Towing Wire Harness Recall 98-99

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Call a dealer or Toyota/Lexus with your VIN and they can tell you if its outstanding and available on your vehicle.
 
Yes, the recall is still active but the part is backordered. Local dealer ordered the part but said it might take three weeks. Update: dealer just called me and asked that I go take pictures of the converter....she said they used two different converters back in the day and they need to confirm part numbers on mine. Sounds like BS to me, but I'll get under there and try to find the numbers. After all, its only got 17 years of grit and grime on it.....!!!
 
When I bought my rig 4 months ago it had a cap on the harness connector, located on the undercarriage, on the passenger side of the spare. I had to do some towing this last weekend and dropped in a curtis kit specific to a 1999 TLC and it worked great (purchased for ~$50 from a local welding & trailer shop). I did see the recall and was concerned about it being connected underneath for exactly the reason stated in the recall. The tow hitch has a different name on the label, so I thought it might have been aftermarket, but w/no connector wiring confused me.

What does the dealer look for? Will they see my nice new wiring and check me off since it's not the original? If I pull my new wiring out and put the cap back on, will they check me off because it doesn't have the wiring? <sigh>

Thanks!
 
The original one was on the cross member above the spare tire near the passenger side. Mine was all corroded and didn’t work. I purchased a new one for ~$200 from CDan and it gets mounted up inside the tail light on the driver’s side. It is a real nice unit, comes with all the necessary parts and it has a body seal for the wire to keep out dirt at the point the wires get inside the truck.
Dean
I looked in this location, traced the wires, but couldn't locate the box-- anyone know if it's visible from below, or is it tucked up out of view?
 
You can create an account at Toyota site, then enter your VIN, then see if there is a recall. Interestingly, my 98 does not have any open recall, so I guess it was done at some point? Can anyone take a picture of what this harness look like so I can compare with mine?
 
When I bought my rig 4 months ago it had a cap on the harness connector, located on the undercarriage, on the passenger side of the spare. I had to do some towing this last weekend and dropped in a curtis kit specific to a 1999 TLC and it worked great (purchased for ~$50 from a local welding & trailer shop). I did see the recall and was concerned about it being connected underneath for exactly the reason stated in the recall. The tow hitch has a different name on the label, so I thought it might have been aftermarket, but w/no connector wiring confused me.

What does the dealer look for? Will they see my nice new wiring and check me off since it's not the original? If I pull my new wiring out and put the cap back on, will they check me off because it doesn't have the wiring? <sigh>

Thanks!
My understanding is they look for "Toyota" and the cowboy hat logo on the bottom of the molded four wire plug attached to bumper. That tells them it was installed either at the port or at the dealer. I checked mine but over the past 17 years I have dragged the bumper a few times and my Toyota logo is no longer visible. Just to be safe, I went ahead and ordered an aftermarket unit for 25.00 or so. If dealer drags his feet, I will just install that.....
 
My understanding is they look for "Toyota" and the cowboy hat logo on the bottom of the molded four wire plug attached to bumper. That tells them it was installed either at the port or at the dealer. I checked mine but over the past 17 years I have dragged the bumper a few times and my Toyota logo is no longer visible. Just to be safe, I went ahead and ordered an aftermarket unit for 25.00 or so. If dealer drags his feet, I will just install that.....

Thanks @kitkraft. Mine has "Toyota" and the logo. Also just realize one of the bolt that secure the harness to the hitch has snapped off, so one more thing for me to fix.
 
So is this for all 98-99 UZJs? My mom just tried to get hers fixed under recall but they pulled all kinds of excuses including "this doesn't apply to your vehicle." She's going to call Toyota and wrangle that, in the mean time, is it possible that her 99 isn't affected? The trailer wiring doesn't work at all so something is definitely up.
 
So is this for all 98-99 UZJs? My mom just tried to get hers fixed under recall but they pulled all kinds of excuses including "this doesn't apply to your vehicle." She's going to call Toyota and wrangle that, in the mean time, is it possible that her 99 isn't affected? The trailer wiring doesn't work at all so something is definitely up.

Two post above - there is a link to the pdf. It has a list of VIN that are impacted. You can check if your mom's 99 is included in that list.

Mine was fixed by Toyota but broken again. The replacement harness is like $30, and easy to install. Literally disconnect the old harness and plug in the new ones. Do a search, there should be a thread here about that.
 
Two post above - there is a link to the pdf. It has a list of VIN that are impacted. You can check if your mom's 99 is included in that list.

Mine was fixed by Toyota but broken again. The replacement harness is like $30, and easy to install. Literally disconnect the old harness and plug in the new ones. Do a search, there should be a thread here about that.

PDF shows LC s/n's, does this apply to '98-'99 LXs as well?
 
PDF shows LC s/n's, does this apply to '98-'99 LXs as well?

On my LC, the recall was not mentioned on the maintenance history on Toyota website. I called them, and they look up their records and confirm mine was fixed a while back. I also ask if there is any open recall for mine.

I would suggest to call Lexus and ask if there is any open recall that apply to your LX.
 
Does anyone know of a good aftermarket replacement for these failed converters? Mine is also dead and I'd rather just do the repalcement myself if the cost is reasonable. Thanks!
 
Does anyone know of a good aftermarket replacement for these failed converters? Mine is also dead and I'd rather just do the repalcement myself if the cost is reasonable. Thanks!

Any of them will work. Pick up from Northern Tool, tractor supply, auto parts, etrailer.com will specifically respond to you about your model... a little bit of rewire/splice is needed for the generic ones... etrailer might have a plug & play.
 
Any of them will work. Pick up from Northern Tool, tractor supply, auto parts, etrailer.com will specifically respond to you about your model... a little bit of rewire/splice is needed for the generic ones... etrailer might have a plug & play.

I'm going to grab this unit from eTrailer. Thanks a ton!
 
Any of them will work. Pick up from Northern Tool, tractor supply, auto parts, etrailer.com will specifically respond to you about your model... a little bit of rewire/splice is needed for the generic ones... etrailer might have a plug & play.


Etrailer does have one that is plug and play. But I didn't like the cheap 4 pole end on the replacement units, so I kept the nice Toyota end plug by spicing it into the harness of the replacement converter. A little soldering...and heat shrink and it was done.
 

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