Trailer light wiring 99 4Runner OEM

[Living in the Past]

Checking out the wiring on my 4Runner I found only the tail lights wire on the OEM four pin plug. Since the tail lights have separate turn signal/brake lights there has to be a convertor. Wiring heads towards the driver's side. The cargo area does not have a excess panel on that side. Figured there would be a opening behind the tail light but they isn't. Neither the of the fuse panel show a fuse for trailer lights. Years ago I added a trailer hitch to a 2001 Tundra. I was able to buy everything from Toyota for the wiring. By the battery I added a short wire and fuse holder that supplied power for the lights. Then the convertor in the back that took a signal from the rear lights. Not finding either on this 4Runner. I have the build sheet and the trailer hitch was installed by Toyota. Anyone know where the convertor is or which fuses to check? I didn't see any link available anymore for FSMs. Really don't want to spent hundreds of dollars for them. Any aftermarket manuals (Haynes/Chiltons) worth buying?

 

[Jacket]

Have you tried to download the full zip here?
http://web.archive.org/web/20110102225436/http://www.ncttora.com/FSM/

 

[Living in the Past]

Looks like the 96-02 is a 2002 electrical. http://web.archive.org/web/20100531053202/http://www.ncttora.com/fsm/1996/SIL/fsm/wiring.htm A lot of thing changed with electrical with TRAC and VSC. The trailer wiring diagram shows a 25 amp fuse for towing circuit which I'm not finding on my 99.

 

[jynx]

My 98 had a factory tow package that went on the fritz and I had to replace. If you have a 4 PIN plug out back currently then you should be able to unscrew the sill plate across the back and carefully pop out the drivers side panel slightly. If yo have a towing harness then there will be a small black box on the drivers side, the converter that you are speaking of. I am not sure if Toyota still sells them, but you can also go here: http://www.amazon.com/Hopkins-43415...r=8-1&keywords=toyota+trailer+harness+4runner And pick one up cheap from amazon. This is the one I replaced my faulty unit with and it works great. Only difference is the converter wiring on these is set up to locate the box on the passenger side, so all the wiring is kinda backwards, but it is a true plug and play setup.

If you don't have one currently, the harness just plugs in-line of the connectors to the tail-lights, so no wire cutting or anything, just plug and go. The wires are routed thru two small square openings in the rear of the floor near the edges of the sill plate, pull the carpet up a little and you will see them on each side. Just cut a small hole in there to feed the wires thru to the underside. I will try to get a few pictures tomorrow if you would like.

 

[Living in the Past]

I found the box, thank you. Mine is not wired like the one in the link. It does not have a separate power source. I have four wires plug on the top. Those are right & left turn signal, brake and tail light. All those feed power when they should. Bottom plug has four wires. Left turn/ brake, right turn/brake, tail light and ground. The ground is feed back to the box to control the relays in the control box. This appears to be my problem. Tail lights just go straight thru and work. Other require working relays in the box. My guess is a PO over loaded this by running a trailer with to large a load. Box should be easy to or possilbe I might tried and find a later control and feed a power source from the battery.

 

[Living in the Past]

I finally got around to fixing this. Had no luck finding one of these Toyota converting boxes. Because my had the towing package added at port. Even though this part has Toyota on it there is no part number. A local dealer tried to get information from Toyota tech support with no luck. I ordered one from Amazon from the link above. Because I have a need to tow with the 4Runner next week I got it installed. Because I wanted to keep the Toyota plug and do cut up factory wiring I cut apart the old converter and remove the plug and made a adapter. First time around I made with a four pin flat plug. Plan was to install the new kit and just plug into that. Kit trailer plug is long enough to reach across the back. In order to reduce the number of connections I removed the port wiring. I also like the amount of room and excess to the driver's side better. I switched box over to the driver's side. To do this all you have to do is reverse the green and yellow wires going to the trailer plug. I also used the four pin connector on the kits trailer kit to reduce another connection. If I find another Toyota box I can simply reinstall the port harness, remove my adapter and plug it in. Advantage is the Toyota converter say it has overload protection.