So today I went to check out some of the trails and rivers after getting 5-7 inches of rain over the past couple days. I ended up getting stuck in a deep hole in a stream crossing and I ended up flooding my 4Runner to almost the bottom of the dash on my drivers side. The whole kick panel where the 4WD and locker ECUs are were completely under water. Water was also almost halfway up the gas pedal before I was able to get pulled out (luck has it a second gen 4Runner pulled up behind me a couple minutes into the whole ordeal).

Isn't the main ECU located in center on the floor behind the radio surround? Although its not as low as the ones behind the kick panel its still pretty vulnerable to water entering in a situation like this. Has anyone successfully relocated their ECU to a higher location in the event of water entering?


Here are some videos from the creek crossing that I got stuck in. Only me and the 4Runner that pulled me out attempted it. While I was waiting for my rescuers to make it through, two different Jeeps saw it and turned around in the meantime.

Here's a successful crossing. This was the second time I made it through, this time only in 2wd.
http://www.facebook.com/v/1392782022842

Got stuck right at the end of this video. Ended up going too far left and landed in a hole about a foot deeper than what I had gone through the past times. The camera ran out of batteries right when I got completely stuck so I wasn't able to get any pics of the recovery.
http://www.facebook.com/v/1392787142970

 

My office computer doesn't show the video...
But its not an easy projhect to relocate as you'd have to extend every single wire. It's not impossible, its just going to be very difficult. May be better seal around the door is a better option...?

 

good video- made me laugh. Shoulda used the skinny pedal!!!

 

Nah, it's up pretty high behind the glove box. You could extend all the wires, which would really suck or you can build an extension that would plug into your original harness. You'd need a spare harness and spare ECU to do this. You'd have to cut the connectors out of the spare ECU and solder the new harness wires to that. Which would also suck.

 

There isn't really much point to trying to move the ECU, since its already high in the dash. You would hydrolock your engine before water ever got high enough to fry the ECU.

 

Hah yeah I probably could have been able to get out of there until my tow reciever ended up resting on the ground behind me. That thing has almost screwed me over on a number of occasions, now it finally got me. My back 2 wheels had knocked all the dirt out from around them so they weren't touching and the front wheel that was in the hole was spinning. No amount of skinny pedal could have got me out of that mess. Kinda sucks my first time ever getting stuck to the point i needed to call for help was the time i end up taking on water.

I wasn't really paying attention but thought I remembered seeing it on the floor in the center when I put a new radio so thats why I was so worried. That's good that its so far up in the dash, I wont really have to worry about it in any situations i'll be running into. Maybe I'll focus my efforts on waterproofing the electronics behind the kick panel that were completely underwater. That and work on my door seal that leaked like a sieve. I could see I had water coming in through them before water even came up by the tube that drains the moon roof.

 

I relocated one....from a 2001 Tacoma to a 93 truck.

 

the "ecu" that your refering to in the center console is the air bag system ecu that is y the plugs are all yellow

 

you can buy the ecu plug and play harness from URD and just extend every wire on that if you want. It would be a lot easier doing that outside of the truck then trying to extend every wire behind the glove box.

 

Im not too worried about relocating the main ecu anymore. I was confusing it with the lower airbag ecu. From here Ill probably try waterproofing the lower ecus by enclosing them in thick plastic bags, zip tying the bag around the harness running into it, and adding caulk around where the wires enter the bag.

Does anyone have any recommendations as far as waterproofing the door seals better than the leaky factory ones?

 

How about just avoiding high water?

 

....or waterfalls.

 

Aww that's not fun... A lot of trails near me have at least one water crossing on them before its over. I dont want to have to sit them out. I will do my best to avoid any waterfalls though

 

http://www.viddler.com/explore/failb...os/464/32.407/

Could have been worse!