Can anyone tell me where the switch is on the trunk door or body that turns the dome light on in the trunk as soon as you open the door (not the actual switch on the dome light itself, I know where that is)??

I'm trying to chase down a parasitic drain problem on a friends 99' 4runner. I have checked all dome light units up front and the one in the center and all the switches for the lights and the switches in the door jams. Everything seems to be ok at this point but I'm still pulling 60+ mA through my Fluke meter when testing for current. When I pull the dome light 15A fuse the current drops to about 16mA.

The only switch I haven't checked is the one for the trunk door. I never bothered to pay attention to this but I can't even find it on my 91' 4runner. Is this switch in the door and wired to the handle?? Anyone know how this works?

Thanks.

 

On a 99 it's in the tailgate, near the latch.

 

In the tailgate? So I have to take the panel off and go inside the door?? I figured this was it? Anyone ever have to do this, any tips?

 

Yes, you have to take the panel off. Never done it on my 01, but on my old 93 it was held on by those plastic clips that just push in. Just put something thin between the panel and the metal and pop them out. My wiring diagram for the 01 shows the switch as having a blue/white and a white/black wire. A 99 might be the same.

 

Thanks eric-the-red, my 91' was the same way and it should still be the same for the 99'. Hopefully I can find the problem.

 

Update - Well it turns out that it wasn't the trunk door switch, which is behind the panel that need to be taken off. Turns out that my friends parasitic drain on his 99' 4Runner was the factory radio/tape deck. Apparently Toyota wired this in on the same circuit as the dome lights, which means it shares the same fuse, the 15 amp "dome" fuse under the hood. This is the reason why when doing the test for parasitic drains the drain went away when I pulled the dome fuse (it went from 60mA which is way too high to 16mA which is around normal). I just didn't know that Toyota wired the radio into this circuit too, which I guess makes sense now because there is illumination in the radio.

Anyway we thought we disconnect the radio and when we did the current dropped to 16mA. Problem found!!! Finally. Somewhere within the radio there's a short circuit that was pulling excessive current and killing the battery after a day or two. We threw the stock radio out and my friend installed a radio from a Scion that he found in the junkyard, not sure what year or model but apparently they both share the same plug design and it bolted right up. Looks good too, except it has "Scion" written on it.

In case you didn't know you can use a volt meter to test for parasitic drains. Engine off, all accessorizes off, set your meter to current, disconnect the negative cable and connect your meter in line. This will show you what drains you have on your electrical system (electrical current), if any. From this point you can start pulling fuses, this will allow you to narrow down which circuit is in question. If the current drops dramatically then you found the problem circuit and you can go from there. If it's not anything overly important, like my friends dome lights and radio you can always leave that fuse out untill you find the problem, that way you can still have a battery that won't discharge on you over night.

Usually, anything higher then 30mA for our older Toyota's would represent a problem, even higher then 20mA should be questioned. His 99' hovers around 16mA and my 91' is around the same, I think 15mA. This is good to always remember cause anything higher will let you know of a problem instantly.

Refer to this link for the proper testing procedure and overall general specs, pay attention to "Key-Off" Battery Drain too when performing these tests.

http://www.aa1car.com/library/battery_runs_down.htm