WEIRDEST Toyota in the WORLD?? (Part 2 - Flashing CEL, Clicking Dash & Display, Wonky TEMP Gauge) 

Nothings better than coffee and pine hollow on a Saturday morning.

This is why the general public needs to wake up and realize that this is why technicians have to charge diagnostic time. As far as Ivan putting his hands on the car and fixing the actual problem, that took a very short period of time. It's everything else beforehand that needs to be accounted for as well.

Specialty electrical shops that don't check grounds are not competent. Most of the electrical problems I have dealth with for 52 years have been neglected grounds.

There was this old ship stuck at harbor and nobody could fix the engine. They found the old master tech and hired him to come and take a look. He diagnosed and gave them a $25 K estimate. The ship owner agreed, and the old tech took his tiny hammer and tapped the engine and it sprang to life, The customer got his bill which read $5K for diagnostics $20K for knowing where to tap it at. You boggle the mind Ivan, you have mad skills my friend!

Anytime you have multiple electrical symptoms look at grounds first. A prior repair which solved the problem for a period of days involved a ground. What I see is automotive electrical systems getting more complex and mechanics/"technicians" get overwhelmed and miss the basics. While I'm all for the diagnostician aspect of your work Ivan I think using this approach for a training example is just furthering that instant trigger that overwhelms mechanics. The basics don't involve a lab scope or a research thesis. A list of what items are affected, a look through the wiring diagrams, a recognition of the symptoms and you'll easily end up in the same place. This car displayed symptoms very reminiscent of some of the first automotive electrical troubleshooting I ever did as a 14 or 15 year old, trailer lighting faults. Hit the brakes an everything except one marker goes out, brake lights only work with parking lights, or in conjunction with turn signals, symptoms changing with every turn and every pothole, etc. In 1990 these systems were the epitome of basic, there was no need to look any farther forward than the 4 flat. This is a lesson that most mechanics have learned but fail to apply in situations like this. Eric O did a video a year or so ago on a Chevy truck that was at a dealership with multiple inoperative modules and they ordered all of the modules then charged a restocking fee because the customer chose not to fire a $5,000 parts cannon, Eric O quickly found a corroded in half main ground strap. Moral of the story is, just because the vehicle has a complex electrical system doesn't mean the problem has to have a complex diagnosis.

Great diagnosis. If it were at the Yoda stealership that I worked at, it would have a new relay, ECM and temp sensor. And still not repaired…oh, and an alternator.

Ivan, I thought 2023 videos were top notch but this year 2024 is of another level. Can't wait for Part 3 to find what the so-called 30 year technician thought. You are without a doubt amazing in your field. Dave in Guernsey, Channel Islands.

Ivan's mostly used tool the notepad aka Ivan's flowchart also much appreciated for not being behind a paywall 😎👍

This is why whenever I buy an new/used car the first thing I do is locate every ground connection I can get access to. Remove the connections, clean the wires, posts etc. Lube it nicely with N-OX-ID and reinstall. It will save you a ton of headaches down the road!

Great find without touching anything on the car in your diagnostics. When you know proper diagnostic techniques, it's incredible what you can decipher. On another note, when you stated the customer had it at another shop and they tightened a ground and it disappeared for a day, that was the first clue of where this would end. Also, in my experience, a problem like this affecting multiple systems in crazy ways is typically going to be a ground issue. I had a customer complain that his windshield wipers would turn on if he engaged his running lights on his boat. There were a couple of other odd things that happened but as well. After testing and checking, I found the main ground wire for the replay box was completely broken off. you might wonder how anything would function. The reason why it still did but all crazy was that the electrical current was dissipated by all the connected grounds at the electric panel, which confused the system and it would turn on random things like the wipers when you wanted the lights. Grounds area very tricky thing but when strange things happen for no logical reason, you can bet there will be a faulty ground somewhere in the system.

Yep, PHAD is separated from typical wrench turners with the simple use of logic. I like your restraint from going directly to the suspected problem and proving the issue through measurements. Your dad has got to be proud of you!

Incredible ! But yeah, bad grounds can be responsible for so many seemingly crazy issues. Data driven diagnosis for the WIN. Well done Ivan, fantastic job as always M8 !

Back in the 80's, had a Ford Aerostar that kept burning up the brushes in the blower motor. Electrically, it kept leading me to the ignition switch, which I wrote off as not possible as there were no other problems. After the third time I decided to pull the ignition switch and found the crimp loose, which was causing an intermittent resistive connection. Replaced defective switch and blower motor and it lived happily ever after until the recall notice came for defective ignition switches, which led to a court battle for complete reimbursement.

19:00 Every "scope capture" you take my man is the BEST

Reminds me of the story where a man brings his car to a shop to fix a problem. He returns later and the mechanic says "that will be $100". The car owner asks what the problem was and the mechanic says the he "needed to replace a bolt that had fallen out". The owner asks sarcastically "$ 100 for a bolt ?" The mechanic replies, "No, $1.00 for the bolt and $99 for knowing where to put the bolt".

Next step would be to find the guy that forgot to tighten that ground bold. Maybe you can "capture" that guy on your scope too 😂 Excellent diagnosis as usual 👏👍 This approach takes patience not to rush to conclusions and it pays off! I learn a lot from you. Thank you.

Loose connections vibrate with rpm, too, not just the alternator. The only thing I would have done differently was to take apart that ground and clean it up. Being loose, everything has had time to start oxidizing. I always carry a stainless steel brush and a small can of deoxit, among other things, in a small kit in my vehicle.

I did happen to notice on that wiring diagram that the relay that was at the driver's kick panel that you removed and replaced was included in the path to the instrument display, etc. Obviously, the customer can watch this video and see the amount of time you spent on diagnosing this issue and I know you got paid for it. You did a VERY analytical diagnosis. More than 1/2 the time you seemingly diagnose a bad ground. I've been watching you long enough to know when you would move that gear selector it apparently was supplying a sufficient ground to stop the clicking. I'm sure you've been tempted to claim defective parts and have resisted that temptation. I don't know whose worse about this ground thing; you or Eric. GREAT VIDEO!

The very rare big difference is Ivan cares and gives the time (being self employed) to care about his customers and their vehicles, most just look for the $$££ and stealerships must have targets to hit forced on them from above...

Great diag man! I'll say what most people won't. Very few would have found the root problem. It's easy to watch someone this talented and knowledgeable figure it out. But when you have to figure it out yourself it's a little more difficult haha.

Part three tomorrow? Some people would have spent five times what it should have cost to repair and then gave up and sold the car. Great job and content.

It’s a awesome feeling when you positively see and find the problem

No dealership No repair shop No tech is ever going to go this in-depth for a car this old that’s why they just replace parts until the problem is solved because no dealership is going to let a tech get paid to sit in a room with a notebook trying to CSI this problem. Ivan is one in a million 7:36

Very glad you got that beautiful old Toyota repaired

Nice work Ivan . The going joke at my shop is " hey brakes are bad " and every guy in the shop will say " check the grounds " lol. That's always my first answer when they ask me a question.

A master at work. I wish I had 1/4 of Ivan’s ability

Ugh…was hoping for conclusion ..great job Ivan! I don’t recall hearing that hissing before..that’s such a nice car for being 20 years old, rotted rubber hoses doesn’t surprise me..

That was fun PH! Can't wait to hear what the 30yr master tech recommended. I'll never forget that video last year of the Mercedes and the senior master techs diag was it needed a $20,000 harness 😂

Nice job Ivan! That was neat to see you figure out the problem just by studying the wire diagrams and then confirming with the scope. That problem would have led a lot of technicians down multiple rabbit holes. I sensed an adrenaline rush when you turned on the ignition and watched the scope.

One of my worst, the ferry radio telephone would drop off. Numerous trips, never failed. Finally eliminated ferry power.....no problems. They had rewired the control console and the terminal strip screw was not tightened, supplying power to the radio telephone.

The nerd in me is enjoying going back to part 1 and reading in Comments who guessed a ground issue. PS - Would live to know how many miles are on this gem of a car.

Imagine being in a shop..one guy is blasting a radio 2 bays over. Some guy is hammering on a stuck bearing and hub, the phone rings every 3 minutes, people are coming and going..seems almost impossible to to take the time to concentrate on an alldata schematic in most busy repair shops. Hence..Individual " concierge" troubleshooters have a role in our society..ivan has found a good niche'

Definitely the greatest scope capture of all time. You could see it changing in time with the relay buzzing and the display flashing. I'd be strongly tempted to preemptively replace that relay, or at least the customer might want to keep an OEM spare in the glovebox to avoid being stranded. Buzzing on and off rapidly like that with a load connected is hard on the contacts.

When ever i notice Weird symptoms on a vehicle, yeh, bad Grounds and faulty Alternator always comes to my mind................ PHAD __TO the Win😊

vow excellent job, only thing I dont understand is why idle air control worked just fine

Wow. Got to admit i didnt see that coming. I really thought the problem would be behind the screen somewhere.

With all the varied issues, a bad ground was the most logical explanation from the start without a scope. Sometimes overthinking will kill me…….

Amazing how crazy symptoms one loose ground can cause. Had once almost rusted through ground wire between transmission and body and it just caused white noise to radio, and suspectidly blew two ignition modules., otherwise the car seemed to work normally. Well digital clock in the dash died around same time, so perhaps that poor ground killed that too. Clock didn't come back to life even after the ground was fixed.

I believe Eric o would have found the loose wire quicker but hey there is only one Eric O. Good work Ivan compared to the so called electrical specialists, you are a genius. I am going to go out with a few wrenches and make sure everything is tight, maybe save myself a lot of headaches.

Thank you for the video! That's a very good example showing the importance of applying a consistent diagnostic strategy and working out a case specific "game plan". ❤ How many note pads you use up per year😅?

Hi Ivan, Excellent Sherlock Holmes moment. 🙂 I hope that vacuum line will be an easy repair and not lead to other problems.

great job, pinpointing with logic and proof. when I suspect its a bad ground, some times a brute force approach -I inspect, clean, tighten as many as I can find via diagrams and visual

24:09 Change light bulb in instrument cluster for Park position.

Logic and persistence pays off. Gotta love it! Peace

Great diagnosis again Ivan. Very good process of proving your theory before repairing the problem and being sure that it was repaired. But.....(I'm sorry) early on you noted that shifting from park, drive, reverse changed the symptoms, I would have installed a temporary block to battery ground and rechecked concern. That being said, I completely understand and agree with your diagnosis and repair. You can confidently return the car to the customer knowing that it is repaired.

Great case study man! It reminds me to one of scanner danner's early case about a bad ground on a Toyota's ECM

Love this guy and the honesty that goes with it makes watching him so nice. CT has Crooked's for techs.

Very impressive, and straight to the problem at the end. Will I ever have to do a case study on my car? After all it's a 1999 Toyota Camry ;-) No problems so far...

Excellent persistence Ivan. Follow the common thread.

This is the coolest diag ever, Ivan ;-) First firing a shotgun with hail at the problem, and hitting the alternator. After this stepping on the brake and doing an excellent diagnosis that pinpoints the problem. When you mentioned the CEL, It screamed ground problem because these are usually fed by different power feeds on these older vehicles. "You have to understand the theory of operations when things get difficult" is one of my all time favorite quotes!

One thing that sets you apart is a need to know exactly what the problem is - instead of just making the ptoblem go away snd being satisfied with that. Top notch!

I suspected a power or ground issue at or near the BCM. But logic from the wire diagrams told us that the ground we needed to chase was not in the cabin. Absolutely an amazing find Ivan! Got to love the simple fixes. Oh wait.... Where is that bonus footage that you started talking about? I wanted to see that.

I can't believe that the other shops could not fix the problem It was obvious like you said it was going to be a ground or power issue from the start

After watching a lot of you videos, the first thing I thought about was a bad ground😅. Fun to see I had it right.

Been waiting for this video finally!

"Powers and grounds, powers and grounds, I gotta get me some powers and grounds! (In the style of "Kibbles and Bits") I'm not sure I can wait for part 3!

You absolutely blow me away will you skills! Another fantastic video!

OMG. Wow. Picking my jaw up. Awesome work.

"WOW" Ivan right out of the shoot....Nice job.....

Yes, that was fascinating. Well done Ivan, went right to the source. Just like a hound dog on a trail. That ground serving multiple functions, was key to the problem.

I enjoy the fact that your diagnosis makes you happy. Its great when your sequence of troubleshooting has a pay day. Now you can put that on an invoice!

Great video and case study. It does get more interesting when you have no wiring diagram or Alldata to find an intermittent problem though. Ask me how I know? 🤣🤣

Great bit of work. At 7:00 you identify the "backlight circuit" as the MDU screen control. The ECU would not be controlling the screen, the MDU would. The "backlight circuit" would be the REVERSE LIGHT circuit.

These are some of my favorite diags, spending sometimes hours in my "office" (work vehicle, on site, parked next to the customer vehicle), mousing through page after page of data to learn the vehicle's thought process, sometimes even getting harassed by the shop manager(s) about why I'm "not working on the vehicle," only to emerge hours later, poke something with a stick, and fix the car. So much fun! :D

My jaw ACTUALLY dropped when I saw the cyclic ground voltage on the picoscope! That was awesome!!

It should be mandatory for every mechanic to watch your videos at least 5 hours a week after watching every video start over until they have skills as a real mechanic. I have been working on my own autos for over 60 years I wish I was younger so I could be more in touch with today's technology. I never miss your videos like always great thinking.

Ivan I love your logical and methodical diagnostic and repair techniques. It's something my dad and I practiced for years in his shops and it's nice to know that others such as yourself are out there doing it the same way with the same success. Cheers!

Nice detective work Ivan! The cliffhanger continues.

Ivan for president!!! I have sooo much respect for you man...

Excellent work, Ivan. I had a strong suspicion that it was a bad grond. The only problem would be isolating it. Your technique was fantastic!

Just got up . Over sleeping again .6:05 am here in Vegas .

Something weird about a 20 year old car ground nut being that loose. I guess you can assume it came from the factory that way and eventually became an issue. Nice work. Like your notebook too. Good way to organize findings and relationships. Lots of stuff going on. Easy to get confused.

I have said it once, and I'll repeat it. Ivan, You actually troubleshoot the problem. Other mechanics only look at the possibilities and use their part store to prove victory. You find and fix the cause oof the failure.

I glad to see I am not the only one that gets excited when your logic deduction and scope capture solves a problem. NICE Job my friend. BTW Hey Amanda 1 week until the Kentucky Derby!

I called a bad ground in the first video based solely off symptoms, although I said on the fuse box or relay. Well done Ivan.

You take the weekend off with the wife. That was quite the walk thru ... Your the most dedicated I know of. Two thumbs up.

Great job as usual bro!

Ivan is the king of wiring diagnosis!

That was amazing Ivan - very well done. I hope the customer lets the prior garages know about the fix, especially the main dealer. Amazing work.

Great work Ivan, a thorough diagnosis, and not shooting from he parts canon like others….But now you keep us hanging for the conclusion !

You are a freaking genius Ivan.

Root cause analysis at its finest..great stuff. Perform discovery, create a plan, follow the plan and divide the problem into actionable paramters.

I know assumptions can be a waste of time and money... But, the issue screamed "ground issue" since part 1... 😁 👍👍👍

I am in awe, Ivan. I have been working on cars for 30 years and this one would have taken my lunch. Thinking about your approach, yours is seriously efficient and to the point. As i get older, i am more inclined to study wiring diagrams and follow the data, (much to the displeasure of my employer, they just want to hang a part and ship it, fixed or not😮)and utilize non invasive methods..thank you for another valuable lesson.

Great job Ivan.👍👍🇺🇸

Ivan, you are a total Guru. I'm sitting here thinking from the first episode "Bad ground." (Erik O taught me that). You showed the process from "I think" to "I know, for sure."

Ivan is my favorite “no parts required” mechanic.

Enjoyed this with cup of coffee ☕️

I had something similar last week at work. One of the guys was working on a John Deere Gator, the engine would run fine until you turned on the turn signals. The RPM's would go in cadence to the signals, revving up and down with the signals going on and off. Also had no headlights, they were not working and the lights on the switches would get bright and dim. They asked me to take a look at it, we have no diagrams for these things so I was just going off of what was in front of me. I checked the circuit integrity for the turn signals, all good. I then went to the headlight circuit. I had power were and when needed, then checked ground. I had 9 volts on the ground circuit. I traced the wiring and found a connector that had a power wire and ground wire which where melted together. I cut off the connector and re-wired that and boom, everything worked as it should. It was one of the most satisfying diag/repairs I have had in a long time. Keep up the great work brother, it's nice to see the customers come to you and trust that you will get their car fixed and back on the road.

Master class on diagnostics, with superb procedure, Ivan! Amazing it was missed by an experienced Toyota technician - experience alone didn't help, as it required a well formulated plan! Looking at that vacuum tube, it seems some rubbers may have passed their "best before" date. On to Part 3 :-)

Awesome video Ivan and great diagnosis. Once again you have shown that patience and the basic skills can move mountains. Keith would be proud of you on this one and I loved that money shot moment with the scope seeing that 2 volt reading.....Priceless!!!!!

Wow, amazing. Explains why the car was surging too! Idle air control ground was affected.

Brilliant detective work. The data does not lie. Well done.

I really thought it was going to be over-charging at first.. Having access to service data is so crucial. I can see why they try to charge two hundred per month for their tools.

This is why you always, ALWAYS double check your work after disassembling any parts of a vehicle. Some one was in a hurry when they changed those #1 Bank Spark Plugs. Failed to tighten the ground afterwards.

I really enjoy this case study. Thanks Mr. Ivan. More informative case study to upload.

Amazing job!! You’re incredible.

Awesome video. Great job.

Whoever did the last spark plug or valve cover gasket job is to blame for that one...

good logic and thinking , its always rewarding doing the research and planning to find the problem , i wish we had all data in New zealand but i have to make do with what i can as JDM car wiring diagrams are not easy to come by , we get a lot of import JDM cars here , takes me a while to find wire diagrams , very time consuming but i always get there , great video