help: rain today, now parking lights and interior lights are whack

[hatchethead]

We had a good bit of rain here in SoCal today. At about 5pm this evening, my wife and I noticed that the LC's parking lights were on. The lights weren't on at 4pm when I got home from work (rode my bike). They weren't on when I left for work this morning. Nobody has driven the truck this week. The only thing that happened to the truck today was the (heavy) rain.

I took the rig for a drive tonight to get some fuses, just in case. It was dark out while I was driving. While driving, I noticed that when I had my foot on the brake (e.g., at a stop light), the lights illuminating the dash board and backlighting the buttons on the console and radio were dark. They would light up when I took my foot off the brake.

The truck was in significant rain around Thanksgiving, and again earlier this month, and it did not experiences any electrical gremlins like this. I'm looking for advice from experienced forum-ers ... how do I troubleshoot this?

I've done some searching in the forums on what might be causing this. Someone has suggested a clogged sun roof drain, so I'm going to check that in the morning. Another has said it could be a blown fuse, so I'll look for a fuse I can replace. What else could it be?

Thanks in advance for sharing your experience with this type of problem.

-- Jason

 

[hatchethead]

Update: I removed the TAIL fuse and the lights went off. But when I fired up the truck, the brake-dashboard interaction was still happening. Guess I'll sleep on it.

 

[Pyrenees]

We had a good bit of rain here in SoCal today.

Windshield is leaking into the electronics under the dash, that's my guess. Maybe sunroof drain. Third brake light would only leak water into rear cargo area.

 

[hatchethead]

Windshield is leaking into the electronics under the dash, that's my guess. Maybe sunroof drain. Third brake light would only leak water into rear cargo area.

Thanks! Is this electrical behavior something that will “fix itself” once I find and fix the water leak?

 

[Pyrenees]

I don’t know since it’s never happened to me. Search for leaking windshield threads here and you’ll find more than you’d expect.

 

[hatchethead]

I don’t know since it’s never happened to me. Search for leaking windshield threads here and you’ll find more than you’d expect.

Thanks for the pointer. Don't know if I want to see what comes up with that search, but I'll do it.

 

[hatchethead]

Update: I removed the TAIL fuse and the lights went off. But when I fired up the truck, the brake-dashboard interaction was still happening. Guess I'll sleep on it.

Update: #2, it's happening again. The last time, I saw that there was condensation inside the passenger side taillight. I disconnected the power to the light, and when I reconnected the power, the problem was gone.

The problem started happening again today, and the above fix didn't work. Disconnected the driver side light, too. I'll give it a little while and check to see if that made any difference?

Anyone know a good exorcist for Land Cruisers?

 

[Matthew810]

I had wierd electrical stuff happening 2 weeks ago that affected my turn signals and interior lights on climate control. Ended up being the trailer lights controllers box. Once I disconnected that everything went back to normal.

Not saying that is what's happening to you but that's what caused mine.

Good luck. Electrical gremlins are the worst.

 

[A2LX]

I recently found that i have a leaky windshield too, it drips down the A arm right into a bunch of electrical in the footwell on the drivers side. It only drips when parked...so it sounds similar. crossing my fingers on getting my windshield getting fixed before i run into the same issues but I haven't found anyone near me is willing to do the job. Is there any sign of water on the front floor mats?

 

[hatchethead]

I recently found that i have a leaky windshield too, it drips down the A arm right into a bunch of electrical in the footwell on the drivers side. It only drips when parked...so it sounds similar. crossing my fingers on getting my windshield getting fixed before i run into the same issues but I haven't found anyone near me is willing to do the job. Is there any sign of water on the front floor mats?

Yep. The floor gets pretty damp when it rains. I need to find someone, too.

 

[perk]

Leaky windshield was the cause of my parking lights and horn malfunctions during rains. After sufficient dry time all would go back to normal. No problems since windshield replacement. However...my windshield replacement was a saga. Make sure the installer uses the right size rivets and plan on replacing the mouldings with oem. Good luck

 

[hatchethead]

Leaky windshield was the cause of my parking lights and horn malfunctions during rains. After sufficient dry time all would go back to normal. No problems since windshield replacement. However...my windshield replacement was a saga. Make sure the installer uses the right size rivets and plan on replacing the mouldings with oem. Good luck

Thanks! I've heard to be careful with the windshield.

 

[hatchethead]

Update #3: Battery dead. Good thing I like riding my bike to work. Rain in the forecast. Need to find someone to work on the glass.