Problems with my E-locker

So I got this problems with my E-locker on my truck even in 4lo, moving forward and back and even in circles.. the "RR Diff Lock" light just flashes... I came across the "grey wire mod" so i did that just to see if that would trick the computer, no such luck.. any idea's of what to try from any tacoma junkies?

 

Serpentine path with the truck moving will engage it.

 

so just drive S shapes?

 

I just went snake style down the road in 4hi and 4lo and got nothin except nieghbors lookin at me funny. theres gotta be sumn jacked. anyone know where i can find a wiring daigram?

 

What year ? Auto (I'm assuming) Personally I would check out any & all fuses related to locking diff, also from a dead stop put transfer in 4 lo, then depress locking diff button AND THEN put into drive, slowly drive forward while turning right sometimes takes a bit, also I would make damned sure all electrical is correct regarding diff. accuator before ANY gray wire or any other mods... good luck....

P.S. does your ABS brake light come on?

 

Its a 99 3.4 5Spd with the TRD E-locker, I bought it for cheap with a ton of mods 2 years ago, but i soon figured out why after i realized the truck has been hammered.. I fixed all the kinks myself and now she's running and lookn sweet, but i never have figured out is why the E-locker won't engage.

I was cruisen this site and saw the "grey wire mod" and i figured I'd give that a try to see if it would "trick" the computer into ignoring the inhertant problem.. No such luck tho. interestingly enough tho is while i was doing the "grey wire mod" I noticed that several wires down in that area had been tapped into so the system has definately been tampered with.. so my next goal is to find a wiring Diagram for the 99 TRD E-locker system for free with any luck.

At one point I changed every fuse in the truck because the fuse cap had been missing and everything was coroded, so i replaced every fuse lightly filed the connections and ran some circuit cleaner thru them all. I've tried engaging the system in 2wd,4Hi (after the grey wire mod) and 4lo (Before the Grey wire Mod) under 5mph in reverse, forward, swerving, dirt and pavement. so yeah I'm guessn the wiring or sumn has got to be jacked. Bet it'll be fun finding it tho!

Thanks for the help.

 

oh yeah no ABS light either. forgot.

 

You can probably download it right here, I downloaded the factory manual here on TW w/ schematics. I'm sorry I didn't recall if you had already checked the connections for power & Ohm out the acuator for the locking diff, If you get zero's across the board for continuity its probably toast. There are some great mods in here but I'm reluctant to fucking with factory wiring because of the way its integrated into the on-board CPU's that control just about everything, sometimes these mods can come back & bite you in the ass...... good luck......

 

Hey thanks for the help bud. I was researching the situation again last night and I stumbled across a site where a guy was having the same symptoms with his E-locker. Turns out that there is a little pocket that the seal is ineffective between the actuator housing and the diff, and the elements get in and eat-away at the housing and freeze up the gears inside (have a feeling lack of use before i got it didn't help either). Once the gears get frozen they can't move to engage and your light will just blink with no signs or sounds of tryn to engage... anyhow it is deemed "unrepairable" by toyota, they will only order you a new one. This guy tho, tore it apart and repaired his anyway and left some detailed instructions and pictures on his steps to repair and bench test it. Its pretty handy if anyone needs the site here it is:

http://www.worldpath.net/~thompson/tacoma/locker.htm

I'm not positive mine is froozen up but it does seem to be the most likely senerio at this point.

Thanks

 

you sound like a smart guy but i my self made this problem which side of the grey wire did u ground? the one closest to the lil black box is the one u ground not the one going into the rats nest of wires. if u have it corect and it still dosent work conect the wire back like stock put in nutral then put ur t case in 4 lo then press the rr diff button. then turn ur wheel all the way u can 2 the right or left whichever u feel comfortable all while being at a stop, then drive foward real slow your light should flash untill in locks if it stays on then u kno u dont have that prob with that 700 dollar electric locker then u could redo ur grey wire mod hope this works for u man please let me kno. p.s the abs lite will stay on.

 

Yeah I did the grey wire mod from the computer straight to ground. I put it back to normal for now tho while i trouble shoot i want it to be the original system.

I had some time today so i desided to pull off my E-locker and inspect it. When i pulled it off it looked sound.. so i Bench tested it and nothing... so with the link i posted earlier in the thread I went to work cracking the bad boy open... heres what i found..

first i removed the plate that mounts against the diff, which is the cover to the gears... not pretty.. some how the pesky mud from mudding it up found its way in everything was caked in crusted mud.

second i opened the motor compartment.. even worse. all the connections were curroded and the magnets on the the houseing had become dislodged..

however none of the gears or anything were damaged, so I desided to tryn rebuild her. I spend the majority of my afternoon scraping, sanding and cleaning the housing.. polishing and testing the motor and electrical connections and I resecured the motor magnets to the housing with some GB weld. Then I sealed her back up with some gasket sealer at all the joints. I ran out of time to bench test and re-install her tonight so i have somen to look forward to in the morning



Gear housing when I opened it

All the Parts before i started cleaning



motor housing


all the parts cleaned and polished




all the parts again



the locker all sealed up ready for install

 

thanks alvto for the Email

 

your welcome brother good job by the way on that repair

 

AAHHAAAAA !!!! Sucked a little H2O in thru the diff breather maybe ? I think YES !! Do the diff breather mod they have posted here while your at it Bro' I applaud your mechanical tenacity for jumping head first into this & personally I'd sillicone seal the shit out of any other area you see that may be suspect..... But it sounds like your on the right track, good luck & hope everything works when you put it back together.....

 

Thanks for the write-up. I am headed out now to see if that is the problem with mine. I just bought it used and the locker does not work.

But, before I go, I must comment on the photos. It seems the actuator ended up on the kitchen counter top. So, you are either single, or have a very cool wife!!!

 

So what ever happened with this? Did it work?

 

Yes, the repair on my e-locker worked exactly as the Chief described. I now activate my locker at least once a month just to be sure it is still working when I really NEED it.

I was not however able to do my repair on the kitchen table. I still say the Chief must have a really cool wife.

Good Luck and THANKS to the forum.

John

 

Wish the link would work that tells you how to bench test the locker. I have a used rear axle with e-locker in my back yard I'm going to be swapping it on my truck soon but would like to bench test it and fix if necessary. Can you explain how to bench test the motor? The link posted says invalid when clicked.

 

Here try . I think there's a little part in it on how to bench test. I know he does it at least in the write-up. But I used this link to rebuild mine this past summer.