No marker lights, Driver rear quarter panel ? (1 Viewer)

[mjosoba]

Alright, so I lost my marker lights a few days ago after some torrential rains. Initially I thought it was dampness in the driver rear quarter, per multiple threads I’d read. But after drying that out it made no difference. Continued to lose fuses after a few seconds to a few minutes of driving. Fast forward to today, when I tried to to take the plugs apart And couldn’t get the biggest one undone because it was so tight going down beneath the body, where it comes out above the bumper. So I looked down there and found a mess. The PO had hacked into the harness there for this thing, whatever the seven hells it is. It was wrapped around the harness multiple times, pulling it tight...




I absolutely loathe those connectors. They suck. I cut and stripped the harness where these were and could see it was corroded badly. So I cleaned them and used weatherproof butt connectors. I will solder them later. This is just to drive around for a week and make sure it’s solved.


This is where it was located, it is directly below the compartment that holds the tire jack, and is outside of the body, even with or slightly above the bumper. It was wedged in that body cut out. Anyone able to shed some info on this? I believe it’s a controller of some sort for a trailer? Not sure.


Thanks all! Michael.

 

[mjosoba]

Sorry, the pics didn’t show up. Here they are, not in the correct order. Sigh.

 

[baldilocks]

Those are just plugs that block holes that were necessary during assembly or if you ever want to remove the tail gate.

Yes, the connectors are very tight. I just finished fighting one myself. Tight is good because it keeps Mother Nature out.

Don’t bother soldiering those connections, what you did is actually better given the location.

 

[mingles]

Anyone able to shed some info on this? I believe it’s a controller of some sort for a trailer? Not sure.

Yes. What you pulled out is a tail light converter for a trailer. It takes the separate Toyota turn signal and brake light inputs and combines it so it will work with a standard combined brake/turn light in a trailer. If you don't tow, you don't need it. If you do tow, there are several less intrusive (plug and play) converters on the market that won't require you to hack up the Toyota harness.

After many years exposed to the elements, it is not uncommon to find a malfunctioning trailer light converter causing all kinds of electrical gremlins in the rear lighting harness.

 

[mjosoba]

Hoping this was actually the issue. I guess time will tell. There was an empty plug just past this area. Is that a stock plug in for a trailer light kit?

 

[mingles]

If the empty connector you found was gray and in the center along the rearmost cross-member, then that is actually where the the Toyota auxiliary fuel tank would plug in. It was never offered in the US market but the harness is pre wired for it.