i bought this car used for 1100 under BB value. fairly low mileage, no accidents or major repairs, car had rarely been driven.
within a few weeks of owning the car i began to notice various problems with the power train.
the biggest being the transmission didn't want to shift right, and the engine stuttered and bogged down a lot. i ran diags on it several times but nothing ever showed up.
finally one morning i went to jump in my car and go to work, just to find the car would not start. the engine would turn over but would not fire. and i couldn't smell gas, so obviously the injectors weren't on either. needless to say i was pissed. i had to get a ride to work, and later that evening the vehicle still wouldn't crank! i called a buddy of mine who knows toyotas and he said it might be the ECU.
so i convinced him to come over and take a look at it. he brought his Actron OBD II scanner with him but of course you can't run the diagnostics unless the engine's running. but anyway he said he'd take the unit out and look at it.
well he pulled the box and ran some basic troubleshooting IE checking for loose connection etc all to no avail. but he said he'd call his friend up at the junkyard and order a new one. sure enough the next morning he came back by the house with a a new computer and we installed it. BAM!! problem solved!
this doesn't seem to be a common problem on this car, but it happened to me, therefore it can happen to YOU too...
FYI if you suspect you ECM/PCM is bad, here's how to get to the damn thing..
the PCM on most toyotas is located on the R/H side, behind the glove compartment.
open the passenger door and get down on your fragile knees.
first pull back the plastic strip along the door base. then look down in the floor board. there is a plastic cap covering a bolt that holds the kick plate in place. unscrew the cap and pull the kick plate out.
there you will find a junction box for the right side doors. and you will also find a copper colored phillips head screw. remove this screw.
then look over to your left by the console. you will see another phillips screw between the plastic on the console and the glove box, take it out.
now open the glove box and look up where the latch is. there are three screws in a row across the area of the glove box. take them out.
now look up under the glove box. there is a big piece of black plastic blocking your view. simply pop it out with your hand.
finally, gently haha ironic pull the glove compartment out and set it aside.
here you will see a big junction box with ten thousand connectors going into it, and to the left of that you will find the engine computer.
the computer is an aluminum box a/b the size of a desktop cd-rom drive.
it's mounted on two metal arms that bolt to the firewall. to take them loose you need a 10mm socket, a driver, and an extension, for god's sake use the extension!
the top bolt is the easiest to get to, if you have arms of rubber.
the bottom one you will have to pull back on the carpet to find.
anyway, unbolt the computer, disconnect the 3 connectors, while not getting them mixed up, and pull the box out!
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
i bought this car used for 1100 under BB value. fairly low mileage, no accidents or major repairs, car had rarely been driven. within a few weeks of owning the car i began to notice various problems with the power train. the biggest being the transmission didn't want to shift right, and the engine stuttered and bogged down a lot. i ran diags on it several times but nothing ever showed up. finally one morning i went to jump in my car and go to work, just to find the car would not start. the engine would turn over but would not fire. and i couldn't smell gas, so obviously the injectors weren't on either. needless to say i was pissed. i had to get a ride to work, and later that evening the vehicle still wouldn't crank! i called a buddy of mine who knows toyotas and he said it might be the ECU. so i convinced him to come over and take a look at it. he brought his Actron OBD II scanner with him but of course you can't run the diagnostics unless the engine's running. but anyway he said he'd take the unit out and look at it. well he pulled the box and ran some basic troubleshooting IE checking for loose connection etc all to no avail. but he said he'd call his friend up at the junkyard and order a new one. sure enough the next morning he came back by the house with a a new computer and we installed it. BAM!! problem solved! this doesn't seem to be a common problem on this car, but it happened to me, therefore it can happen to YOU too...
FYI if you suspect you ECM/PCM is bad, here's how to get to the damn thing.. the PCM on most toyotas is located on the R/H side, behind the glove compartment. open the passenger door and get down on your fragile knees. first pull back the plastic strip along the door base. then look down in the floor board. there is a plastic cap covering a bolt that holds the kick plate in place. unscrew the cap and pull the kick plate out. there you will find a junction box for the right side doors. and you will also find a copper colored phillips head screw. remove this screw. then look over to your left by the console. you will see another phillips screw between the plastic on the console and the glove box, take it out. now open the glove box and look up where the latch is. there are three screws in a row across the area of the glove box. take them out. now look up under the glove box. there is a big piece of black plastic blocking your view. simply pop it out with your hand. finally, gently haha ironic pull the glove compartment out and set it aside. here you will see a big junction box with ten thousand connectors going into it, and to the left of that you will find the engine computer. the computer is an aluminum box a/b the size of a desktop cd-rom drive. it's mounted on two metal arms that bolt to the firewall. to take them loose you need a 10mm socket, a driver, and an extension, for god's sake use the extension! the top bolt is the easiest to get to, if you have arms of rubber. the bottom one you will have to pull back on the carpet to find. anyway, unbolt the computer, disconnect the 3 connectors, while not getting them mixed up, and pull the box out!
- Byron B., West Blocton, AL, US