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
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