Electric system playing up - Motor attempts to start itself

[Sydneydude]

Would love to come, this weekend I have the car but also have work in the afternoon. I will actually stay in the BM but will be on my way home by 11am. Grrrr

[glen_ep]

Problem solved. ECU removed and inspected by Toyota, found circuit damaged. Cause unknown. Replaced and calibrated. Done. Thankfully, that was covered by Extended Factory warranty.

Fantastic news, especially the warranty part.
PS - fixed just in time for tomorrows Newnes trip !

[Sydneydude]

Problem solved. ECU removed and inspected by Toyota, found circuit damaged. Cause unknown. Replaced and calibrated. Done. Thankfully, that was covered by Extended Factory warranty.

[derek11]

this happened to my prado I drowned at Nolans Crossing a couple years back, it would try to start by itself after that night so I pulled the starter fuse, I wouldn't think heavy rain would be an issue, maybe some corrosion/earthing in the wiring or ecm.

[MidLifeCrisis]

Call a catholic priest

Beat me to it....

Update: Was able to get it to a car electrician: the starter has carked it (short circuit/ burnt through) but the reason behind is yet unclear; perhaps the keyless start.

Good to hear you worked it out. This would scare the bejesus out of me!

[Sydneydude]

however, with heavy moisture in a bad rainy day, they can come into anything and make short circuirt

Well, that's interesting. I have not heard of this before but that does not mean much. In fact it happened after a bad rainy day and many kilometres in rain.
The auto electric shop still have not found the cause, they said they have contacted Toyota and allegedly Toyota has not heard of similar problems thus far. The car is now going to Toyota and I'm hoping that the extended factory warranty will cover the costs.

[lighting4life]

water crossing is very different with heavy moisture mate. they are different killers.

while you do water crossing even if in deep water, the water may not come deep into your electrical connectors, especially when you do a a constant high speed through the water, most of the water will stay in the front but not inside the engine bay unless you park in the deep water.

however, with heavy moisture in a bad rainy day, they can come into anything and make short circuirt

[Sydneydude]

moisture. heavy moisture in a rainy day could be the reason. there a lot of fuses / connections in the front engine bay of a 4WD could be affected by moisture / rain.

This car has been in deep water about 10 months ago with no obvious effect. In the High country we did about 25 river crossings but max 25cm deep, so this current defect is really unusual.

[lighting4life]

moisture. heavy moisture in a rainy day could be the reason. there a lot of fuses / connections in the front engine bay of a 4WD could be affected by moisture / rain.

It is hard to believe the manual SR5 could start by itself then climb up a tree because it should only jump one small distance (about 50cm) and stop asap if the starter tried to start the car without pressing the clutch while parked in gear. Unless the owner parked the car without hand brake and parked the car in the wrong gear on an unstable / slope surface.

[glen_ep]

Wow both those stories are pretty crazy!! I'd be removing all the alarms/keyless/crap which isn't required to run the vehicle and see how that goes for a while.

[Sydneydude]

Ohh that's dramatic and scary. Any further investigation as to the causes of this? Any statements from Toyota?

[MDS69]

A bloke at work with D4D SR5 Hilux with all the fruit had this happen to him. His car was a manual and left parked in gear. Car tried to start itself, climbed a tree and caught on fire resulting in it being written off.

[Sydneydude]

Update: Was able to get it to a car electrician: the starter has carked it (short circuit/ burnt through) but the reason behind is yet unclear; perhaps the keyless start.

[Kowolski]

Call a catholic priest

[D4Dforme]

We had similar thing happen years ago in a VX Commodore but it did start itself around 2 in the morning in the driveway........it had a crook fusable link in the fusebox.....it had corroded and shorted to the next link melted abit then powered itself up..?.......check the fuse's?

Dan