I have a basic and stock 96 land cruiser with no modifications and no alarm system. - 177k miles. For many years the check engine light has been on. Scans by a couple of shops have displayed a P code (sorry can’t remember which one, had a 4 in it I think) indicating the O2 sensor but emissions tests directly reading the O2 sensor while running pass. Recently the 7 year old battery started getting weak so I cleaned off a ton of salt with sodium bicarb on the positive terminal clamp and then 2 weeks later replaced the battery and the positive clamp. Each time the battery was disconnected, the following happened:
Open the driver door and the open door light on the dash flashes and clicks loudly about once a second for around 2 minutes. The location of the clicking noise is somewhere near the ignition behind the instrument panel (one of the ignition relays?). If the door stays open the whole time, it pauses for a few seconds after 2 minutes then repeats the cycle. If the door is closed, it stops after 2 minutes. Trying to start the car, the ignition switch makes a barely audible electronic click just once that sounds like it is coming from the door locks and the clock display completely dims out when holding the key in the start position.
I surfed around the internet and found the most helpful hints on this forum. The first time the battery was disconnected, I was able to start the car by locking and unlocking the doors, then turning the ignition switch to the on position for at least 10 minutes, then turning the key to the off position, trying start again while holding down the push button on the ignition ring. You can’t make this stuff up! I let it idle for a few minutes, turned it off, opened the door and I was back to square one. Went through the same sequence with key on for 10 minutes, etc, took the car out for a 15 minute spin on the highway, problem solved. It ran normally for 2 weeks until I replaced the battery and the flashing OD light, no start was back. I tried the sequence of 10 minutes on etc and many variations for a couple of days and nothing worked. Then I tried turning the key to start a 2nd time and it started up. Drove it home about 10 minutes, turned it off opened the door - flashing lights. No luck getting it started again, I have tried many different sequences including entering from the passenger side which does not trigger a flashing OD light. There is plenty of juice in the battery, jumping doesn’t make any difference. I sure want to keep this car and get whatever is wrong repaired but don’t want to hand it to somebody unless they have some idea of where and what the problem is - I talked to the shop foreman at the local dealer and he has never seen this problem - “bring it in for a diagnostic.” So, I am wondering if anyone here has any ideas?
Open the driver door and the open door light on the dash flashes and clicks loudly about once a second for around 2 minutes. The location of the clicking noise is somewhere near the ignition behind the instrument panel (one of the ignition relays?). If the door stays open the whole time, it pauses for a few seconds after 2 minutes then repeats the cycle. If the door is closed, it stops after 2 minutes. Trying to start the car, the ignition switch makes a barely audible electronic click just once that sounds like it is coming from the door locks and the clock display completely dims out when holding the key in the start position.
I surfed around the internet and found the most helpful hints on this forum. The first time the battery was disconnected, I was able to start the car by locking and unlocking the doors, then turning the ignition switch to the on position for at least 10 minutes, then turning the key to the off position, trying start again while holding down the push button on the ignition ring. You can’t make this stuff up! I let it idle for a few minutes, turned it off, opened the door and I was back to square one. Went through the same sequence with key on for 10 minutes, etc, took the car out for a 15 minute spin on the highway, problem solved. It ran normally for 2 weeks until I replaced the battery and the flashing OD light, no start was back. I tried the sequence of 10 minutes on etc and many variations for a couple of days and nothing worked. Then I tried turning the key to start a 2nd time and it started up. Drove it home about 10 minutes, turned it off opened the door - flashing lights. No luck getting it started again, I have tried many different sequences including entering from the passenger side which does not trigger a flashing OD light. There is plenty of juice in the battery, jumping doesn’t make any difference. I sure want to keep this car and get whatever is wrong repaired but don’t want to hand it to somebody unless they have some idea of where and what the problem is - I talked to the shop foreman at the local dealer and he has never seen this problem - “bring it in for a diagnostic.” So, I am wondering if anyone here has any ideas?