Rain and electrical gremlin - H E L P

[rckeat]

I haven't seen this elsewhere, but hope a guru lurks here with a solution to my problem. 2001 4Runnner - after it rains I have some water leaking into the driver's side cabin. During Sandy, there was a fair amount of water that accumulated on the driver's floor mat. But moderate rains don't seem to cause any significant leaks.

Now here is the weird part. Whenever it rains, I have electrical system issues. Primarily, the car attempts to start even with the doors locked and no key in the ignition. Engine turns over just like someone is in there turning the ignition switch. It doesn't start of course, because there is no key in the ignition, and the engine turns over like a ghost is behind the wheel trying to start the car.

Obviously this leads to the battery being drained. I jumped it today for my daughter, and when she drove home, the car just stopped running in the driveway with the key still on, then it started itself right back up again. I removed and re-seated the starter relay from the fuse box under the hood as it was making a clicking sound that seemed inappropriate.

There is no water in the floor board today, and it only feels mildly damp. So it isn't like I have a flood or anything. But whenever it rains, this issue begins. It also seems to make a turn signal clicking noise in the rain as well (albeit a much faster clicking than the typical turn signal timing). If you turn the turn signal to "left", the turn signal operates normally. But when you disengage the turn signal switch, the fast clicking sound resumes.

If anybody has had a similar issue, I would love to hear about it. Any and all replies are welcomed.

 

[FancyPantsMcGee]

I had a 98 corolla that would do this. It would be running normally and I would turn the key to off and take it out and it would keep running. I would also turn the key to start it and it would start running but the starter would stay engaged and start screaming like a banshee. also; like you mentioned, i'd turn it off and be walking away and it would start on it's own and starter would start wailing. seriously terrifying the first time it happened!
I replaced the ignition switch in the steering column and all problems disappeared.
#2

good luck!

 

[rckeat]

FancyPants:

Thanks for your reply. One question though - did it only happen when it rained? That is definitely an ingredient here. So long as it is dry, no problems. But rain triggers something for sure.

Thanks again and I hope you are correct.

 

[FancyPantsMcGee]

I cannot link humidity to my case in anyway. I don't know if replacing the ignition switch will fix your problem, though I do think your symptoms could certainly be caused by a haywire switch.
really the only thing between your battery and the starter is that switch so if it's starting on it's own... faulty switch.. that's my logic.

 

[nissanh]

You might want to clean and dry the solenoid in your starter. Was the truck came from a flooded area/water crossing?

 

[98OzarksRunner]

Check this thread for your leak. It is usually water coming through the firewall grommet because somebody ran wires through it for a stereo and didn't seal it.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-g...ation-underneath-driver-side-floot-mat-2.html

The water usually runs down by the electrical connections below the fuse box on the driver's side. If it got into the connections it might do lots of crazy things.

 

[Qyota]

Also check the weather strip at the sill. Mine was worn out, and would allow some water to come into contact with the wires that run through there. I didn't have your exact issue, but definitely weird stuff. Since I repaired that weather strip, no issues.

 

[rckeat]

You might want to clean and dry the solenoid in your starter. Was the truck came from a flooded area/water crossing?

The truck was not driven through deep water. Issue happens after sitting out in the rain.

 

[rckeat]

Check this thread for your leak. It is usually water coming through the firewall grommet because somebody ran wires through it for a stereo and didn't seal it.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-g...ation-underneath-driver-side-floot-mat-2.html

The water usually runs down by the electrical connections below the fuse box on the driver's side. If it got into the connections it might do lots of crazy things.

Car is pretty stock, so I don't think the water is getting in through the firewall. But I will check it for sure. I do seem to be getting some moisture around the top of the windshield drivers side corner. I checked the sunroof drains and they are clear. But if you drive the car in the rain, you can sometimes feel a drip of water on your foot (if you are wearing sandals that is)

 

[rckeat]

Also check the weather strip at the sill. Mine was worn out, and would allow some water to come into contact with the wires that run through there. I didn't have your exact issue, but definitely weird stuff. Since I repaired that weather strip, no issues.

I'm not sure if I understand where you are talking about - at the sill? Does that mean window sill? Please clarify.

Thanks to all for the responses.

 

[Qyota]

Door sill. But if you're noticing wetness near the windshield, I'd start there. You may have a leaky windshield seal. The weatherstrip at the door sill only comes into play when driving in the rain. Sounds like yours acts up just sitting in the rain.

 

[theizzardking]

Car is pretty stock, so I don't think the water is getting in through the firewall. But I will check it for sure. I do seem to be getting some moisture around the top of the windshield drivers side corner. I checked the sunroof drains and they are clear. But if you drive the car in the rain, you can sometimes feel a drip of water on your foot (if you are wearing sandals that is)

again look at the firewall, if it's on the drivers side there's really only 3~4 places it can come from unless you have some strange rust issues going on.

firewall is the major one as the water runs down your windshield and along the back of the firewall the water can then travel from there down on to the plug in the thread ozark linked to, once it hits those wires water can travel into the cab and all up inside of the dash causing all sorts of strange problems, we get threads like this from time to time and it's 85% likely if it's water and electrical related it's coming from that grommet.

otherwise the other spots would be the floor drain plug under the carpet, windshield seal ,door seal, or sunroof seal/drains......so those are your places to look, maybe go out side with a bucket of water and play around with it and see if you can tell where water is getting in, look for small bubbles and uneven currents as your pouring the water across the seals.

the next place i would suspect would be the windshield seal if it's ever been replaced and possibly even if it's not, but it has been known on bad installs that the rubber gasket all the way around will not seat properly and will make a whistling noise at higher speeds and can potentially allow water in.

there's not really to much to check for this you just gotta go out and do it, again this may not be water related at all, it could be that your just having to issues that are un-related....so fancy pants maybe on to something as we have heard of this sort of thing before as well and that's typically the prescribed remedy , if your thinking this route i'd find the diagram and start testing wires for issues.