Hazard lights cranking engine - “fun” gremlin (1 Viewer)

[Spike Strip]

I did the same repair on my FJ60, with the rear harness. Some PO had butchered in wiring for trailer lights by stripping the harness leads and wrapping the trailer wire around the stripped harness - then covered it with SCOTCH TAPE!

Pulled out the harness, removed all traces of the aux wiring, removed OE connectors so I could slide adhesive heat-shrink over the exposed areas. I eventually found a back up rear harness just in case the original had corroded.

Nice troubleshooting, btw.

 

[cruisermatt]

I did the same repair on my FJ60, with the rear harness. Some PO had butchered in wiring for trailer lights by stripping the harness leads and wrapping the trailer wire around the stripped harness - then covered it with SCOTCH TAPE!

Pulled out the harness, removed all traces of the aux wiring, removed OE connectors so I could slide adhesive heat-shrink over the exposed areas. I eventually found a back up rear harness just in case the original had corroded.

Nice troubleshooting, btw.

Did your starter engage with the hazard lights?

 

[Spike Strip]

Funny you should ask that -

Because at the same time, my Hazards were non-functional AND I was having starter run-on issues; that's what led me to the rear-quarter wiring, same as you -- Exploration revealed that the PO had bypassed the Pos + to the hazard (through the back of the fuse panel) because the hazard switch part of the column turn-signal cluster was a melted black mess. Wish I had taken pictures. At the time that switch was still avail from Toyota so I just replaced it and put the fuse panel back to stock and removed the trailer wiring that I think caused the hazards to melt.

This was almost 10 years ago, now, so my recollection is a little fuzzy of everything that was wrong, and all I remember doing was following the schematic best I could and replacing everything to 'factory'. IIRC, it was something to do with the way power is routed through the Hazard and Ignition switches which required the by-pass on the fuse block. Not sure and I don't feel like looking at a schematic again and getting a headache.

Anyway, I did a lot of fixes at the same time (when the truck was apart) and it's been good since then, but I doubt it's related to your issue since you've a 62.

 

[cruisermatt]

Interesting. I am thinking the trailer wire melting is a red herring since I had those two sets of trailer wiring bouncing around for a long time without issue - but the day the fuel wire melted was the same day I started having starter run-on issues.
I am "glad" to hear you also had starter issues as that helps solidify my findings a bit.
I ended working on a few other projects and didn't get to this one, tomorrow for sure! I am hoping to put this truck back on daily driver duty Monday.

 

[cruisermatt]

By the way, the truck starts without any starter running or sticking issues, and the hazards don’t engage the starter with the tailight harness removed, and the brakes don’t click the COR now either, pretty confident that that was the issue now.
Not 100% confirmed though.

 

[cruisermatt]

Ok, I think we can call this case closed. New tailight harness installed and no more issues. Thanks for the help guys.

I had double insulated my original harness after melting it which protected my repair, although I think it had actually been sitting on the exhaust tube when it melted. Anyways, knowing that two layers is enough I put THREE layers on the new harness and built a stainless heat shield. I do NOT want to deal with this again.

And yes, that’s a 3” exhaust between the frame and rear sill and gas tank, no body lift.

 

[orion]

Nice work - I think it should be able to handle the heat now!

- Brian

 

[wedgetail]

Very interesting thread - a few months ago my wife had the starter engage on her without knowing in my bro’s hj60. I had so come out and tow start it as it had done this to the pinion. As well as cooking the windings - it absolutely stank.

I still haven’t had time to trouble shoot it - just wired a new start circuit in as we had l keep using it and I didn’t want it to keep eating starters.

I’ve been putting it off because apart from checking out the ign switch I’ve been dreading pulling the dash apart. Although I haven’t actually detected any brake light issues I might have a good look over the trailer wiring and tail lights. It has plenty of other electrical issues but nothing stopping it’s daily use (fuel gauge, varying heater fan, occasionally flashing filters/charge lights etc.)

 

[cruisermatt]

Very interesting thread - a few months ago my wife had the starter engage on her without knowing in my bro’s hj60. I had so come out and tow start it as it had done this to the pinion. As well as cooking the windings - it absolutely stank.


I still haven’t had time to trouble shoot it - just wired a new start circuit in as we had l keep using it and I didn’t want it to keep eating starters.


I’ve been putting it off because apart from checking out the ign switch I’ve been dreading pulling the dash apart. Although I haven’t actually detected any brake light issues I might have a good look over the trailer wiring and tail lights. It has plenty of other electrical issues but nothing stopping it’s daily use (fuel gauge, varying heater fan, occasionally flashing filters/charge lights etc.)

I think the trailer wiring is a red herring. However, the fuel gauge ground should be the on the same ground bolt as the tailight harness. I’d start there if I were you.

 

[FJACS]

Glad you got this sorted out and found a donor harness.

I’ve spent hours in/on my ‘87 unf#*king previous owners add on wiring. It’s nice when things work like they should and don’t cause problems.