starting issues 2005 V6

[CookieRoe]

Hey all,

Yesterday I get into my truck and find that the starter will not engage. Turn the key to the "on" position and everything lights up fine. Turn the key to start and NOTHING happens. The lights don't even dim. At first I thought it may be something stupid like a neutral safety switch. Checked the ignition relay and seemed to be fine. I even tried to jump start it with my Civic........ ZERO. I had the 4Runner flat bedded to the dealer. They called today and are still diagnosing it. The starter and battery are fine, but apparently the ECU and/or starter isn't' getting any power. As some of you may know, I installed retro HIDs on my truck last week. After the install, I didn't have ANY problems with the truck starting or anything electrical. I'm 99.9% sure that it doesn't have anything to do with THIS problem. The dealer also informed me that whatever they find, it MAY NOT be covered under warranty. WTF?????????

This happen to anybody? Does anyone know what I MIGHT have? :cry2:

 

[CookieRoe]

UPDATE: Toyota TECHS??

Toyota called me:

Apparently the ECU is fried. They also told me that they found an "amplifier" looking device connected to the headlights. Apparently this was connected to the ECU (?). They said the polarity was reversed and this caused the ECU to fry. I told them that the "amplifier" was a ballast for the lights and that they had been installed for quite some time without any incident. He says this isn't covered by the warranty. They blame the reversed polarity of the ballast is the cause..........

Some background:
1) when I was installing the HIDs, the plugs were reversed (polarity) and had to be installed that way in order for the lights to work.
2) I kept blowing fuses (headlight) while I was installing. I kept putting in 10amp fuses, but at the last attempt, I inadvertently put a 30amp resulting in smoking coming out toward the headlights. This fried the hibeam solenoids for my bixenons. (maybe damaging the ECU????)
3) I then headed to Lightwerkz for proper installation. Here is where they confirmed the solenoids were cooked. Also, they mentioned the wire harness were reversed so in order for the lights to work, they plugged it in "reversed" I went home with my lights working, and ignition was fine.
4) Fast forward 1 week and my car (today) doesn't want to start.

QUESTIONS:
1) When i inadvertently put the 30amp fuses, did I inadvertently blow/damage the ECU???
2) The "draw" of the headlights is low enough NOT to blow the ECU even if the polarity is wrong,........... correct???

 

[DC runner]

Yes. I think you fried your ecu. There are any number of things that could have happened. By installing the wrong fuse, you overloaded your system. The lights are installed incorrectly, and the past week has been subjecting your ECU to a voltage nightmare. It is grounded incorrectly, etc. etc. etc.

And even if they were not the case, you are not going to be able to get it covered under warranty. Most warranties have language that specifically says aftermarket add'ons void warranty specifically because when you introduce new, untested not OEM spec things into the system, you are introducing unknown variables that F stuff up.

Even if this wasn't the cause, Toyota or whoever has your warranty has a pretty rock solid deny claim.

Also. If you were sending enough power to start smoking and fuse stuff... there was a LOT of electricity pumping from your battery around your car.

Did you not disconnect your battery? A high grade auto battery has enough power to kill you in it... you bet your ass it could fry your ecu.


Edit: I also wanted to mention the timne delay. Your ECU has shielding around it... you get people that when jumping a car will hook it up backward and that reverse polaity can really fry stuff. If you do that, sometimes you can walk away from it ok, sometimes your computer is fried. Honestly, without a tear down.. who knows. It is really possible you fried more than what you thought and a weak electrical connection occurred. It could also be you hooked the light up wrong and for the past week, a lot of power that wasn't supposed to be, was dumped on the ecu and it fried.

In any event. I think you should disconnect your new lights until you figure it out. Don't have them replace your ECU, only for it to occur again.

 

[tictoc]

Yes. I think you fried your ecu. There are any number of things that could have happened. By installing the wrong fuse, you overloaded your system. The lights are installed incorrectly, and the past week has been subjecting your ECU to a voltage nightmare. It is grounded incorrectly, etc. etc. etc.

And even if they were not the case, you are not going to be able to get it covered under warranty. Most warranties have language that specifically says aftermarket add'ons void warranty specifically because when you introduce new, untested not OEM spec things into the system, you are introducing unknown variables that F stuff up.

Even if this wasn't the cause, Toyota or whoever has your warranty has a pretty rock solid deny claim.

Also. If you were sending enough power to start smoking and fuse stuff... there was a LOT of electricity pumping from your battery around your car.

Did you not disconnect your battery? A high grade auto battery has enough power to kill you in it... you bet your ass it could fry your ecu.


Edit: I also wanted to mention the timne delay. Your ECU has shielding around it... you get people that when jumping a car will hook it up backward and that reverse polaity can really fry stuff. If you do that, sometimes you can walk away from it ok, sometimes your computer is fried. Honestly, without a tear down.. who knows. It is really possible you fried more than what you thought and a weak electrical connection occurred. It could also be you hooked the light up wrong and for the past week, a lot of power that wasn't supposed to be, was dumped on the ecu and it fried.

In any event. I think you should disconnect your new lights until you figure it out. Don't have them replace your ECU, only for it to occur again.

+1 to all of this. I also wanted to add, unfortunately your ECU might not be the only thing you fried. Hopefully not but the chances are good. Only time will tell. If you start experiencing electrical gremlins in the future, I would look back to this...

 

[riceandpho]

i can say this, just replcae the fuses in the fuse box, or take the fuse box apart and check the wires. more likely an rat chew some wires.

 

[CookieRoe]

Even if this wasn't the cause, Toyota or whoever has your warranty has a pretty rock solid deny claim.

Also. If you were sending enough power to start smoking and fuse stuff... there was a LOT of electricity pumping from your battery around your car.

Did you not disconnect your battery? A high grade auto battery has enough power to kill you in it... you bet your ass it could fry your ecu.
.

This is pretty much confirmed by the dealer. They are waiting on a new ECU. The job could be done by tomorrow. Gonna cost me in the neighborhood of $800.00..........good times............. I'll be sure to tell them to look around for some frayed wires. I'm not even going to try to make a warranty claim. I'm going to MAN it up and say, I f*cked up, now I have to pay for it. I just hope it's ONLY the ECU that I fried.

+1 to all of this. I also wanted to add, unfortunately your ECU might not be the only thing you fried. Hopefully not but the chances are good. Only time will tell. If you start experiencing electrical gremlins in the future, I would look back to this...

I hear ya big time. I still can't believe the mistake I made. Uggghhhhhhhhhh.

i can say this, just replcae the fuses in the fuse box, or take the fuse box apart and check the wires. more likely an rat chew some wires.

I'll do a visual inspection. When it comes to electronics, I'm a moron ( do I need to prove it more?). As far as the lights, I might have to take them out and "start over". Thing is, they were working fine (I knew about the reverse polarity). I've seen many threads on reversing the polarity and that almost NEVER causes things to fry.

 

[BlackWorksInc]

I hate to tell you this but you've done blowed it up son...
As was stated earlier you introduced a voltage nightmare to the computer and while it is shielded from that to a degree... I would assume the reason it fried is because of the circuit fuse mix-up. If you were pulling far more amperage through that circuit or a higher voltage than what was originally intended then it could have put too much strain on the ECM. The fuse should have blown before that happened but, the higher rated fuse just it it slide.

On a side note, I have heard in some rare cases that the actual battery polarity can be reversed by jumpstarting it backwards!

 

[CookieRoe]

I hate to tell you this but you've done blowed it up son...
As was stated earlier you introduced a voltage nightmare to the computer and while it is shielded from that to a degree... I would assume the reason it fried is because of the circuit fuse mix-up. If you were pulling far more amperage through that circuit or a higher voltage than what was originally intended then it could have put too much strain on the ECM. The fuse should have blown before that happened but, the higher rated fuse just it it slide.

On a side note, I have heard in some rare cases that the actual battery polarity can be reversed by jumpstarting it backwards!

LOL, yeah I know, I effed up. christ this is going to cost me................

I'm just praying to the almighty Toyota and 4Runner gods that it's JUST the ECM ............

 

[riceandpho]

if u have an aftermarket alarm, the relay for the starter kill might be bad, check that out and see loose wires, t taps might be loose and not getting enough connection.

 

[RickC]

I have steered away from the HID conversion because of stuff like this. I simply don't trust them and I don't think it would be better enough to chance this.

 

[CookieRoe]

I have steered away from the HID conversion because of stuff like this. I simply don't trust them and I don't think it would be better enough to chance this.

I understand. But the kit I got are not fleabay kits. I got these from a well known merchant. What killed everything was my stupidity, not the HID kit.

 

[Uneek]

I have steered away from the HID conversion because of stuff like this. I simply don't trust them and I don't think it would be better enough to chance this.

If you get a kit from a reputable vendor like Xenon Depot with a wiring harness, it'll eliminate the polarity guess work.

I've heard about some kits where the wires on the stock OEM 9006 connector needs to be swapped around for the polarity to be correct on the harness. I never had to deal with it, but heard from coworkers and friends who did for kits they used without a harness.

 

[tictoc]

I'll do a visual inspection. When it comes to electronics, I'm a moron ( do I need to prove it more?). As far as the lights, I might have to take them out and "start over". Thing is, they were working fine (I knew about the reverse polarity). I've seen many threads on reversing the polarity and that almost NEVER causes things to fry.

Personally I would not be too worried about the wires. The biggest concern is that the "expected life" of the electrical components (capacitors, etc..) has probably been diminished and possible damage to ground traces located inside of "black boxes" (however this is more immediate so I think you are fine there). A visual inspection probably won't do any good. You wont see any problem until the components blow. Could be today, could be 5 years. Hopefully with the HID's connected directly to the ECU, any damage was isolated to that device and not any alternate devises.

If you decide to leave the HID's in and/or put them back in, be sure to use the proper fuse. If you blow a fuse DO NOT just replace it. Isolate the trouble and start over with a new fuse of equal or lesser value. Fuses are your friend, not a crappy annoyance (not speaking of you) like some people think. Even if the fuse prevents damage the first time, repeated current spikes will eventually destroy your components.