​Hey guys. This is the best forums i have found, and I want to thank Cory and everyone over the years who have contributed for such an Awsome resource available to everyone. That being said,
​ I sold the new Chevy equinox because I was sick of the trim falling off in normal town traffic, high payments for a plastic poorly designed vehicle. Decided to get with my roots and get a solid vehicle with plenty of options for a diy kind of guy like my self. I dropped cash on this to a kid (no offence) who was off to serve the country. (Thanks buddy you be safe). I didn't haggle because I knew what I wanted, and I went to HS with his mom. Needless to say he did a lot of work on the truck, and he did a good job from what I've seen. The owner before him... Not so good.
​The rig:1994 4runner 5speed with the 3.0 vze.
​


all factory with no mods or major upgrades found. Windows are sluggish if working radio installed incorrectly. I belive its had the replacement recalled engine work. Heads? I can't remeber, but entered my vin, it showed that I didn't me needing it but I'm. Not really sure.

it had so wiring issues and a lot of prior electrical rigging done. The engine was very sound. Not all lights working and many projected fun projects fixing and upgrades to be completed.

I got the manuals, and downloaded the FSM and printed the wiring manual and print The main books sections as I need.. all goes in my trucks notebook.

first thing I did was a tune up. New plugs, filters and basic fluids. Found out the window washer res had missing parts when a half gallon of fluid poured onto garage floor.... :-)

pulling plugs



not to bad.



strange mess of wires found in passenger door window switch not working. Speaker falling off door and panel has lots of damage. Ac is ok so no worries.



I was driving home after my inspection and my hood latch disengaged and the back up failed. It didn't break window thank god, I had just put it into 3 rd gear. More work to do.



the cowel looks ok but under it looks like part of the horizontal metal for panel that the hood bracket bolts into is cut too hell., I lost some bolts too. Going to u pull it this weekend.



solved for now


lots more to come.. I have had truck now 5 months or so. I'm no pro and its my first Toyota, but some experience from buddy's who did and im learning and buying the tools as I go. Also a lot of stuff is added with my mobile and I'm a about as worthless a speller as a one legged dog. But i Finally have a house with garage and a truck I can yank on. so fun times ahead.s more to come.

 

So none of the interior lights or dashlights were working. The gauges did work for the most part, but the plastic covering the instrument cluster is broken and the cluster itsself is full of dust and dirt. Also the switch on left side of steering column is broken and function is unknown.
I went out to the you pull it and scored a new instrument cluster and a found a clutch start cancel switch that I belive is the unknown broken switch. I didn't even know what that switch did at that time.

I grabbed other switches. I got 2 window switches because the windows are a big issue. My wife won't drive with me untill I can get her window to roll up and down. I rigged up a toggle and it worked but not well and that's for another post
Here is the new cluster. Removing this was very intimidating. I followed this post https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f126...4runner-75768/ and got lots of tips from reading and searching through YT. I reused a bunch of the green covers for the mini lights and was able to get all bulbs working. I also used my new electrical diagnostic tools, still learning btw, and I checked all the resistance and stuff like the FSM says by measuring and using the check points on the back. It was great to learn and understand. One of the things that is not working is the temp gauge. Doing this test confirmed to me that the cluster gauge works so the problem must be downstream for this.
I'll continue. I got clear covers off and I swapped the broken one out. Top left of photo u can see the cracked one. While in there I cleaned all the collected dust. I really feel like I got lucky finding this and swapping over.


that looks so much better. It wasn't new, but this is an improvement to the missing chunk of plastic one.



It's really amazing how much info is available. It's also really cool learning about the electronics and and how to use diagnosing equipment. Lots to learn and lots to do.
next will be all the lights in dash and interior.
Thanks for looking. I know its all basic stuff to all u pros thanks again.

 

So after getting the dash gauge lights working and the new cluster plastic cover replaced I started locating and trying to get all the rest of the interior lights working. I replaced the glove box light, replaced the ash tray light that had been broken, the heater/ac backlight, the ignition key light and while in there fix the cig lighter. In addition my plan was to get all interior lights working including maps dome and rear cargo. not worried about the door courtesy because that's part of a bigger problem.

here is the tricky light for ash tray. I was able to secure the cig lighter here and that also has a bulb that I changed and got working

here is the back light bulb for environmental controls.

tHis bulb is crazy small. I was super carful with the bulb condom.

I wouldn't have known about these without the forums here.

I guess I didn't get a light in my ignition.

Well I got all roof lights working except for the cargo dome. Looks like some damage up there, but while in that area. I found some tweeter from the original sound system



Well that's it for now. I'm going to work on door wiring next. Thanks for looking.