Another rear window/wiper/defroster issue

[kruser]

Not sure if its been covered somewhere else, but here goes...

Bought this 2004 4Runner this year. Nice ride; wife took it away from me and gave me her Ford. Oh well.

The rear window/wiper/defrost does not work. I've read many of the threads about the rear door problems and tried all the fixes - tweak window, ECU, wiper in neutral position, etc.

A couple of other observations:
1. Only the vent knob/switch on the A/C controller has backlighting; the fan and temp knobs do not.
2. The rear window and rear defrost buttons also do not have backlighting.
3. The previous owner had an aftermarket navigation system installed in place of the factory radio (not sure if this has anything to do with it, but an observation nonetheless).
4. The previous owner bought another rear panel ECU and try a pop-n-swap; no joy.
5. I have disassembled the center console to look for anything obvious; again, no joy. I noticed there was what looks like another ECU behind and under the A/C controller. Again, I'm running blind here.

All other features work fine. Might anyone be able to point me in the right direction?

 

[kruser]

So I knew posting on this website would inspire me.

After my post, I returned to the disassembled 4Runner and found the problem(s).

I decided to rule out "burned out light bulbs" for the backlighting problems. I swapped lights, removing known good bulbs with suspect locations - it worked! So this problem has nothing to do with the rear window.

I then used my multi-meter to ohm out the back of the rear window switch (the one on the dash, with the backlight that doesn't work). I got voltage in, but no change on any line out. I took the switch apart and saw something peculiar... there should be a metal slide or wiper hanging off the plastic pivoting switch. There wasn't which means someone had to have removed it or lost it or broke it or whatever. The backlight worked after I re-bent the metal contact back into place where the previous curious cat damaged it.

So I shorted out the plug contacts until I saw either smoke or some automotive activity. The rear window proceeded to drop down in a predictable manner. I found the contacts that make 'er go up and ensured she was up all the way.

Wow... now all my gadgets work.

To sum it up, I had three problems that were seemingly unrelated:
1. bulbs were just burned out - just need to get some new ones.
2. switch was sabotaged - most likely by someone slightly less talented than me.
3. the 'ol rear window limit switch issue - that is so commonly described on this website.

OOPS - accidentally blew that backlighting fuse jacking with the switch.

4 bulbs, toggle switch, and a new 10A fuse - problem solved. :trophy:​