Keyless fob not working on left side (driver side) (1 Viewer)

[Romerca]

Hello:
On my 2011 series 200 keyless entry and locking is not working on either of the left hand doors (driver or passenger). It works fine on the rear gate and on both right hand side doors. It malfuctions with both key fobs. Buttons on the fobs work fine. Battery was replaced recently and was working fine on both fobs. It seems the vehicle is not “detecting” the fob on the left hand side as the inside lights do not come on when close to the vehicle. Inside lights do come on when vehicle approached from the right hand side.
Any ideas as to whant might be causing this malfuntion?
Thanks in advance

 

[T4Runner]

Sounds like you might have a failed drivers side actuator. There should be a thread about it around here somewhere.

 

[chilibit]

Signal distribution after reception.

 

[Markuson]

That sensor is user replaceable if you’re willing to pop open your door panel...

 

[empty80]

Are you running a refrigerator, by chance?

 

[terdrocket]

Here is how you know if it is a lock actuator- Make sure the door(s) causing the problem are unlocked. With the door(s) closed, press lock on the key fob or handle button. If no alarm chirp and or light flash, lock actuator(s) is/are bad. The door(s) will have remained unlocked and therefore the alarm couldn't/wouldn't set.

 

[Romerca]

That sensor is user replaceable if you’re willing to pop open your door panel...

Hi Markuson. Thanks for yor reply. Yes. I am looking to fix this myself. Is the sensor separate/different from the actuator? Would you happen to know the p/n?
Thanks for your help

 

[Romerca]

Are you running a refrigerator, by chance?

Hi empty80. Yes refirgerator equiped. Not always is use though. Why? How is it related? Thanks for your help

 

[Romerca]

Here is how you know if it is a lock actuator- Make sure the door(s) causing the problem are unlocked. With the door(s) closed, press lock on the key fob or handle button. If no alarm chirp and or light flash, lock actuator(s) is/are bad. The door(s) will have remained unlocked and therefore the alarm couldn't/wouldn't set.

Pressing lock on the key fob does produce a chrip and light flash. Doors lock as normal.
Thanks for your help

 

[empty80]

Hi empty80. Yes refirgerator equiped. Not always is use though. Why? How is it related? Thanks for your help

5th Gen 4runners have a receiver in the driver’s side rear cargo compartment. When fridges are running, it causes interference with the receiver. Additionally, just proximity of fridges to that receiver, running or not, can cause interference.

It’s easy to rule out before tearing panels open and buying parts.

 

[Markuson]

Hi Markuson. Thanks for yor reply. Yes. I am looking to fix this myself. Is the sensor separate/different from the actuator? Would you happen to know the p/n?
Thanks for your help

My memory may be off bc I’ve removed so many interior panels. I can look it up when I get home later and confirm.

 

[KLF]

5th Gen 4runners have a receiver in the driver’s side rear cargo compartment. When fridges are running, it causes interference with the receiver. Additionally, just proximity of fridges to that receiver, running or not, can cause interference.

It’s easy to rule out before tearing panels open and buying parts.

The rear antenna in the 200 is in the rear bumper, above the rear crossmember.

There's another one in the center console, I presume that is part of the system that detects if you are inside or not.

 

[Romerca]

UPDATE
So this took a turn for the weirder before getting better.
So while still trying to figure out why the keyless fob was partially not working, my wife comes home and tells me “hey the fog lights on your truck are on.” This was strange because the truck was not running and it is virtually impossible to exclusively run the fog lights only. After checking and testing, yes effectively the fog lights were comming on by themselves, after shutting the vehicle off.
After consulting here in the forum, I found a post for that simptom exactly

Fog lights come on by themselves

This is totally bizarre, but putting it here in case anyone seen/heard anything like this. Basically woke up this morning and my 200 LC (09) fog lights are on. The car is locked and security light is flashing as expected. Unlocked the car, all the light switches are off. Started the car...

forum.ih8mud.com

This pointed out pluged sun roof drain holes as the culprit for the fog lights gremlin.
Forgot to mention that it has been raining biblically here in California.
So checked the sun roof drain hole and effectively had some puddled water in the sun roof. So while trouble shooting that, while it still rains. Dried out the sun roof rails with some paper towels and ran the truck in highest heat setting for a while. The fog lights issue subsided and, low and behold, the key fob issue has also gone away.
Happy to have everything back working again. Now have to properly clean those drain hoses and check where that water moisture went to try to avoid further gremlins/damage and see if any connectors are affected by the moisture. Apparently there is more rain in the forecast
Thank you to all that reponded

 

[bloc]

I had the sunroof on my 80 taped shut with 2" wide vinyl tape to avoid flooding the passenger compartment. May be something to look into until you can figure out the drains.

As for where the water goes.. if you pull up the trim along the bottom edge of the door opening where it wraps around over the carpet.. once that's out of the way you can pull the carpet back a bit and usually get a shop vac to the area and pull the water out. helps to park the truck sideways on an incline or jack up one side to get the water to pool nearest the outer edge. The jute material under the carpet will hold water for a while so leaving the trim off can help everything breathe until it's done.

Oh and my trim came up just fine without breaking any tabs or anything.

 

[GordJ]

I went down to a buddy’s shop and he blew the roof drains out and then poured water in to confirm that they were clear.

 

[Romerca]

Follow up
So I went and removed some of the trim and found some connectors. Pulled them out and found this. Any suggestions on treatment for these connectors. Thanks in advance.

 

[TonyP]

I would snag some electrical connector cleaner at your local auto parts store, it should be over by the carb cleaner. Disconnect the battery and blast some in there and find something to scrub in there. Perhaps a tooth brush. Be mindful to not mangle those very thin connectors.

Good PSA for everyone to check their sunroof drains.
Another reason why I hate the sunroof.

 

[KLF]

After you get them cleaned, I would put a light coat of dielectric grease on all the contacts. Kind of a dumb place to put a connector like that.

 

[Recon Aircrew]

0n my ‘13 last year the passenger side actuator went out. $ Not long after that, the driver side actuator went out $$. Now the left rear passenger actuator is out. It will stay that way for a long time!

 

[bloc]

I went down to a buddy’s shop and he blew the roof drains out and then poured water in to confirm that they were clear.

I'd be very careful using compressed air or anything that couldn't be described as gentle on those drains. IIRC the hoses are just a friction fit onto the sunroof tray drains and can be pushed off, making for a lot of work to put them back.