Hey rhoyneriver Im curious if you found a solution? I have the same issue, very strange. 2006 4runner Sport and the alarm has started going off for no reason. When that happens it also starts the rear wiper going. Car is conpletely shut off and wiper wont stop unless I turn the car on. When this is happens there is also a clicking sound coming from under the dash left of steering column where the fuse panel is. I also noticed about a year ago that my rear wiper stopped working altogether, then for no reason Im aware of, starting working fine again recently. Now I have the alarm issue. Sound like I have some kind of electrical gremlin. Any ideas are much appreciated. Thanks!

Most posts I've seen about weird electrical symptoms since joining this board in 2014 end up being the battery, which in turn could be caused by the alternator. Have you had any of the auto parts stores connect their charging system tester to it?

I appreciate the tip. Haven't actually done that yet but makes perfect sense. I'll do that before getting deeper into it. Thanks!

DadBandBass I'm going through the same thing on my 2008 SR5. I was rear ended in May and had national body shop chain replace the entire back hatch. Everything was fine for a few months then the rear wiper started intermittently turning on when the car was fully off, exactly how you were describing. When I turn the car on sometimes the wiper stops, sometimes the wiper just keeps going, it had a mind of its own. I was able to temporarily stop the wiper by opening the rear window the smallest bit possible but kept looking for a solution.

Eventually my key fob stopped locking/unlocking the doors which pushed me over the edge and made me bring it back to the body shop where they replaced a module in the liftgate. I got it back today and everything was fine for a few hours but then my wife let me know the rear wiper was running while I was inside with the keys on my desk. Total kick to the balls.

Here's what I've tried so far. Over the past few months when this would happen I tried taking fuses out to see what stopped what and landed on these 3. POWER 30A which stops the rear wiper from moving but does so by killing the power wherever wiper is at that second, it does not settle back to its resting spot. When I would hear the clicking, removing RR WSH 15A stopped most of the clicking but not all of it. Removing ECU-IG 10A kills the rest of the clicking. Obviously not ideal but I'm trying to not have to buy a new battery and I can drive my wife's 2010 SR5 in the meantime.

I found a similar thread in a Land Cruiser forum (Rear Wiper Won't Shut Off | IH8MUD Forum) that eventually started talking about the ECU potentially being the problem. That coupled with the ECU-IG fuse needing to be pulled out to stop the clicking makes me want to go down that path. I have an aftermarket radio I put in myself and there's not a lot of space back there so I'm wondering if I'm pinching some wires to or from the ECU. Or maybe the ECU back there is kicked. I'll be honest though I'm not even sure which ECU is back there nor do I have the skills to look at electrical diagrams to figure it out. Either way I'm planning on taking the radio out for a bit and seeing if that has any effect.

This seems to happen more when it's raining but I'm not entirely sure and I never see any water in the car. And the final clue is my radio used to be able to show me my tire pressures but it's no longer showing them. Not sure what that means yet either. I'll post any updates here but I'm curious if any of these are true for you as well.

I think FOB receiver is in the back pillar. Wire harness may be pinched somewhere.

I couldn't get the rear wiper or rear defrost to work after I disconnected my battery last time

I rolled the rear window all the way down and then back up and everything worked

I read that too. Started pulling the boots and tracing it back to where those wires connect under the headliner and all of it was new because of the rear hatch replacement. Maybe something's pinched but since it's all brand new I didn't feel like cutting into the boots.

Some other weird things started happening like the driver side window being able to be controlled while the car was off and others. Decided to replace the Body ECU. It's a part of the interior fuse panel so I bought a donor part of eBay and installed it earlier today. Everything seems to work but we'll see if it lasts.

We figured out what was causing the issues in my vehicle. thought I would let you all know in case you have the same issue. we discovered that the rubber seal on the bottom outside of the rear window had deteriorated and some of it was missing. water was leaking into the rear hatch. when we removed the rear hatch liner, we could see it was all wet inside and that's what was causing the problems. Once we dried it all out and let it air dry overnight everything was fine. Of course it seemed obvious once we discovered it but I didn't even think to look at the seal.

Was it the rear hatch window or the rear door window?

I gave up and brought my 4Runner to a trusted shop near me and after following wires and running pin tests they found water damage just like yours. Mine was at a junction block under the driver's side rear quarter trim (images below). The tech said when he removed the electrical tape keeping the junction together water came out. The rear carpet was soaked too. They removed the block and fused the wires together but couldn't pinpoint the source of the water. I'll definitely check the rear window though. Glad you were able to find the issue, I hope it stays fixed for you.

FIXED! Final update

The root cause for me was the sunroof drains being clogged and sending water into the headliner, and because I have to park on an incline the water ran down the headliner to the C pillar and down into the wiring harness I posted earlier.

DadBandBass if you have a sunroof I'd highly recommend cleaning out your drains. This YT (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qalXo4etX3Q) gives a good explanation of the process and how to test if this is actually a problem for you at all. There's likely a few threads here about how to clear the drains.

One of my front drains was fully clogged but that was easy to clear with trimmer line like in the YT above. The two rear drains were tough. I was able to access the driver rear drain tube's end through the jack opening but had to take off the passenger side rear trim to access the passenger rear drain tube's end (pictures below). Snaked some weed trimmer line up through the tubes, then blew air through the lines, slowly poured a bunch of water through the rear lines, and now everything works perfectly. I sat inside while my dad hosed the roof of the car for 10 minutes and didn't see any water get into the car. Instead the water went through the tubes just as designed. Once the carpet is dry I'm going to put everything back together and drive around with a huge smile on my face.

Speedyb166 thanks for all this info and pics. Nice you got it solved. Great to know if any other issues come up. I will definitely check those drains. I had a bad seal a few years ago in my sunroof and realized water was getting in. I replaced it with one I found on ebay and that seems to have done the trick but good to know about the drains!

I saw I missed your question - the seal we replaced was the one on the rear hatch that's on the bottom outside of the window. I think over the years the weather just deteriorated that seal to a point where part of it was actually missing. So rain was running right down the back window and into the inside of the rear hatch. I finally took it to a shop as well, which was how we figured the seal issue. They took that back inside panel off the door and discovered the issue. Seemed obvious once it was discovered lol! They used a dryer and let it air dry in the shop. Once that was done, the issues went away.