97 tacoma with wonky electrical
09-17-2012, 08:02 PM
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97 tacoma with wonky electrical
I've had my 97 V6 tacoma for over 9 years now, and it's been a great, reliable car. The only issue I have is that the electrical system can be truly screwy. Here's a small selection of the strangeness:
Tail light burnt out on driver's side last week. Replaced the bulb, and now the red light on the interior of the driver's door lights when I open a door. It has not ever worked the 9 years I've owned the car.
Cruise control doesn't work.
The passenger's side electric window is a little gimpy and sometimes needs a couple of tries to get up.
The break light comes on randomly sometimes, although the break is definitely not engaged.
The cigarette lighter power supply is occasionally a bit flaky (won't charge phone, etc).
And other assorted oddities. The usually the only uniting factor is that it's not consistent. It's never really been a major issue, just a slight annoyance. I'm no electrician, but I know circuits well enough, and the fuses seem fine. Playing around with a multimeter pretty much always gets numbers you'd expect.
I'm working on getting the truck in better working order, so I figured I'd see if anyone has any ideas or similar experiences.
Anything is appreciated.
Tail light burnt out on driver's side last week. Replaced the bulb, and now the red light on the interior of the driver's door lights when I open a door. It has not ever worked the 9 years I've owned the car.
Cruise control doesn't work.
The passenger's side electric window is a little gimpy and sometimes needs a couple of tries to get up.
The break light comes on randomly sometimes, although the break is definitely not engaged.
The cigarette lighter power supply is occasionally a bit flaky (won't charge phone, etc).
And other assorted oddities. The usually the only uniting factor is that it's not consistent. It's never really been a major issue, just a slight annoyance. I'm no electrician, but I know circuits well enough, and the fuses seem fine. Playing around with a multimeter pretty much always gets numbers you'd expect.
I'm working on getting the truck in better working order, so I figured I'd see if anyone has any ideas or similar experiences.
Anything is appreciated.
12-19-2012, 09:40 PM
#2
I've had my 97 V6 tacoma for over 9 years now, and it's been a great, reliable car. The only issue I have is that the electrical system can be truly screwy. Here's a small selection of the strangeness:
Tail light burnt out on driver's side last week. Replaced the bulb, and now the red light on the interior of the driver's door lights when I open a door. It has not ever worked the 9 years I've owned the car.
Cruise control doesn't work.
The passenger's side electric window is a little gimpy and sometimes needs a couple of tries to get up.
The break light comes on randomly sometimes, although the break is definitely not engaged.
The cigarette lighter power supply is occasionally a bit flaky (won't charge phone, etc).
And other assorted oddities. The usually the only uniting factor is that it's not consistent. It's never really been a major issue, just a slight annoyance. I'm no electrician, but I know circuits well enough, and the fuses seem fine. Playing around with a multimeter pretty much always gets numbers you'd expect.
I'm working on getting the truck in better working order, so I figured I'd see if anyone has any ideas or similar experiences.
Anything is appreciated.
Tail light burnt out on driver's side last week. Replaced the bulb, and now the red light on the interior of the driver's door lights when I open a door. It has not ever worked the 9 years I've owned the car.
Cruise control doesn't work.
The passenger's side electric window is a little gimpy and sometimes needs a couple of tries to get up.
The break light comes on randomly sometimes, although the break is definitely not engaged.
The cigarette lighter power supply is occasionally a bit flaky (won't charge phone, etc).
And other assorted oddities. The usually the only uniting factor is that it's not consistent. It's never really been a major issue, just a slight annoyance. I'm no electrician, but I know circuits well enough, and the fuses seem fine. Playing around with a multimeter pretty much always gets numbers you'd expect.
I'm working on getting the truck in better working order, so I figured I'd see if anyone has any ideas or similar experiences.
Anything is appreciated.
The red light in your door: do the lights on all the doors come on no mater which door you open?
Cruise control: you need to find out if you have power going to the control board for it. If not you probably have a wiring issue (you already said the fuses are good). If you have power start checking the switches for it.
Passengers window: does it do this with both switches? If no then it's probably a bad switch. If yes then the motor is most likely worn out or the linkage/track is binding causing the motor to work harder. Take the panel off the door, disconnect the linkage at the motor and make sure all parts are moving smoothly. Also hit the switches (one at a time of course) with the linkage disconnected and see if the motor is still acting up.
Parking brake light: there is a switch under the dash for that. Sounds like it needs to be adjusted.
Cigarette lighter: check the connection behind it and make sure it's tight and clean.
Make sure you check the grounds for all of these things too. Also check grounding jumpers from the body to frame and all the way back to the battery. You'll get a lot of funky stuff when you have intermittent ground connections and nothing will seem to make any sense. Keep us updated and don't be afraid to ask stupid questions...I do it every day. Stupid questions can make great stories you can tell later.
01-02-2013, 07:39 PM
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It sounds like a bunch of unrelated yet similar problems....
The red light in your door: do the lights on all the doors come on no mater which door you open?
Cruise control: you need to find out if you have power going to the control board for it. If not you probably have a wiring issue (you already said the fuses are good). If you have power start checking the switches for it.
Passengers window: does it do this with both switches? If no then it's probably a bad switch. If yes then the motor is most likely worn out or the linkage/track is binding causing the motor to work harder. Take the panel off the door, disconnect the linkage at the motor and make sure all parts are moving smoothly. Also hit the switches (one at a time of course) with the linkage disconnected and see if the motor is still acting up.
Parking brake light: there is a switch under the dash for that. Sounds like it needs to be adjusted.
Cigarette lighter: check the connection behind it and make sure it's tight and clean.
Make sure you check the grounds for all of these things too. Also check grounding jumpers from the body to frame and all the way back to the battery. You'll get a lot of funky stuff when you have intermittent ground connections and nothing will seem to make any sense. Keep us updated and don't be afraid to ask stupid questions...I do it every day. Stupid questions can make great stories you can tell later.
The red light in your door: do the lights on all the doors come on no mater which door you open?
Cruise control: you need to find out if you have power going to the control board for it. If not you probably have a wiring issue (you already said the fuses are good). If you have power start checking the switches for it.
Passengers window: does it do this with both switches? If no then it's probably a bad switch. If yes then the motor is most likely worn out or the linkage/track is binding causing the motor to work harder. Take the panel off the door, disconnect the linkage at the motor and make sure all parts are moving smoothly. Also hit the switches (one at a time of course) with the linkage disconnected and see if the motor is still acting up.
Parking brake light: there is a switch under the dash for that. Sounds like it needs to be adjusted.
Cigarette lighter: check the connection behind it and make sure it's tight and clean.
Make sure you check the grounds for all of these things too. Also check grounding jumpers from the body to frame and all the way back to the battery. You'll get a lot of funky stuff when you have intermittent ground connections and nothing will seem to make any sense. Keep us updated and don't be afraid to ask stupid questions...I do it every day. Stupid questions can make great stories you can tell later.
The red light in the door stopped coming on again. It's back to no lights coming on when I open the door. It's not too critical, though. I don't mind no lights coming on, it just makes me worry that it may be indicative of other problems.
Cruise control: I'll check. I recently got one of those repair manuals, and so I'll be able to make sure the power's getting to it.
Passengers Window: It does do it from both switches. I'll take it apart and see if I can figure it out then. If the motor or the drive is kaput, is there anywhere you'd recommend for replacement parts?
Parking Brake: Actually, it turns out that I had misremembered when I last replaced my brake pads. Turns out it was about 75k+ ago, and the brakes never really squeaked. A pad change fixed it either way.
Just checked the cigarette lighter, and the ground was loose. Tightened it, and it seemed to come around.
As far as stupid questions go, I'm pretty much a pro in that regard. With that in mind, what do you think the best way to find an intermittent ground connection? Things not making sense seems to fit some of what's happening...
I'll update this when I get a chance to break open the door and see what the window motor is doing. Thanks again
01-02-2013, 07:46 PM
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Cruise control doesn't work.
Or you have some fuse box corrosion going on.
Last edited by ThatGuy1295; 01-02-2013 at 07:48 PM.
01-02-2013, 07:49 PM
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Make sure you check the grounds for all of these things too. Also check grounding jumpers from the body to frame and all the way back to the battery. You'll get a lot of funky stuff when you have intermittent ground connections and nothing will seem to make any sense.
01-03-2013, 11:06 AM
#6
toyotapart.com
toyotapartscheap.com
oemparts123.com
villagetoyotaparts.com
toyotapartsdiscounters.com
usatoyotaparts.com
dealerdirectparts.com
toyotapartseast.com
I like to shop around on the internet and find the best price I can. All of these carry Toyota brand parts if that's what you want. Of course, you can go to Advance, NAPA or where ever if you don't care about factory parts. Try some local junk yards too and see if you can grab a used one for fairly cheap.
Just out of curiosity, has your truck ever had any water damage???
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