Gremlins In The Electrics?

[sophiejw]

Hello,

I'm hoping someone can suggest what might be up with my 2007 Landcruiser's electrics!

I've had the car just over a year and all has been problem free up to a few weeks ago when the parking sensors seemed to get increasingly sensitive. Then about a week ago they started with a horrible buzzing sound when I put it in reverse as well as the parking sensor beeping. But this is intermittant, sometimes it just beeps and sometimes doesn't do anything even when very close to a wall (the buzzing and beeping episodes can happen when we are nowhere near a wall!).

Also in the last week, it has started complaining that someone's seat belt isn't on. Having just looked in the manual I think it's complaining that I'm not wearing it when I'm driving. But I always do. Again this is intermittant, sometimes it does it the whole trip, sometimes it stops after a little while.

And then the third thing (they say things come in threes don't they)- I think my heated seat has stopped working. When you switch it on the little light in the switch comes on but no heat into the seat. Passenger one still works though.

I just wondered if there might be something fundamentally wrong with the electrics somewhere given we suddenly have 3 new electrical faults in such a short time. Would it be a case of taking it to the dealer for a system update (I hope not as that sounds expensive but then might be cheaper than repairing all the faults individually) or is there a better course of action? My hubby is pretty good with tinkering with cars if it's something simple we have to do, or we have a very good local mechanic although he isn't official Toyota.

Any comments would be very much appreciated

[alan333]

The two seat faults (seatbelt and heater) would first point me towards a common plug, like under the seat or something, usually the sensor to tell the car you're wearing the belt is in the female end ie the bit bolted to the seat or the floor. But then the funky reverse sensors has me thinking maybe a more common fault, like a common feed or earth point for an electric circuit. I'd have a good poke around all the electric plugs and cables and see if there's anything unusual. I don't see why it would be a sytem update since the system has worked just dandy for 8 years.

[JHL]

Hi Sophie,

I can't be of help but if you do find out what is wrong with the parking sensors please let us know. I had a very similar problem but could not find out what was wrong and ended up disconnecting the system altogether. No more noise but risk of hitting something slightly increased.

Cheers

Jeff

[sophiejw]

Thanks for the replies. Alan I only wondered about update as my husband had a Landrover Discovery that went a bit crazy but after dealer reset / update was back to normal.

Jeff no problem will do.

Am going to have a poke and a prod under the seat and in the electrics in next few days. If no joy it has to go to garage soon to get heat shield that fell off put back on so will ask them. The seat belt issue seems to have improved as I'm making effort to really push seat belt clip in. But I am missing my heated seat! So hope I can get it sorted. I will keep you posted :)

[Mike169]

Hi Sophie

Just a thought have you been through some big puddles lately?

Mike

[firemac]

The two seat faults (seatbelt and heater) would first point me towards a common plug, like under the seat or something, usually the sensor to tell the car you're wearing the belt is in the female end ie the bit bolted to the seat or the floor. But then the funky reverse sensors has me thinking maybe a more common fault, like a common feed or earth point for an electric circuit. I'd have a good poke around all the electric plugs and cables and see if there's anything unusual. I don't see why it would be a sytem update since the system has worked just dandy for 8 years.

Can you think of anything that has occurred recently, out of the ordinary, which would coincide with these faults appearing? Any body work or intensive valeting; has anyone else driven the car? Parking sensors are sensitive to things like ice formation and wax build-up after valeting the car. Another possibility is that one or both of your batteries could be on the way out, which can affect some electrical circuits that are sensitive to current/voltage. Even if one Battery is sound, the other can badly undermine the overall elec performance if it is failing. I had one of my batteries fail on our LC (and it's only an 11-reg) and it caused the car to not start even though the other (so-called "starter" battery) was OK. You could check the Battery terminals for tightness while you're in there.

If none of these things have occurred, I'm inclined to agree with Alan that it could be a common earth, either having worked loose or corrosion having crept in - it would be a good idea to check all the earths plus the earth straps in the engine bay.

In any event, for these things to come together like this seems more than simple coincidence and there is likely a common, hopefully simple, reason.

Good luck.