Abs, brake, traction control lights on, NO check engine light. Keyless entry, turn signals, power mirrors, AC, auto lights and wipers don't work. Cars lights flash when the car is off and the cooling fans stay on while the car is off also. The guage cluster brightness goes from dark to light, and temp guage goes from cold to running temp constantly. Gear shifter light in guage cluster also isn't syncing with physical shifter either. Took out the battery thinking it would reset the computers, car doesn't start at all. O'Reilly says it may need a BCM. Help!!!
I think they are correct. Based on the signs you mentioned, you probably need to replace the bcm.
These are all symptoms of bad grounds.
As the body ages the spot welds do not carry electricity efficiently, especially on Japanese cars. Rust is a BIG factor in this as well. Im in the Rust belt so I have seen this in many vehicles.
The way to cure much of it is to ground strap this car. You can test this theory by getting a set of good jumper cables and putting on on the negative battery post under the hood and then clamping the other end on the steel under the dash of the car. You will either see no improvement or an immediate improvement. Proof of Theory.
A voltmeter will always tell you about crappy grounds. Use a long alligator jumper and run it from the neg terminal of the battery inside and test for voltage differences between the battery and the engine block, unibody and the metal under the dash of the car. Also check potential differences between the battery and the alternator case itself. If you find more than 0.3 volts difference between this ground and the points inside the car, you are probably looking at your problem. Certainly a half volt or 1 volt is a SERIOUS issue with grounds and you will have to run some heavy copper wires to sure up the grounds in this old car.
Once its fixed, its a Toyota... Keep driving it till its dead somewhere around 500K or more 😀
