Stop Fuse, brake interlock, brake light issue (1 Viewer)

[Leks]

New to me, unknown history (but sketchy woods truck) 94 FZJ80 has the following:

Starts and occasionally shifts no problem, more often than not won't shift into gear after starting. PO says wiggle the STOP fuse, which works for shifting but doesn't always get the brake lights to fire - not a problem in its previous life but I'll spend some time on public pavement. Where do I begin?

My first thought was brake switch, that's cheap and easy enough, I'll grab one tomorrow but if that isn't the issue am I into a rabbit hole I wasn't expecting or is this something yall have seen before?

 

[60 toy ota]

PO says wiggle the STOP fuse

My money is on the fuse being held loosely by the terminal clips

 

[Leks]

My money is on the fuse being held loosely by the terminal clips

That would be awesome if that's all it is, will check it out tomorrow, thank you!

 

[Kernal]

While you're looking at the fuses, ensure all of them are high quality (Japan/Toyota or USA), you don't want cheap wally mart chy nuh fuses, one Mud member burned up his cowl harness (and almost the truck) when a cheapo fuse didn't pop when it should have.

 

[Leks]

My money is on the fuse being held loosely by the terminal clips

Think I found the source of my problem, now to find the source of my problem's source! Also of note, PO had a 30A fuse in a 10A slot which surely didn't do any favors

 

[Kernal]

The photo's a bit out of focus, can you post up another, taken from a bit further back?

Is that melted plastic, burned from arcing, oxidation, or ??

@jonheld might have some thoughts

 

[Leks]

The photo's a bit out of focus, can you post up another, taken from a bit further back?

Is that melted plastic, burned from arcing, oxidation, or ??

@jonheld might have some thoughts

Attempt at a better picture this morning, light wasn't great but it looks like a combination of melted and corrosion to me. I'll remove the panel after work tonight and see if I can get a look.

 

[60 toy ota]

backed a boat into a ramp, got the trailer connection wet and blew the fuse, PO (like an idiot) kept putting bigger fuses in till it quit blowing, while the extra current slowly cooked areas of high resistance which happened to include the fuse terminal. the heat damaged the connection further creating even higher resistance in a vicious cycle till the connection became intermittent.
The correct fix would involve pulling out the fuse box and crimping on a new terminal on the end of that wire and hope that the plastic is still in good enough condition to retain it. To get by (this is a woods truck turned DD so not sure what your level of expectations are), one could use a thin file to get back to shiny metal on the terminal then use needle nose pliers to squish it back to a tight hold, then if necessary use some sort of adhesive to keep it where it needs to be in the plastic.

 

[Leks]

backed a boat into a ramp, got the trailer connection wet and blew the fuse, PO (like an idiot) kept putting bigger fuses in till it quit blowing, while the extra current slowly cooked areas of high resistance which happened to include the fuse terminal. the heat damaged the connection further creating even higher resistance in a vicious cycle till the connection became intermittent.
The correct fix would involve pulling out the fuse box and crimping on a new terminal on the end of that wire and hope that the plastic is still in good enough condition to retain it. To get by (this is a woods truck turned DD so not sure what your level of expectations are), one could use a thin file to get back to shiny metal on the terminal then use needle nose pliers to squish it back to a tight hold, then if necessary use some sort of adhesive to keep it where it needs to be in the plastic.

I have no reason at all to doubt this is exactly what happened.

I'll try to unpin that wire tonight and worst case scenario there is currently an empty location directly above the stop fuse if the plastic there is too far gone to save.

Wondering if you know the PO? Thank you!

 

[Mark W]

Worse case scenerio, replace the fuse block. It is not a high demand part, so those of us with parts cars usually have some that will just be sitting until Armageddon arrives.

Mark...

 

[Leks]

That may not be a bad idea actually, I'll see what it looks like when I get back to it, hopefully this is the extent of the issues but I wouldn't be shocked to see more!

 

[60 toy ota]

Wondering if you know the PO? Thank you!

Haha no, that is pure speculation based off experience.

 

[Leks]

Temporary fix in place for diagnosis purposes but so far so good. As 60 toy ota suggested this is likely prior damage from poor planning rather than an ongoing/current issue but I have a solid enough patch in place to verify for a few days, if it doesn't act up again I'll call it good and formalize a rewire.

The stop fuse and the defog fuse are linked on the back side of the fuse block sharing a single power input and I couldn't find my depin tools to try to work them out tonight but if it runs with my little ghetto jumper solution until the weekend I'll fix it correctly when I get some daylight.

Thanks for all the help and input, Mud is amazing, you all rock.

-Leks

 

[Brindleboxer]

I would still check the whole block. In the clearer picture, the 7.5 fuse sure looks worse for wear. Could be getting hot due to overload or corrosion has begun.

 

[Leks]

I would still check the whole block. In the clearer picture, the 7.5 fuse sure looks worse for wear. Could be getting hot due to overload or corrosion has begun.

Did exactly that when I got home and odd thing about that 7.5 is its a spare, not connected to anything. Can't explain the corrosion on it but that's all it is (like, chalky corrosion you'd find on an old battery terminal). Weird but the rest of them looked as you'd expect, not pristine but good enough for the age and prior uses, no obvious damage or noticeable impact from old short circuits, etc.