[GreenMountainOwl]

My wife is in the middle of the woods with her friend and she went to leave and discovered a whole bunch of problems with the 4Runner. They are in the mountains with no assistance available until tomorrow and it would be extremely difficult to remain there. I’m on a work assignment far away and can’t get there at all. Both women have kids they need to pick up in a few hours. They are in a panic and unfortunately it’s a hot day today and my wife can’t make the drive out in the heat due to medical issues.

She says everything was fine yesterday and now today the windows, climate control, and dome lights do not work. I’ve walked her through checking every control in the vehicle.

I did some checking online and had her locate the “ECU-IG No. 1” fuse and check it— it’s intact.

She found the “Short Pin” under the hood but doesn’t have hours to spare waiting for it to reset.

What else should she check? I have two panicking women and I can’t spend too much time on the phone or internet.

[GreenMountainOwl]

Apologies for the incomplete info above, my wife is in a panic.

2014 Limited, all stock. About 120k miles.

Battery is about a year old.

No prior similar issues or concerns like this.

Sunroof isn’t operational as well, I had her try that.

My wife is a recent brain cancer survivor with neurological problems and can’t function in the heat, it’s a crazy 74 degrees today which is unheard of for this time of year.

[Charles Bronson]

Can the friend not drive the truck out? Sounds to me like certain electronics are in a safe mode because the battery went low. If I were them, I'd start driving out immediately and place a cool, wet towel/clothing on your wife's neck to help manage her temp. The electronics systems may come back as the battery is charged up. If this is a medical emergency, they should call 911.

[Auntie Soshul]

Those sound like some of the symptoms mine had when the battery went dead. Does the vehicle start?

[GreenMountainOwl]

All,

Someone who did a better job at reading the fuse box came along and helped them. The short pin is blown. Whew, at least we know the problem for now.

What’s the part number that can be had at an auto pares store? There’s not many Toyota dealers here and none we can get to quickly.

I’m researching online but this is above my level of automotive knowledge and I can’t seem to figure it out unless it’s generally called something else.

Thanks a million!

[Charles Bronson]

I don't know what the "short pin" is, but there is a good chance if you replace it, it may blow again if you can't determine the cause. Are they attaching something to the truck that has a heavy electric draw?

If the truck runs and drives, get out of there and have a friend get her once she's off the trail. Then drive the truck to a populated area, investigate the issue then, and get the part.

[GreenMountainOwl]

Ok, so that wasn’t the short pin. The person looking didn’t really know what he was doing. But he gave them a ride to civilization and my neighbor is driving the car back.

My wife is smart but doesn’t know cars. She’s an amateur radio operator so comprehends electrical concepts at least. She’s spent some time checking grounds for integrity and hasn’t found anything damaged yet.

[02SE]

I know cars, but have no idea what you're referring to as a "short pin".

I assume it's already dropped off at a qualified repair shop.

A bad ground is often the cause of random electrical issues.

[Captain Spalding]

Originally Posted by 02SE

I know cars, but have no idea what you're referring to as a "short pin".

There’s a description of the short pin in this post.

[GreenMountainOwl]

Thanks to everyone for the replies and food for thought!

*** I am going to break in here and add something that has come up after posting the info below. According to the plastic lid to my under hood fuse box, the short pin is actually missing! Am I mistaken or is this potentially an act of sabotage on two women fishing in the mountains? Online it seems the short pin should be a grey plastic rectangle type thing. But the fuse box lid shows it was being immediately next to the 30A starter relay— which is correct? And where can I get a short pin? Can I just use a regular fuse?***


Went to drive it to get looked at and today it doesn’t start. Door locks don’t work either and they were fine yesterday. Battery tests perfectly, it’s not dead and it passes a load test.

Topped off the battery with a NoCo Genius 5 which took all of one minute because it was still fully charged. Put battery back in and same results of no apparent power to locks.

Brake lights and headlights work, so far that’s all I can find.

I’d love to at least be able to start this to reposition it for a tow, or even drive to get looked at.

Ideas?

Edit to add photos showing the short pin (or lack thereof) in my fuse box…

Apparently I’m too old and/or not savvy enough to figure out how to post photos!

[Captain Spalding]

The short pin looks like a fuse with no number on it.

Edited to add: this photo shows the fuse box/lid for a 2022 and the location of the short pin may differ from your 2014. But I suspect the short pin is the same for both vehicles.

If you were thinking of substituting a fuse, better make it a 25 amp, and don’t use any accessories while using it.

One more thing: if you suspect a prank or vandalism, look around in the fuse box to see if the culprit might have just moved the short pin to another location in the fuse box.

[GreenMountainOwl]

Ok, I checked the engine compartment carefully with a flashlight and the pin was found sitting in a crevice down the side of the fuse box. I put it back in and now the vehicle starts and drives once more, but we are back to the same electrical issues. Checked more grounds but I’m out of time for today.

[Captain Spalding]

That is very odd. The short pin didn’t just jump out of its slot in the fuse panel.

First piece of advice: disconnect the negative battery terminal for a while. Reconnect it and check. I make this recommendation not because of any specific knowledge but just a general experience that it can sometimes chase away the electrical gremlins.

Are there any warning/indicator lights on?

Finally, that thread I linked to above, go through the whole thing and see if anything rings a bell.
Link:
Instrument Cluster warning Icons all lit-up!

[GreenMountainOwl]

Update:

Many thanks to @Captain _Spalding both for replies here as well as your past posts about similar topics that have given me things to check. Thanks a ton!

I had halted all of my efforts because it was getting too time-consuming. Wife wasn’t happy. Car went to the dealership.

Dealer found under dash fuse for ECU-IG No. 2 blown. No known cause, no grounding issues or frayed wires found. I didn’t have the time or money to pay them to search extensively.

I looked for wiring problems myself around that part of the car and found none. I was thinking my wife may have kicked something getting in or out of the car.

I Drove it for a week or so and it was fine. Wife used it for one day and same fuse was blown. Also under the hood fuse 35 for the dome light was blown. I don’t know if her operating it is the factor here.

I looked again for any shorts or unusual things and saw none.

Car is back to normal operation but there was an electrical burning smell coming from the vents for quite a while. No smells under the hood.

Any idea what I should be checking?

[Buz06]

i wonder if a mouse got into the harness someplace. That can lead to all kinds of strange symptoms. I had a pickup where one got into the under-hood fuse box harness and it was a nightmare to locate, worse to repair.