What is this switch for???

A

arkrunner

New member
Hey everyone. I bought this 4runner (2001 SR5) a couple years ago and I cannot figure out what this switch is for. I don't know if its somthing factory or aftermarket and as far as i can see, it does nothing. :confused:

Does anyone have an idea? (sorry about the bad picture. I just thought about it earlier while I was driving down the road so I snapped a pic with my phone.)

dash-1.jpg~original
 
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pop it out and see if it's connected to anything. If so, trace the wires.

Good chance the previous owner removed what ever it was connected to, leaving the switch behind.
 
Rock Slide said:
pop it out and see if it's connected to anything. If so, trace the wires.

Good chance the previous owner removed what ever it was connected to, leaving the switch behind.
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Yeah I wish I would have thought to ask him when i bought it. :(

And how do you pop it out? I don't want to break anything. :D Do you just take a flat head screw driver and gently pry it out?

thanks :bigok:
 
Pull off the fuse panel below that, then reach up behind it, there will be a little tab holding it in, push up on that and the switch should pop right out. Also was that trac off switch there when you bought it?
 
juiceboxer said:
Pull off the fuse panel below that, then reach up behind it, there will be a little tab holding it in, push up on that and the switch should pop right out. Also was that trac off switch there when you bought it?
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Yeah, trac off was there when i bought it. It use to light up on the dash "TRAC OFF" when I would push it but it doesn't do anything now. :confused: :confused: My wife hit a puddle back last year and the dreaded "TRAC OFF" "Check Engine" and "VSC OFF" lights all came on and stayed on for about 4 days then they just all went off and haven't come back on since. :confused: Now that button will not work. :confused:
 
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az4runner02 said:
Try it when you have a passenger in the truck. Its the seat ejection switch. Didn't you ever watch James Bond? :awais:
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Ill get my wife to come out and sit in it. I'll tell her I want to "show her something." :biggrin2:
 
Rock Slide, Interesting to know, If it is factory then how did toyota do it? does it go directly to the ECU, or is it just like the Grey wire/Andy mod?
 
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If the Trac switch is what I think it is... That button should be connected to the brake fluid level sensor, when you push in the button it "disconnects" the fluid level sensor, causing the ECU to turn of traction control. if this wire got wet and corroded, or became disconnected, this would cause the switch not to work as well as the many lights that you saw across your dash. after a few days the wires connected themselves somehow and the lights went off.
 
juiceboxer said:
If the Trac switch is what I think it is... That button should be connected to the brake fluid level sensor, when you push in the button it "disconnects" the fluid level sensor, causing the ECU to turn of traction control. if this wire got wet and corroded, or became disconnected, this would cause the switch not to work as well as the many lights that you saw across your dash. after a few days the wires connected themselves somehow and the lights went off.
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So I wonder why the light on the dash will not come on now when I hit the button. :confused: And the problem with that button is that you can't tell when its in or out. The only way to tell is if the light is on or off. Hope you can follow that. :( Hard to explain the button. :(
 
The wire the runs to the switch may have come loose. You can check and see by opening the hood, and looking at the front of the brake fluid reservoir. Check to see if any wires look as if they have ben spliced or cut.

I understand what you are saying about the button, maybe that is the problem. if the catch that holds the button in is broken it will never engage properly. But in that case it should at least flash when you push in the button.

When the button did work, after you had disabled ATRAC/VSC, when you wanted to turn it back on did you just push the button and it turned off or did you have to push the button and then shut off the car?
 
juiceboxer said:
The wire the runs to the switch may have come loose. You can check and see by opening the hood, and looking at the front of the brake fluid reservoir. Check to see if any wires look as if they have ben spliced or cut.

I understand what you are saying about the button, maybe that is the problem. if the catch that holds the button in is broken it will never engage properly. But in that case it should at least flash when you push in the button.

When the button did work, after you had disabled ATRAC/VSC, when you wanted to turn it back on did you just push the button and it turned off or did you have to push the button and then shut off the car?
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If the trac was off, all I had to do to turn it back on was press the button. Thanks
 
Okay it seems that you have a factory installed trac off switch, which I've never seen or heard of. I would try pulling out that switch as well, it would be great if you could post a picture if the back side of the switch and, If you want to, trace the wires to see where/what they connect to.
 
Juice, his oem trac off switch works very similar to our andy mod. I've often wondered if this oem switch would work on the andy mod, I've just never been able to get my hands on one of these switches to try out.

However, I don't believe it would be plug-n-play. The reason the fog light switch works so well for the andy mod is b/c it is actually breaking the current when depressed. The oem trac off switch operates in a different manner I believe. Stil though, I'd like to try one out and know for sure.

BTW, want to see more 4Runners w/ these oem trac off switches...just do a vehicle search on autotrader.com for '01 - '02 2WD 4Runners. They've got them :D. Here's just 2 examples. You'll see the switches in the photos:

'01 model: Click Me

'02 model: Click Me Too
 
Ok guys, for my problem with the TRAC OFF button. This morning the roads were wet so I decided to check and see if my anti slip was working. Well, on a wet hill I punched it to see and I started to spin and the truck with the curved road icon appeared and blinked on my dash until the slip stopped. Also, while the icon was blinking, I could hear a clicking sounds coming from in front of me (not sure if it was behind the dash or under the hood.) Does this mean my anti slip is still working? :confused:
 
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