CookieRoe
Senior Member
LOL, Yep, pretty much.......
sigh
I hate my life, (but still love my 4Runner even though she is a 4200lb paperweight right now)
Fried ECU and wire harness. 2 months later.....
- Thread starter CookieRoe
- Start date
LOL, Yep, pretty much.......
sigh
I hate my life, (but still love my 4Runner even though she is a 4200lb paperweight right now)
CookieRoe
Senior Member
SURFing again, light in the wallet now....................
Got my runner back on Wednesday. So far, so good. She is running like a champ. However, they did disconnect (expected) the retro HID lights and took the connectors and ballasts and put them in a box. Here is what was replaced:
1) ECU
2) Engine wire harness
3) Dashboard wire harness
4) New Battery
5) New Injector/Coil
Ouch! Anyway, parts of me want to throw on OEM headlights and be done. Another evil part of me says to get them "re-retroed" but BEING EFFING CAREFUL connecting them and TO LEAVE THE FUSE BOX ALONE! I think knowledgeable members will agree that the HIDs had NOTHING to do with all this.
Anyway, here are some pictures of the harnesses they replaced.
As you can see below, the engine harness and the dashboard harness.
Driving again, but only using my foglights for light. Still haven't decided on what to do with the replacement lights.
Ok, so here it goes, what would you guys do?
1) Get OEM headlights and call it a day?
2) Get the lights re-retroed?*
Thanks :hatsoff:
*Remember then these were bixenon TL lights. The hi beam solenoid is toast. Before the ECU/etc died, the low beams were working fine.
Got my runner back on Wednesday. So far, so good. She is running like a champ. However, they did disconnect (expected) the retro HID lights and took the connectors and ballasts and put them in a box. Here is what was replaced:
1) ECU
2) Engine wire harness
3) Dashboard wire harness
4) New Battery
5) New Injector/Coil
Ouch! Anyway, parts of me want to throw on OEM headlights and be done. Another evil part of me says to get them "re-retroed" but BEING EFFING CAREFUL connecting them and TO LEAVE THE FUSE BOX ALONE! I think knowledgeable members will agree that the HIDs had NOTHING to do with all this.
Anyway, here are some pictures of the harnesses they replaced.
As you can see below, the engine harness and the dashboard harness.
Driving again, but only using my foglights for light. Still haven't decided on what to do with the replacement lights.
Ok, so here it goes, what would you guys do?
1) Get OEM headlights and call it a day?
2) Get the lights re-retroed?*
Thanks :hatsoff:
*Remember then these were bixenon TL lights. The hi beam solenoid is toast. Before the ECU/etc died, the low beams were working fine.
tkr128
New member
That's a sickening ordeal! Glad to hear you got that straightened out but that doesn't look cheap!
Since you already have the retro done, use them as low beams. The cost of new projectors and having them retrofitted exceeds the benefits of having bixenon function. TL's already have a very good low-beam output and with a good pair of halogen high-beams, you should be fine. That should be a big improvement over the stock reflector halogen setup. After going with a retrofit, I can't go back to the stock headlights.
Since you already have the retro done, use them as low beams. The cost of new projectors and having them retrofitted exceeds the benefits of having bixenon function. TL's already have a very good low-beam output and with a good pair of halogen high-beams, you should be fine. That should be a big improvement over the stock reflector halogen setup. After going with a retrofit, I can't go back to the stock headlights.
riceandpho
Elite Member
i think u should be ok running the retros, since it was a fuse in the fuse box that screwed up, it should not cause the same problem. anyways im gona try and retro the rx330 afs in place of the morimoto mini d2s.
1) Get OEM headlights and call it a day. But, I know you've got modding itch! haha
Desert Fox
New member
Wiring harness seem to be a issue. At least getting a replacement.
Has anyone tried having a company like LaBarge make a harness?
It might be worth contacting them to see what they would charge to repair the damaged harness you have, then you could offer it up for sale.
I think the issue that a company like LaBarge woud have is not having the OEM connectors. But if you pulled your harness and sent it to them for repair they can use the original connectors or even repair them.
We use them to make wiring harness for our products where I work and they are all custom and built to FAA regulations.
Has anyone tried having a company like LaBarge make a harness?
It might be worth contacting them to see what they would charge to repair the damaged harness you have, then you could offer it up for sale.
I think the issue that a company like LaBarge woud have is not having the OEM connectors. But if you pulled your harness and sent it to them for repair they can use the original connectors or even repair them.
We use them to make wiring harness for our products where I work and they are all custom and built to FAA regulations.
CookieRoe
Senior Member
slowing recovering...................urrghhh
Cheap, no way. Cost me several thousand to get it to run again. I'm still trying to get over it.
I agree that it wouldn't be worth it to re-retro. Not having the HID hi beam works bothers me, but I can live with it. I also agree 100% that once you go retro, no NEVER go back. I see where you are getting at, I just might get new wire harness and MAYBE new ballasts and reconnect everything.
PM me, I was going to keep them as a reminder of this ordeal. The connectors alone are worth a ton of money. I'm willing to negotiate though.
I have RX projectors in my Civic and I love them. I'll even go as far as to say that they are BETTER than the TLs. Too bad they aren't bixenons. I hear good things about the FX projectors.
The "safe" side of me says to do this, but to TRY to get them to light again will cost less then picking up a pair of OEM headlights. We'll see.... I'll post pics.
Sounds VERY interesting! Thanks for the heads up. But it's too late. The harness is already replaced. As far as repairing what I have is going to cost AND who is going to buy that harness??? Those things just don't break.
UPDATE:
The following lights are on:
1) Check engine
2) VSC off
3) Traction control
Going to Advance Auto to get the code. Scared of going to the dealer......
Cheap, no way. Cost me several thousand to get it to run again. I'm still trying to get over it.
I agree that it wouldn't be worth it to re-retro. Not having the HID hi beam works bothers me, but I can live with it. I also agree 100% that once you go retro, no NEVER go back. I see where you are getting at, I just might get new wire harness and MAYBE new ballasts and reconnect everything. PM me, I was going to keep them as a reminder of this ordeal. The connectors alone are worth a ton of money. I'm willing to negotiate though.
I have RX projectors in my Civic and I love them. I'll even go as far as to say that they are BETTER than the TLs. Too bad they aren't bixenons. I hear good things about the FX projectors.
The "safe" side of me says to do this, but to TRY to get them to light again will cost less then picking up a pair of OEM headlights. We'll see.... I'll post pics.
Sounds VERY interesting! Thanks for the heads up. But it's too late. The harness is already replaced. As far as repairing what I have is going to cost AND who is going to buy that harness??? Those things just don't break.
UPDATE:
The following lights are on:
1) Check engine
2) VSC off
3) Traction control
Going to Advance Auto to get the code. Scared of going to the dealer......
riceandpho
Elite Member
with all that work that is done, and the lights are on, i go back to dealer and have them fix, its still under warranty.
20034RunnerV84x2
New member
That's what I'm asking... LOL
CookieRoe
Senior Member
Yeah, I gave it some thought. I'm headed back to the stealer on Wednesday. Worst case scenario they will tell me some sensor is fried. I can do that myself much cheaper. The lights that are on seem to be a common issue with 4Runners so I'm hoping its something simple or under warranty. If they try to tie it with the harness malfunction, then I don't know what to do. I may say, "Prove it". Done some research, it could be a bad O2 sensor, MAF sensor or even a transmission sensor. I've even seen that it might be a loose gas cap (sincerely doubt that............ yeah, I tried......). I'll report back...........
CookieRoe
Senior Member
Update
Hey All,
The lights in the above pic throw a code that was consistent with a loose gas cap. After I tightened the cap, and noticed the cap was all "rattley", I went to Toyota and bought a new one. I drove my truck about 2 days (about 10 start/stop engine cycles). Today, the lights are off!
Now: replace the harness from my retros and maybe get some DENSO ballast (only b/c I can't be sure that the harnesses and ballast are ok after riding the 30amp lightning, LOL)
Hey All,
The lights in the above pic throw a code that was consistent with a loose gas cap. After I tightened the cap, and noticed the cap was all "rattley", I went to Toyota and bought a new one. I drove my truck about 2 days (about 10 start/stop engine cycles). Today, the lights are off!
Now: replace the harness from my retros and maybe get some DENSO ballast (only b/c I can't be sure that the harnesses and ballast are ok after riding the 30amp lightning, LOL)
Porqupine82
New member
I realize this thread is old, but how much did toyota charge you to replace the harness?
CookieRoe
Senior Member
Wow, I'm still reeling from this ordeal 5 years ago. The total bill was $7K. This included (forgive my memory)
1) Main harness (interior)
2) Main harness (engine bay)
3) Injector
4) Battery
5) ECU computer
So when I say I want to keep my ride for a long time, financially speaking, I probably have to if I want to cost of owning this thing to drop. Because I always planned on keeping it forever. Hell, if I had the money, I would get a Honda Pilot and relief my 4Runner from "family hauler" duties.
BlackWorksInc
New member
[MENTION=50507]CookieRoe[/MENTION]
Ouch! Did you ever try to see if Insurance might cover it? Harnesses are expensive work.
That's a difficult question to answer for a couple reasons. There's no real metric for harnesses in many labor rate books (that are accurate), Toyota might have some warranty times for some harnesses; but they are more than likely no where near what it really takes to replace them. Many dealerships seem to go by the "multiply warranty time by 1.5 to get 'real labor rate' when in question" because warranty time is more often than not about Toyota not wanting to spend money (seriously, they'll say something like "1.3 hours to reboot one CV Axle, add .5 to do the other side")
A lot of times when it comes to harnesses unless there's a definitive labor rate in something like AllData/Mitchell OnDemand/IdentiFix/Ect. the labor becomes more vague. At my old dealership we found that for the most part 1hr Labor for every $100 of the cost of the harness seemed to work out fairly good for the most part (example, a $1600 Main Harness that goes all over the engine bay and the inside of the cabin would be about 16hrs to partially tear down the engine bay and gut the interior of the vehicle to route everything and reassemble). Since a lot of times harnesses get replaced under insurance (i.e. in our area we see a lot of rodent damage) labor for harnesses can become "standardized" based on what the insurance accepts. i.e. since 9/10 when replacing a Main Harness the insurance company rejects claims above 20hrs and the job easily takes more than 12, we'll settle on 16~18 hrs of labor.
Another way labor can be calculated is by adding up the total labor of all parts that need to be removed to get to the harness and add an additional few hours to cover harness replacement (i.e. Remove Dash Pad + Remove Dash Bar +Remove HVAC Assembly + Remove Interior Carpet + 3hrs)
This is one of those items where the physical labor of removing and installing the harness can easily go north of 12hours usually. Sometimes though you get a harness that's rather simple to replace (i.e. I had a newer Rav4 with a main engine harness that got chewed on by a rodent, sold it to Insurance for about 12hrs based on what a coworker mentioned the amount of work involved was because part of the engine had to be torn down to get to the knock sensor connector; turns out on this particular year/trim/ect of Rav4 the knock sensor has a short sub-harness so the job took barely 3hrs from start to finish.)
Bottom line, you may find varying labor rates for a harness and the labor may seem arbitrary, because it might be. I think the 1hr per $100 of harness is probably the most overall fair way to go, but some sitting down and considering all the work that's involved may also need to be done in some cases.
Ouch! Did you ever try to see if Insurance might cover it? Harnesses are expensive work.
That's a difficult question to answer for a couple reasons. There's no real metric for harnesses in many labor rate books (that are accurate), Toyota might have some warranty times for some harnesses; but they are more than likely no where near what it really takes to replace them. Many dealerships seem to go by the "multiply warranty time by 1.5 to get 'real labor rate' when in question" because warranty time is more often than not about Toyota not wanting to spend money (seriously, they'll say something like "1.3 hours to reboot one CV Axle, add .5 to do the other side")
A lot of times when it comes to harnesses unless there's a definitive labor rate in something like AllData/Mitchell OnDemand/IdentiFix/Ect. the labor becomes more vague. At my old dealership we found that for the most part 1hr Labor for every $100 of the cost of the harness seemed to work out fairly good for the most part (example, a $1600 Main Harness that goes all over the engine bay and the inside of the cabin would be about 16hrs to partially tear down the engine bay and gut the interior of the vehicle to route everything and reassemble). Since a lot of times harnesses get replaced under insurance (i.e. in our area we see a lot of rodent damage) labor for harnesses can become "standardized" based on what the insurance accepts. i.e. since 9/10 when replacing a Main Harness the insurance company rejects claims above 20hrs and the job easily takes more than 12, we'll settle on 16~18 hrs of labor.
Another way labor can be calculated is by adding up the total labor of all parts that need to be removed to get to the harness and add an additional few hours to cover harness replacement (i.e. Remove Dash Pad + Remove Dash Bar +Remove HVAC Assembly + Remove Interior Carpet + 3hrs)
This is one of those items where the physical labor of removing and installing the harness can easily go north of 12hours usually. Sometimes though you get a harness that's rather simple to replace (i.e. I had a newer Rav4 with a main engine harness that got chewed on by a rodent, sold it to Insurance for about 12hrs based on what a coworker mentioned the amount of work involved was because part of the engine had to be torn down to get to the knock sensor connector; turns out on this particular year/trim/ect of Rav4 the knock sensor has a short sub-harness so the job took barely 3hrs from start to finish.)
Bottom line, you may find varying labor rates for a harness and the labor may seem arbitrary, because it might be. I think the 1hr per $100 of harness is probably the most overall fair way to go, but some sitting down and considering all the work that's involved may also need to be done in some cases.
Last edited:
CookieRoe
Senior Member
Tried. I called them but it was "my fault" according to them. PLUS the truck was already at the dealer with the aftermarket light installed. I'm sure it was all documented. But, I tried.
This is why I approach electrical mods with the utmost respect and patience.
BlackWorksInc
New member
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