Sunroof Drain Tubes = Fire (1 Viewer)

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:( Well, what a weekend.

The family headed to my in laws vacation property for a nice relaxing long weekend (about 3 hours north of Toronto). Just as I was leaving I decided to throw my full set of tools in the truck 'I'll see if I can find some time to have one more look at that sun roof that won't open"

Saturday morning, leaving to buy groceries. Light rain had fallen the night before. Twins are strapped in their child seats, wife belted in and dog behind the cargo barrier in his cage.

I start the truck and 'POOF' a huge amount of arcidic smoke erupts from the DS kick pannel with no sign of stopping. I kill the power, wife is already out getting the kids out, let dog out, thank god that I have a REALLY BIG fire extingisher and grab that. Back at DS door, smoke is down. Grab 10mm socket and have the kick pannel off in 30 sec.

One of the plugs (I believe Toyota calls them 'switches') in the pillar that contains both the sun roof drain tube and a major wiring harnes has shorted very badly - the ground and power cables are melted about 2" back, the wires are all black, the switch has not only melted, but also also caught on fire and burned a very nice hole through the plug and the wrap around the plug. I have pics I will post later.

I let the situation cool down a bit (me and the plug) and then cut the plug out and the wires back and then tape all the wires. I look at the fuse boxes and, as far as I can tell, no fuse has blown - WTF?? As far as I can tell this portion of the harness is wiring for the door lights and dome (I think). So, I turn the key - no sparks and most stuff seems to work. The truck starts and I drive to a local town to buy some supplies - a digital multimeter and some butt connectors for an interim fix.

Looking at the plug, I see some signs of oxidation. This is what I think has happened. Water has seeped in somehow and was leaving my carpet wet and, as I've mentioned in other posts seems to have been going on for some time. Parts of the plug had failed, leaving some things inoperable, but Saturday was the final straw.

I pulled part of the headliner, did the FSM analysis of the sunroof and found a faulty ground (the plug that failed). When I temporarily spliced the wires and cleaned the main ground point in the kick pannel - a number of things started to work again.

First, my sunroof now works. Second, my auto climate control seemed to be wonkey - it now works. Finally, after pulling the negative battery lead ( and resetting the ECU) my fast idle of something like 1300 is now down to the proper idle rpm!

Aside from the wet floor and sunroof that wouldn't open no major signs of problems. The only indication I had that something was wrong was about three hours earlier when (ironically) I was parked at the local volunteer fire station getting some water. Strange smell, couldn't place it (it was the smell of melting wires/plug).

I pulled part of the headliner and both my frnt drain pipes seem ok (a bit crimped at the top of the A pillar where they share space with a wiring harness and do a sharp turn to drop down the A pillar. The drains seem to be flowing welll. So, I'm driving around with the kick pannel off keeping an eye on things.

Bottom line? If you seem to have problems with sun roof drains, fix them now. I'm so lucky that the plug that failed was the insignificant one - it could have been much worse if the main plug failed (or if the truck caught on fire with my kids in it). Make sure you have a fire extingisher - I'm actually thinking of swithcing to CO2 as I was a bit leary of letting go with the chemical one (if you've never used one, trust me they are a major pain to clean up after). A digital multimeter with a tone is great (thanks guys!), bring your tools, buy a FSM, etc

Cheers, Hugh
 
WOW! :eek:


Glad that it wasn't worse and happy nobody got hurt. It stinks that it worked out this way, but I guess things ended up working out. I am going to have to check my sunroof and DS door for anything that looks fishy.

Thanks for the heads up
 
Finally, after pulling the negative battery lead ( and resetting the ECU) my fast idle of something like 1300 is now down to the proper idle rpm!
This is more than likely a temporary fix.
 
Maybe - but I have replaced the o2 sensors and a temp sensor with limited change, so maybe this will work!
 
Finally have some time to load a few pics that you may be interested in. PS If anyone has an electrical manual for a 97 and knows what the p/n is, I would love to know the number, so I can replace it!

This is the fried plug:

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end view

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evidence of corrosion (green stuff)

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This is where the plug lives - beside the A pillar drain tube. The plugs all fit in the opening you see and the drain tube is also inside toward the frnt of the truck (I took this pre-fire, I think the lower, smaller plug is the one that fried IIRC)

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For those that are interested, this is the 'start' of the DS drain tube (with part of the headliner dropped). It's the black tube that disappears into the hole.
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This is the termination point of the rear drain hose in the DS storage compartment (with jack removed). It is the thick black hose the disappears into a rubber grommet. The clear hose with Y junction is the washer fluid line

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Finally, here is the exit of the rear DS drain hose

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Sorry for the bandwidth, I hope the photos help!

Cheers, Hugh :beer:
 
Wow! And your drains weren't clogged? How did that get wet?
 
HUGH!

DUDE! Glad you and your family are OK. Holy crap that's amazing.

I have a 97 elec manual upstairs - will get the part number later tonight and if can't figure it out will fax you or scan and email you any pages you want or need. Will also lend you the manual if you need it for a while.

Glad you guys are ok man.
 
Hugh,
Unfortunately, if you are talking about a part # for the plug usually it comes as part of a whole wiring harness. Also, the electrical manual does not show part numbers. Just guessing since there are several plugs in that location, it looks like it could be the harness that runs under the front and rear door sills and through the interior. Could be wrong. I need the plug for the rear diff lock as I have busted it several times, but I'll be d*%^ if I'm buying that whole harness for one plug.
Bill
 
Interesting - need plug, buy harness. Well, I currently have them butt connected. I guess what I'll do is take the crimp connectors off, add new connectors with solder and then shrink wrap.

Cheers, Hugh
 
H -

Sometimes... sometimes, you can get just the plug from Toyota. The first order of business is to lift the 5-digit part number from the plug.

The p/n code for connectors is 90980, so... the p/n for your connector is 90980-00000, where the "00000" is the 5-digit number molded into the plug. The numbers are very small, but on a '97 are often present.

If your plug is too fried to read it, identify which plug/jack - harness we're dealing with, and perhaps one of us can read the number from ours.

R -
 

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