Toyota Rav4 2006 Immobilizer Location

[Margorie Gomoran]

Openthe hood of your Toyota Rav4 and standing in front of the engine, you will see the fuse box at the right, near the fender, with a black plastic cover. Below is a picture of it and a drawing further below for easier identification.

There is a chance that a fuse was placed or removed by mistake by a mechanic or anybody else working with it. A mechanic, for example, could possibly think that not having that fuse in place might have something to do with whatever the problem your vehicle is showing and decides to install a fuse in that place. After that, the vehicle will not start until the fuse is taken out.

There is a more technical way to make sure about the immobilizer status of your Rav4. It consists of scanning your car with a special Toyota tool which will tell the status of the immobilizer. Another way is taking out the engine computer (ECM) and reading the immobilizer memory chip. From that reading, assuming that the ECM is the original one from the vehicle, then any experienced technician can tell if the immobilizer system is enabled or disabled in that vehicle just by looking at the pattern of that file.

In Continental USA, we have hardly seen any 2001-2003 RAV4 with the immobilizer system enabled, while in Puerto Rico and in Hawaii, it is enabled in all Rav4 vehicles of those model years. In some other countries, it is enabled too, like in Germany, Grenada, and Norway, just to name a few.

i have a rav 4 2002 model and i have no power getting to the electric windows

can you please help by sending me a picture of the fuse box and the fuse where the problem maybe with to be able to fix

Hello Mark. Unfortunately, the diagram we have is for the ECM wiring, which does not cover the other electrical system. We had a computer crash where all the diagrams were stored. Later in this month, all will be restored. As soon as it is done, if you still need the diagram, I will send it to you.

So maybe you are referring to another car? Anyway, I left your comment here in case some good soul can help, because here in the USA, we do not have the diesel models, and because of that, I could not help you with technical assistance. I hope someone else can help.

Hello Frank. I can only think of two scenarios. The most common, an aftermarket security system (not the immobilizer), most likely an alarm, that needs to be reset. This happens often with some security systems when the battery is disconnected or replaced.

The second scenario, not as common as the one above, but I have seen it several times, is that somehow the code in the immobilizer memory was corrupted. You see, your car always have the immobilizer circuit built in. The difference is that the code in its memory is different, depending on if the car has the immobilizer enabled or disabled. In either case, if the code in its memory gets corrupted, the engine will crank but will not fire.

Hello Langton. This is a permanent thing. You mentioned that you have tried several times. If the fuse is OUT, as long as the vehicle DOES NOT have immobilizer, it will start and run. If the fuse is IN, then the contrary, it will start and run as long as IT HAS the immobilizer system enabled and well programmed.

If you try this and the car stops starting after 3 days, either there is a problem in other area, or I did not understand the details if your description. I see it as that you put or took out the fuse and it started and then it died after 3 days. Is this it?

Have you check the fuse location described in this article? Remember; (1) no immobilizer = no fuse used, or (2) has immobilizer = needs a fuse. If done otherwise = no start. So if for example, there is no fuse, you must be sure that your keys are NOT transponder keys (no chip). You know, to rule out the possibility of one believing that it does not have the immobilizer system and surprisingly it does, or the contrary.

Hi Richard,

You are truly a gentleman with your help with Rav4 owners problems.

Now I have a problem with my 2005 Rav4 1.8L Petrol and I hope you might be able to help.

I was having the engine management light coming on and flashing while driving, then going off for a short while and then coming on again.

I scanned the car with an OBD ll tool and got fault codes for misfire on No1 Bank 1 and system running lean.

I changed all of the spark plugs, fitted new injectors, new MAF, dismantled the Idle control unit on the throttle body (it did appear to be stuck, now freely revolving) and did a smoke vacuum test, no leaks.

As it seemed I had done all that could be done I spoke to an experienced mechanic and he said the problem could be the ECU.

I bought a secondhand unit (exactly the same part numbers as the original and fitted that.

Now the engine cranks but will not start.

I tried the paperclip in 4 and 13 of the OBD socket (half an hour) it still cranks but will not start.

It might be worth mentioning that unfortunately I do not have an original Master Key, but have been able to program a fob for central locking using the open and closing door method (this was with the original ECU)

Is there anything you could suggest that might solve my dilemma?

Many thanks for reading, best regards. Mike

About the sync process, I am not sure if it works with ECMs for vehicles not sold in the USA, but it should as long as the ECM is made by Denso or Fujitsu. I mention this because you have a 2005 car with a 1.8L engine. All USA Rav4 models from 2004 to 2005 have the 2.4L (2AZ) engine and the 2001-2003 models have the 2.0L (1AZ) engine. The models here with the 1.8L engine are the 1999-2000 models.

(3) When you put the jumper for the sync process, did the lights in the dash panel flicker randomly? If not, either the jumper connection was not making good contact, or the sync process was not included in the firmware of the ECM of your model.

(4) What about the ignition coils? Misfires are most of the time caused by bad ignition coils in the models I work with. Moreover, if that is the problem, only genuine coils must be used (Denso) because ALL other coils fail, either immediately, or in the short run, and will NEVER perform as the genuine Denso coils.

Not really. The immobilizer and the keyfob systems, while both are security-related, they are separate systems. The keyfob (more related to an alarm system) may work well while the immobilizer stays locked and vice-versa.

I will check the circuit to see where is immobilizer eeprom chip so you can transplant it to the new ECM. I guess you know it but it will require desoldering the chip from one ECM to solder it in the other ECM.

My Rav4 has developed a problem where it starts, then immediately shuts off. Once it's done this, if I try cranking it again without turning the key back to the fully off position, it turns over, but never tries to fire. However, if I turn the key back to the off position, then try again, it will start just fine, but still immediately shut off. It also won't start even if I give it a little gas while trying to start it (unlike some other descriptions of similar problems that I have read). Also, when it starts, it sounds like a good clean start, it just won't idle afterwords.

It did this once about a year ago, exactly like what I am describing, then half an hour later, it started fine and this hasn't happened again until a few days ago. When it happened again, it wouldn't start, then a a while later is started just fine. It also started fine the next few times I tried to start it, but it would occasionally do this (stop working, then magically start working later). Now it does it every time and I cannot get the engine to stay on. So this is something that progressively went out over the last week or so.

Someone on Rav4World suggested that it might be the ignition switch and very kindly told me the pattern of continuity that I should see if the switch worked vs if it was bad (see attached picture). There does seem to be an issue with my switch, because I have no continuity between 2-3 when the switch is in the Acc or On position (and I should). However, that does not appear to be the source of the current problem. The correct continuity pattern for the car when running should be 2-3, 2-4, and 6-7 (see attached figure). The engine starts via a connection from 7-8.

Therefore, to bypass the switch, I took the female end of the plug that connects to the ignition switch, unhooked from the switch, and ran a wire from 2-3, from 2-4, and from 6-7 (thus creating the connectivity for the On position). Then, I hooked the battery back up and quickly touched a wire from 7-8. The car started, but it immediately shut back off, just like before. Further, one of the oddities about this problem is that once the engine shuts off, I have to turn they key back to the off position before it will fire again (otherwise it just keeps turning over but never firing). So, while I had the wires rigged up I played with this. As expected, if I connect 7-8 getting it to fire and stall, then immediately reconnect 7-8, it turns over, but doesn't fire (just like trying to turn the key again without first going to the off position). I tried to figure out which circuit needed to be broken for it to reset and let the engine fire again, and its the 6-7 connection. If I start/stall it then unplug and replug 2-3 or 2-4 and try it again, it turns over, but won't fire. However, if I unplug and replug 6-7 and try again, it starts then quits (just like if I had turned the key to off, then tried again).

This makes me think that whatever is wrong is on the circuit for 6-7. Does anyone know what is on that circuit that could cause this?

Just for reference, here are some other things I've tried:

Checked spark plugs and wires (they were replaced fairly recently, and all seem to be in good shape, correctly gauged, etc.)

Checked for vacuum leaks (I did this one of the times that I got it running).

Cleaned the throttle body and idle air control valve

Replaced the fuel filter

Tried starting it with the MAP sensor disconnected (98's don't have an MAF)

Tried starting it with the green coolant temperature sensor disconnected (it really didn't like that at all).

Note: this is a cross post from Rav4World, and everything there has been and is continuing to be very helpful, but so far no solutions have emerged, so I thought I'd expand the collective brain pool a bit.

Thanks

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