Failed body ECU??? HELP!

[6834cc Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close 6834cc]

Hey all,


So to cut a long story short, I got stuck in a ditch with the left side of the car stuck up to the top of the left wheels. It was stuck in silt/soft mud for about half an hour before it was recovered. I went home, immediately spent a long time washing her down as it was salt water. No water/mud got in the cabin. This was about 4 weeks ago.

Woke up next morning and noticed the remote locking was playing up. Key in the door works perfectly. It started off working intermittently and then stopped altogether. I then opened the tailgate and it worked again. Closed it then stopped working. It then stopped working altogether again. I also just got another key in the mail ready to sync to the car. I tried to get the car into programming mode and did successfully once and then it didn't happen again. I got a locksmith out who couldn't get the car into programming mode either. So he just synced the key to the ignition and not the remote. I have also replaced the oval shaped door button sensor as I thought this might have thrown things out.

So far its been to an Auto electrician who said the wires were good and no fried wires or anything, it also just came back from Toyota who said the wires were good also, but advised that the body ECU has failed. They quoted me all up $1100 for replacement. It was working perfectly before the incident. On their report it say the signal from the ECU to remote has failed. Are Toyota usually spot on?

Now, I called Toyota up and they were vague as to where the body ecu was. Is this the same as the ECU under the left passenger side, under the glovebox like a metal box with numbers like "89661" etc come out of it? The guy said that the body ecu was on the driver side? I had a look but couldn't see anything. I've called up a few wreckers and they all seem to believe it is the ECU on the passenger side, that metal box.

I wonder if the wireless receiver in the rear D pillar is also a culprit. Since the wiring goes down the left side where it got stuck.

Just wondering if anyone could shed some light? I only wanted to go ahead and get this sorted as locking the door with the key sometimes jams up and I'm concerned that it will make it harder and harder for me to lock the car.


Thanks

[LeighW Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LeighW]

From memory the body ecu is located to the left of the under dash fuse box, either attached to it
or mounted behind it, again from memory I think it has three or four plugs plugged into it.

It is unlikely that it would have been damaged being locate there but one or more of
its outputs may have become shorted if the outputs ie door lock motors etc were exposed
to salt water and this may have damaged the ECU. The ECU also controls the interior lights
etc.

If they insist it is faulty tell them you want the old one back, that way they just can't swap it find out that's not the problem and put yours back but still charge for a new one.

Also if you feel the incident caused the problem then just replacing the ECU without finding what caused the old one to fail could result in the new one being damaged also.

[6834cc Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close 6834cc]

Thanks for your post. Very helpful. Ive been everywhere trying to sort this and noone seems to really know whats going on.

Picture of the ECU under passenger side dash


Picture of fuse box with possible body ECU underneath


The one with the fuses is under the driver side on the right. Could this be where the body ecu is?

[LeighW Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close LeighW]

From memory the connectors are on the left of the fuse box, thinking about it a bit more I seem to remember
a circuit board mounted in the fuse box, maybe that is the is it with the connector coming out of the back
of the fuse box on the left side. I'll look at the service manual and check.