Electrical craziness - blinking dash lights

Ok, guys - here's my first post (other than my new member intro).

I just bought this truck last weekend - 2002 Tacoma Pre Runner TRD. The seller disclosed that the alarm starting blaring the horn a few months ago so he just pulled the 10amp fuse to get it to stop. I wasn't worried about an alarm so I let it go.

Well, the first night in the truck we are driving home and I see all the instrument and center panel lights are out. Nothing. wtf? Then my buddy who is driving behind me tells me I have no tail lights, no license plate light. brake lights are working though. now i'm really like WTF?!

So the next day I start checking fuses, and in the box under the hood next to the battery I notice a relay labeled "TAIL" on the map is missing. gone. !! AutoZone, O'Reillys are no help. Well I have to hit the road for my 300 mile weekly commute so ...

10pm that night I get pulled over in Sour Lake for - you guessed it - no tail lights. just a warning.

Okay, so I go to the local Toyota dealership down here in SE Texas, they order the relay - I pick it up yesterday, and yippee! We have lights! But NOW here is the deal - when I start the truck the dash and panel light flash from dim to bright, and the hazard lights outside flash. I have to turn the running lights ON to make it stop. but I still hear a relay clicking under the dash.

Oh ya, all I got was a plain metal key - no remote fob, or anything. the seller lost it. I asked at the dealership and they said it was $40 and another $45 to have the tech program it to the truck. They checked the VIN in the computer and the alarm was installed at the Port when it arrived.

If I put that 10amp fuse back in the alarm the horn starts blaring. This is going to drive me nuts.

Anybody seen this before?!

 

The alarm is factory, sort of. According to the VIN look up at the dealership the alarm was installed in "port" - I guess when it got off the boat from japan. You can see it spliced into the harness on the fuse box under the dash.

 

If I am not mistaken, these were all built at NUMMI in Fremont, not Japan. I am not sure if that began with the first Tacoma (95.5) or just the 2001-2004s. The sticker inside your driver side door should verify this.

So although I know virtually nothing about alarms and electrical, the "port" may not refer to the truck's location when the alarm was installed, but an electrical port in the truck to which the allarm was plugged. Just a thought. I'm sure others will have more helpful technical advice.

 

Good point, not sure if the manufacture location is relevant. regardless Toyota is aware according to the VIN of the alarm being installed by them post-production. And it very well may be crapped out.

Another issue i'm going to address tonight is the positive battery post. The clamp is rotted something terrible. I'm going to replace it; maybe thats giving a weak signal and that will reset the alarm.