I know this may be a bit of a newb question but, i just got a 4runner of my uncle (he owns a junk yard) and im in the middle of trying to get it running. Well im not sure but by the looks of it i cant get the back door open with out opening the rear window (correct me if im wrong). The problem is that i cant seem to find out how the window goes down...
Its an 89 2 door. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

2 ways: there is a switch in the center console or put the key in the tailgate lock and turn.

 

thanks for the quick reply, the tailgate lock got broken off but i will look for that button on the console

 

If the hatch lock was broke off is the whole trim piece missing the wires to the electrical switch could be shorted to the hatch .

make sure the window lock is not on that will prevent the window from going down.

you can jumper the switch in the console to get the window down if the switch doesn`t work the relay is behind the trim panel on the drivers side behind the door.

 

yeah, and being a toyota and all, if it doesnt work, give it a love tap and try again. My rear window all of a sudden stopped working, I gave a quick punch to the center console (between the armrest and the gear shifter, by the way) and the window started working onceagain immediately. Do a little searching for the extra rear window switch add-on modification, especially if good 'ol 'unk owns a junkyard with any sort of toyota metal laying about. It's a pretty simple matter of cutting a hole for another switch (many like the space right next to the trunk light on the roof) and doing some wiring. If you plan on replacing the trunk key, and I advise you do, you will have to sort out all those wires in there anyhow.

 

hey thanks everyone for the advice, but both the button and lock were gone so what i did was take apart the window motor and took the gears all apart and welded a couple pieces of metal to the gears so it is now a manual window rather than electronic. and it works too! lol

 

Well that's one way to fix it.

 

would you mind posting pics of that if you have some? i am trying to figure out what i want to do about my back window and the manual crank mod sounds like it would ease a lot of my suffering.

 

yea sure thing. it wont be until after this weekend as it is at my parents up north cuz i live in an apartment and have no room for it here.

 

Great. I look forward to seeing it. Thanks

 

It's not pretty, but it works.

 

Quick question regarding this rear window...

If the switch at the console was dead would that cause the keyhole at the tailgate to not respond either?

Also, when I press the button to make it roll up I can see the battery gauge respond to me trying to use the power. But I can't roll it down to see if it only will roll up right now...

 

I just took all the guts out of my tailgate this weekend. Before i did i could hear the mechanism doing something when i hit the button but my glass was off the runners anyways. When i got the panel off i realized the gears were just too rusted to work. The motor still works but everything else is seized. Sounds like you might have the same problem i did.

I am now on the hunt for a rear window mechanism. Til then there are a couple of 1x3 sticks propping it up and a ratchet strap holding my gate shut

 

This is going to sound strange but I had a similar issue and what I did was pull the switch out of the console, unplug it, clean the contact surfaces in the little plug and then spray the switch with WD40 until all the coffee/tea/soda was out of it. I plugged it back in and everything works.

 

Pulled the switch and all seemed well there. Haven't quite had time yet to pull apart the rear hatch, but we've concluded that it's most likely an electrical problem. My window suddenly decided it wanted to work again when it was raining the other day.