Hi 4Runner folks, troubleshooters and techie people! I'm hoping to find someone with knowledge of a problem similar to mine and get some insight about whether I can do a repair on my own. Here's the scoop. I've had my '99 4Runner for almost 5 years and for the past few years various buttons, like the "outside temp," fresh air or recirc, etc have been randomly unresponsive. Sometimes they work and other times I can't get them to respond...period! With a great deal of pressure, force and/or persistence I've almost always been able to get these buttons to eventually respond and show the digital info such as the outside temp or whatever results I'm looking for. However, lately the fresh air / recirc. button is simply no longer responding. Also the "auto" button just seems dead. I've dreaded going to the dealer due to expected SHOCK when told how much it will cost to fix these issues so I've dealt with it. Several days ago I saw a news clip on our local TV channel in which the stations consumer troubleshooter reported on a Toyota owner who had a similar problem (i believe with his heater temp control) and this guy was able to find an answer online in a Toyota forum...so here I am. This gentleman did some soldering and was able to fix the problem himself. This got me thinking...my last Toyota truck, a 4x4 pickup had issues of it's own with the heater controls (not digital LCD), and being the handyman that I am, I literally took it apart and fixed it myself. That was then and and this is now. Then, I had a standard, basic, bare bones 4x4 pickup and now I'm driving a 4Runner LIMITED GOLD and this truck is completely loaded with the options...digital displays out the waazoo and power everything. Regardless, I am still very handy and do still consider myself a respectable troubleshooter. Career-wise, I troubleshoot and fix/maintain computers, networks, etc. So I might as well give this problem a shot before facing the "music" of having a dealer tell me the cost to have the problem resolved. So is there anybody out there who has heard of this??? Tell me I'm not the only one with this problem. If there is someone who has experience with this issue, can you enlighten me as to whether it can be resolved w/o having to face the dealer prices? THANK YOU! My email is pctuneup@fuse.net

 

Most likely the relay.

 

Were you able to resolve this problem? I am having the same issue and have tried replacing the relay which did not solve the problem. What's strange is that I used an error code reader (just the mini one, not one like a dealer has) and got no errors. I hit reset anyways and after doing that, the buttons work fine for about a day, but then just go wonky again.
Thoughts/Suggestions?