Crazy problem

2 weeks ago my tundra check tire light came on. Tires were good. I figured I needed a new sensor. A day later it went out. But then my back up lights came on. Even if the truck is off, the backup lights stay on, as well as the dash says it's in reverse (even when moving forward) and the backup camera is on all the time. I'm in Drive, it's driving fine. The only way to shut off the back up lights is to unhook the battery. I checked everything I knew to check looking for loose connections, etc. couldn't find anything. So I took it to the Toyota dealer, it's been there all day and all he came up with was, "you must have had a mouse chew on some wires, I can't find anything." No, we don't have mice in our garage. Anyone have this problem?? Any ideas/comments would be appreciated.

 

Welcome from LA (Lower Alabama)! But I hate that it took something like this for you to find us. Any other electrical strange things?

 

The TPMS light turning on and off could be due to temperature fluctuations if you get any type of cold weather and/or a weak battery in the TPMS itself. Mine usually exhibit that type of behavior when they are on the way out.

The reverse lights and dash indicator, on the other hand, could be a couple of things - mice chewing on wires being one of them. On other vehicles I’ve had weird things happen with door locks, windows, ignition, and dash display all from two or three wires in a bundle.

 

The only other thing was as I drove it to the dealer the anti skid light came on.

 

Any bulb changes or electrical work recently? I’d be surprised if the dealer couldn’t find that though. Sounds like battery, bad ground, or wiring damage type issue.

 

Try a new battery. Bad batteries have been known to cause some bizarre behavior in our beloved 2nd gens

 

No work done on it recently or bulb changes. Been a great truck for 10 years, few problems. I'll check the battery. Thanks to all for suggestions.

 

Well, they say they put 3 techs on it and no one can figure it out. No wires found chewed/loose, no bad sensors. They have it for the weekend and on Monday will call the Toyota specialists and see if they have any clue. I think I could have bought a new one for what this is going to cost me!

 

Quick update. My Tundra sat at the dealer Service for 2 weeks. They kept saying, they have traced all wires, can't find anything. After 2 weeks they said they could change the wiring harness, $5,500 but they are not sure that would fix it. I told them to put it back together, I'm coming to get it. It was less than an hour they called and said, it's ready. And I now had anti skid light on and the check engine light as well as original problem. I took it to my son, who's a backyard mechanic. An hour later he called and asked if they had mentioned the fuse box. I told him no, but they said they traced all wires. Well, my son had opened the fuse box and sunflower seeds fell out. He dug thru the seeds and wires and found 3 wires that had been chewed pretty bad. He fixed them all and the truck is good as new. Good lesson, don't trust the dealer and just because it's parked inside, doesn't mean a mouse won't get to it!

 

Wow, that’s crazy. Sounds like you owe your son a nice steak dinner (at least). Glad you got it sorted out!

 

Damn varmin… Glad your son was able to find the problem and fix it too!

 

We've already got the dinner set up. lol

 

Thanks for getting back to us with an update. Also, glad it worked out in the end

 

I can’t decide if i find this sad or offensive. Dealer had it for two weeks to find a strange wiring issue and never once opened the fuse box??? They even knew to look for rodent damage , but chose to not look that hard. Sorry, but you cant trace out all of the wires without going in the fuse box. Clearly they lied to you. Hopefully people read this and learn to avoid dealer service like the plague. I read stories like this and can’t seem to understand why there is a line of vehicles waiting to get in there every day. Just doesn’t compute for me.

 

It makes me sad but I’m not surprised and it’s exactly why I do all our vehicle maintenance. Like step 2 in the list of things to do diagnosing an electrical issue.

 

Same.