'03 4Runner Back Door Problems

[Toy-Man]

I posted this a week or so ago in the General Discussions Area. It probably should have been posted here from the start. My 4runner with just under 10,000 Kms has a problem with the back door.

I had just closed the back after getting something out of it. The door closed normally. That was the last time it worked right. A few minutes later I went to open the back door (hatch) and was unable to open it by the switch near the licence plate light. I tried the key and also to no avail. Checked the fuses, all okay there.

Turns out the following were not working.

1. The rear defroster (needed - I live in Canada)
2. Rear wiper and washer (needed, see above)
3. Back window will only operate from inside the car, console switch


I took it to the Toyata dealer 2 weeks ago and it has been back a couple of times last week. They are stumped. Originally they ordered a new ECU (was back ordered - so after much whining from me they removed one from a new 4runner) and tried it, same symptoms.

We have determined that the back door ECU is in "Fail Safe" mode. Once that was ascertained I can now open the back door so long as the ignition key is in the "On" position. The back wiper/washer and defroster will work so long as the ignition remains on and the back window is rolled down and back up again.

Toyota Canada is tracking this and I will be bringing it in to the dealer again tomorrow all day in hopes that they can fix this problem. Seems to me to be window close sensor related but the mechanic tells me he has tried a new motor assy with the same results.

I noticed yesterday that the back window now is not exactly aligned (less than 1/4 inch lower on the right side) maybe this has something to do with it.

What a pain. What happened to the old days of wind up windows and mechanical door latches.

I wonder if anyone else has had this problem?

-ToyMan-
'03 4Runner V6 Limited
Titanium
Borla Exhaust System

 

[Toy-Man]

I took it into to the dealer on Monday and it turns out it was a bad wire in the wiring harness between the back door ECU and the window motor assy.

Sure glad to get this working again even though it took three visits to the dealer before they finally found the fault.

 

[jharris2]

I took it into to the dealer on Monday and it turns out it was a bad wire in the wiring harness between the back door ECU and the window motor assy.

Sure glad to get this working again even though it took three visits to the dealer before they finally found the fault.

Glad that it's working. Your case is proof again that sometimes the simplest solutions are vary hard to find.

 

[KingZ]

I hate to bring a dead thread back, but I just had this same identical problem...which took forever to diagnose. Thought it may help someone with similar issues.

I had the 4r at the dealership to finally diagnose my hatch issues which were identical to the ones Toy-Man posted. It turned out to be the same diagnosis as Toy-Man, a bad wire in the hatch harness. The service counter rep was unable to clearly say where exactly in the harness it was. He said it looked like a previous repair/splice mid wire, but it seemed like a fairly good repair if it was. It was a crimped connection that was shrink wrapped with a tough rubber/plastic seal. I almost think it was from the factory. Maybe someone can see if they have the same splice somewhere. You can still see it was a blue wire, but I'm not sure where it was or what it powers. They kept the section they cut out which included the splice. These are the pics.

He also said there was a little corrosion on the ecu connectors, but not enough to cause this situation. It was definitely the bad wire. They cleaned up the connections, soldered the wire splice, and shrink wrapped it, then sent me out the door. I paid $400, and minus a $30 coupon, I walked out paying $370, all for labor and diagnosis…no parts. A lot of money for another bs repair, but I’m glad it’s fixed. Especially because I was thinking it was the Rear Door ECU or the motor latch assembly, both pricier fixes.

Again, my symptoms were identical to Toy-Man, I mean identical.