lights off or shift out of reverse, charge light comes back on and gauges loose power. more so, I am convinced that this is causing some sort of power draw because since tuesday morning, I have had to bump start the truck because the starter dosent have enough juice.

I was thinking this is a good oportunity to clean some unnecessary/sloppy/mismatch wiring and have no clue where to start... well, I have an idea, but need some help on the specifics. I am gonna start with the big 3 just to ensure a nice low resistance flow between batt, alt, and ground. from there, the main fuse off the battery an all of the others in the fuse box look okay. not sure how to check the relays or if thats possible, so might grab replacements of those. read something about another set of fuses in the cab on the driver side?? does anyone have pics of this?

from there im just guessing maybe follow the reverse switch up to the fuse panel and hope to find something involving the light switch on the way? Im sure this is a long shot, but has anyone experienced anything like this before?

scope103

Maybe this would help?


You really need to figure out how your lighting is mixed up with your transmission. Start with the manual.
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116.../#post52360039
Don't forget that you WILL need a multimeter for this.

fdp101452

Which finger should we watch for?

atcfixer

iTrader: (1)

I don't have a good wire diagram for this year, but radio and cig lighter are normally on the same fuse. If the tail lights are shorted out, your backing light for your gauges will go out. Not sure where the wiring would be messed up, but I'd say to start with the tail lights since everyone seems to hack them up for trailer light kits. Might disconnect the rear tail light harness at the passenger seat to see if that effects anything besides the back light on the gauges. Probably need to check the transmission wiring, but it goes to the back for the reverse lights too.

Common switch for the headlights would be the light switch (running lights + head lights), so I'd also check the harness near your feet and along the driver's side of the engine bay.

For the no charge, it seems you have a pretty good grasp on what to check for. A bad ground might cause something weird, but it's somewhat uncommon for bad grounds on toyotas in my experience.

eutahg

haha good to know im in the right place. this was my original idea, but ya know, sometimes I enjoy the luxury of flipping a switch to let everyone know what I intend on doing. I played around a bit with the wires today and basically made it worse. prior, the lights on and reverse switched worked. now, not so much. basically the only thing i changed today was pulling an extra wire that seemed to be setup as a bypass and not from the factory. in the main fuse panel there are two plugs that connect the interior harness to the fuses? i assume? anyways out of one of those plugs, the red wire with white stripe had another wire piggy-backed off just before the plug that followed the harness through the wheel well to just before the box on the passenger side kick panel computer box thing. extra wire seemed to splice right back into the same red wire with white stripe. I pulled the extra wire out, fiddled with everything for a bit and then gave up. luckily I have access to a battery charger and can make it to work and back as long as I disconnect the battery when I get there. ugh, at least mechanical issues make sense to me, these wire are just a bunch of...WIRES!

reading back this may not make the best of sense, so I will say in my defense, I celebrate defeat with a few drinks and a thorough enjoyment of the awesome west coast sunset.
ill edit this with a more level head in the a.m. just had to post something tonight or i might not ever post it. ah well. Another day, another shower. cheers

RAD4Runner

PLEASE IGNORE MY NOTES. JUST LOOK AT SCHEMATICS.

Tail Light Circuit:


Head light:

eutahg

thanks Rad! Yesterday, I poked around a bit with a multimeter and found the bypassed wire was bypassed for a reason. I got power off the wire next to the fusebox, but not in the cab.
(found out the fuse box was broken when I pulled it out lol tried to glue it back together)



while I was in the cab I found a couple of dangling wires on the driverside.



they seem to splice in with the two white ground wires

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

The joys of poorly done electrical work by the former owners

Poor grounds are found on just about any DC electrical circuit.

Maybe if your lucky you can find a copy of Toyota`s Electrical wiring Diagrams for your year vehicle

RAD4Runner

I've never seen wire color other than white with black stripe go to ground.
The cleanest approach if you want your truck to be reliable is to restore it to stock wiring. However, you need to tell us what engine you have. 22RE schematic is different from 3.slo.
Also need clearer pictures so we see what you are seeing. (I take the time to make things clear on my illustration. I expect people needing help to help us see things right before their eyes that way, too.)

Please take a clearer picture of the fuse block, and where that module/block is with respect to other parts of the fuse block so we see what you have in front of you.

RAD4Runner

You need to dive in that spaghetti soup (LOL!) and find out where that wire is leading, too. OR take a clearer picture of each of them AND describe the color so we can look at schematic and tell you where they should go.

atcfixer

iTrader: (1)

From memory, the purple and pink wires normally are for the driver's side speaker and has an odd connector for the speaker that is almost always cut off. Multi meter your radio plug to those two wires to validate that's where they go.

What fuse block is broken? I should have a spare from 86-87 pickups, and I have a 86 4runner. Could go for the whole harness (if I have any not hacked up), or go the splice in route if it doesn't disconnect a simple way.

For the engine wire diagrams, the Toyota tis site only goes back to 1990 for the pickups. I suspect older you'd have to get a service manual and dig though to figure out the harness setup.

RAD4Runner

Yeah, that's my challenge right now. I have projects where I need to find exact splice spots / where wires actually go...

eutahg

ugh, no progress. where can I find a nice replacement harness or even someone who can make a harness in the northern san diego area? I wouldn't mind taking the guess work out and just do it all new. Im tired of bump starting the ole burro. Im on CL at the moment lookin for a stock and I got a tab open on ebay for something maybe cooler than stock.

sorry, not sure if I answered the question about the motor or anything, but if I updated my signature properly, it should be all good and up to date.

atcfixer

iTrader: (1)

Which harness are you looking for exactly? There's 4 or 5 main sections. I have an 87 22r carb'ed 2wd pickup that should have a good harness. Engine was sold, so the engine harness probably went with the engine, but the rest should be there. Photos to compare the harnesses wouldn't be a bad idea if you can get well lit and clear photos. I have a 4x4 cab sitting around too with basically the same setup.

I do make atv harnesses, but I haven't stocked up on enough connectors to really attack the pickup harnesses yet. First target has been the tail light harness since it's rather simple to build (9 wires).

RAD4Runner

I'm in SD. The thread had gotten cluttered. Why dont we start on for your MOST critical issue?
Exactly works? What doesnt? What have u measured, felt, seen, smelled?
Well go from there.

eutahg

The most critical issue is that whoever touched the wires before me made a mess of everything. Worse than that, Im making it worse pulling everything further apart looking for a... I'm not really sure what Im looking for.

Brake lights work, driver side headlight works and the clock works. The charge light comes on with the key, and while the starter cranks the right blinker signal flashes. thats about all that works.
the battery and alternator get along swell. as long as I pull the ground wire off the batt when I park, she holds more than enough juice to get going again

If I were to replace stock stuff, I wold like to start with a new-to-you fuse box under the hood, and replace the harness that runs from there to the computer thing. I also would like to replace the harness that runs to the headlights and links to the fuse box under the driver side dash. Basically, I want to redo it all!

I was also reading a bit about how little that on-board computer does and If Im not mistaken a bunch of guys get rid of that thing all together. that got me to thinking how much can I simplify the wiring? the only creature comforts I want to worry about are USB ports to charge all my various electronics, a dome light, and if its possible, I would like keep the windshield vents for fog and defrost purposes.

RAD4Runner

Sorry, I only noticed that you have a 22R.

So engine ONLY cranks but you do not hear, see, feel the VROOM?
The blinkers, the reverse, the blinker signal flashing, the battery draining when left off can be troubleshot.

At its state yes, it is bad.



There are 3 things, among others, that make it hard:

1. You have an un-common model 1988 with 22R, while many of us have 22R-E's. We would be happy to look at our own trucks and schematics but we would be guessing because we are not sure if it would work on yours
2. We do not have the schematic / FSM for your model. IF you had a 22RE, I could walk you through the wiring for each system you have a problem with.
3. You have not clearly responded to these two suggestions that would help us see what you have right in front of you:

• Quote:

  Originally Posted by RAD4Runner

  ...Please take a clearer picture of the fuse block, and where that module/block is with respect to other parts of the fuse block so we see what you have in front of you.
• Quote:

  Originally Posted by atcfixer

  Photos to compare the harnesses wouldn't be a bad idea if you can get well lit and clear photos...

atcfixer

iTrader: (1)

Also to note, based on a 1995 22re pickup, 2wd, 4x4 manual, and 4x4 automatic all have different pin outs at the ecu. Looking at a 1990 wire diagram it only shows ECT and w\o ECT as the differences. I sadly don't have a wire diagram for anything before 1990 or I'd say take a pic of the mini-ECU connectors and I'd figure out if it matches the 87 harness I have. Still could do it, but it's possible wire colors changed year to year. I haven't had a bunch of experence with what can be swapped on the carb'ed trucks year to year, but it seems like 86/87 was a turn over year for quite a few changes and most of what I have is 86.

atcfixer

iTrader: (1)

I guess why not lead by example, just took photos in the dark, but my camera (not a cell phone, but it is pretty old) takes fairly good pics at night. I didn't think to snap a couple of the head light harness. Pretty sure the pics of the half destroyed fuse box was the passenger one, so here's some photos of it. Based on the EFI truck I pulled about lately, that fuse box is part of the ECU harness, so I suspect this one is the same for the mini-ECU or as labeled "Emission Control" which is part number 89550-35240. Speaking of part numbers, there's probably a part number on the harness to reference. Anyway, it's dirty under the hood, but the harness appears to be in good shape. The truck ran, but the manual fuel pump seems to have died, it ran fine if I dumped gas in the carb via vent tube.

It's hard to see in your photos, but it looks like the black with yellow stripe wire isn't in the same spot on my harness vs yours. I think that is a ground wire, maybe half your problems are from the harness not getting a proper ground?

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

I have the 88 EWD Not sure how rare the 22R was but it was a option .

I can`t see how a harness could be hacked so bad it can`t be fixed if it was fire or rodent damage that is different .

Most times it is the clueless adding electrical goodies or not correctly fixing electrical problems that do these hack jobs .

No mention of wire nuts is a good sign!!

Op do you have any idea the cost to make a new harness ?? It is so very time consuming .