jonnydclark

Since its 2:30 am and I just finished (for the night) I'm writing this down so I won't forget it tomorrow morning. Maybe one of you all can help especially as it relates to the brake pedal switch.

Ok. So I had the wrong fuse in for the brake lights and pulled a trailer. I melted a bunch of wires under the dash as described here. '97 4-runner SR5 4x4 3.4l

After replacing the wires to the brake pedal switch I put the dash back in and drove it for the past week. This is what I have now.

Symptoms:
Brake lights work but light up the parking lamps when the pedal is pushed
Parking lamps work work but light up all 3 brake lights
Cruise does not work with the headlights on because it thinks my foot is on the brake
If the car is off and you push the brake the dash lights up and the buzzer sounds like you are leaving your lights on.

Troubleshooting:
Remove the tail light relay - parking lamps don't light up but the buzzer still sounds (dash is out so I'm not sure but believe the cluster would also light up)

Traced the wire from the parking lamp switch on the column to the relay and its not melted anywhere. (switching ground at that point)

Wire between relay and fuse in the engine compartment fusebox looks fine.

Traced wire from fuse to junction on the back of the interior fuse block. No melting. Wires go from here out to front lamps. Unplugging this connector from the back of the interior fuse block causes normal behavior (no buzzer) when the brake pedal is pushed.

Completely unbundled all wrapping and casing and separated wires one by one looking for hot spots or wires melted together.... found none.

At this point I'm starting to suspect damage to the brake pedal switch or a computer. It really doesn't act like computer though since everything else works fine and the behavior is consistent that there is just one wire crossed somewhere connecting those two circuits.

If anybody knows how I can ohm out the brake pedal switch let me know. It has 4 wires for some reason. Two of them come from the same wire leaving the fuse and I assume one goes to cruise and one goes to the lights... just not sure which.

Gotta be at work in about 5 hours so I'm going to bed. I'll be driving to work without a dash so its a good thing it is only 2 miles from my house.

jonnydclark

Good morning,

Short night.

Actually I'm not sure where the trailer harness adapter is. I wired in my own trailer lights directly into the wires going to the back bulbs. I'll do some research to find what / where that is and then try disconnecting it.

blake.nemitz

i used to install trailer hitches and wiring for uhaul back in the day and when those 3-2 convertor boxes go they do exactly that cross circuts brakes light up marker lights and vice versa, try pulling it out and if it is the3 culprit get the one that is powered off the battery not off the lights themselves they last alot longet

jonnydclark

Thanks guys. I think I'm on the right track (obviously wasn't last night).

At lunch I pulled the panel out and can't find any box. I did find this connector.
When I unplug it the buzzer no longer goes off when I push the brake pedal (thats a good thing) but I also don't have tail lights. If this is the 6 wire into 5 or vice versa then I could see why it would cause those symptoms. If I'm supposed to be looking for something totally different then I have no idea where it is. (pulled out both side panels)
I'll try ohming out the tail end of that connector after work. I sure hope I can get this resolved and back together. If not I might have to declare it a trail rig and convince my wife it "won't pass inspection."

Let me know if the photo doesnt' show up. Photobucket is blocked here at work so all I see is text.

Ron Helmuth

I am in agreement with blake-it sounds like the tail light converter box-typically found on the drivers side rear behind the cargo side panel (on my 99).

It could be inside the passenger side rear.

Hopkins makes a nice plug and play replacement unit. If you don't have one at all it would not be a bad thing to have, if you ever plan to tow again.

Don't rule out a bad bulb-have some extras on hand and confirm symptoms.

justin_4runner

could a dimmer switch casue those problems too if it melted in there, if it doesnt have a 2-3 converter box?

Ron Helmuth

pretty sure a dimmer switch would only affect the dash lights illumination

jonnydclark

Thanks for the ideas. I never found the trailer adapter but pointing me that direction helped a bunch. I realized when I unplugged the connector right behind the back door it eliminated the problem. Therefore I focused on the wires from there back.

I unwrapped the wires between the door and left tail light and found several hot spots. One spot right before the connector was hot enough to get 2 bare wire spots and that was the problem.




By this point my truck was in complete disarray. I'm so glad to finally have it back together.

This is what it looked like driving to work yesterday.



"But officer how am I supposed to know how fast I was going?"

irab88

iTrader: (4)

mever mind...

Ron Helmuth

good to see you have figured it out