So, long story short, my automatic tC won't shift out of park. I got a bad TBL from Oznium and they told me to start screwing with the brake light wires to get it to work. Well, I started screwing, and then none of my brake lights would work. I checked the running lights and they do work, so it wasn't the tail light fuse. I wondered if that meant my brakes were not working if the brake lights were not working, so I tried to start the car and take it for a spin but now it's stuck in park. I know there is a secret button to override the shifter, and I did use that, and the brakes do work fine, but that doesn't solve the problem. WTH happened? Why won't my car come out of park when the brake is depressed like normal, when all I was doing was working with the brake light wires? Any suggestions on how to fix it would be nice too. Thanks!

 

maybe there is a sensor or switch that you didn't reconnect that is is what tells the car that your pushing the brake pedal to shift out of park.

check if you crossed a wire or forgot to connect something.

 

Well, I should be more specific about what I was doing. I was only working with the wires to the TBL and nothing else. The TBL connector has two wires which run to it. I don't know much about electrical stuff, which is why I never wanted to do this in the first place, but Oznium insisted on having dumbass me fix the problem instead of sending me a replacement.

Anyway yeah, there are two wires. I assume one is a wire which tells the TBL if the brakes are depressed or not, and the other sends power. It can't be much more complicated than that. I was only using those two wires, so I can say with certainty that I didn't disconnect some kind of brake sensor wire.

 

One wire should be ground and one wire is the signal/power. I don't know if this is on Toyota, but on some cars there will be a safety switch and lock the shifter out if something goes wrong. I don't know it Toyota would implement it since there is a shift lock button. Will the car start?

 

Car starts and drives and everything seems to be fine except for the fact that I have no brake lights (can you say safety hazard?) and I have to manually unlock the shifter to get out of park each time.

 

Toyota wants $90 for diagnosis plus the cost of the repair. I would really like to get a solution for this before I have to take it to Toyota tomorrow. I think the a-holes at Oznium should have to pay, but I know they won't because I caused the problem with my own hands, even if I was going on someone else's advice.

 

makes me wonder if there is a fuse for the shifter? None of you're brake lights work. Are there any other lights not working?

 

Oh, snap. I fixed it. I originally thought it was a fuse, so I replaced the "TAIL" fuse because the tail lights were the most obvious sign of something not working at first. That didn't fix it though. However, after a second look at the owner's manual, I found a 10amp fuse "STOP" which handles the stop lights (not the same as the tail lights, apparently) and the "shift lock control". That fuse blew when I crossed the wires to the TBL.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

glad that we could help

 

I'm assuming you crossed the power and ground wires coming from the car right? Which is why your fuse would blow out.
On toyotas/ scions - white will be ground. I believe on Oznium's wiring, black is ground and red is power.

So you got the oznium third brake light to work right? Or no?

Does the connector go all the way in? i.e. does it click in? Sometimes the pins get bent during insertion. Use a really tiny screwdriver to straighten the pins on the plug that comes from the car (not the light). You can see the pins if you look inside the plug.

If the plug fully engages, and the 3rd brake light still doesn't light up, you can hard-wire it to the car's power (black and white will be ground). Just use some quick-connects and maybe a crimper (crimplers look like pliers with flat jaws). Are there any scion clubs in your area? If so, just ask one of them for help.

 

Well, I wasn't able to get it to work. The connector did click, but there was apparently no metal connection taking place inside. It seemed like the metal tips were recessed too far inside the plastic clip to make a connection. I was going to hard-wire it, but that's when I had my little disaster (which turned out to just be a blown fuse). Still, I had a second attempt at wiring it using the colors you stated above and there was no dice. There must be some other electrical fault inside the unit. After that, I said screw it. The part is supposed to be plug-and-play, so Oz is sending me a replacement part tomorrow. I've already had it attached to my car for almost 4 weeks without it being able to light up.

 

If you initially hooked up the car to the power backwards (i.e. you put the light's power (red) wire to the car's ground (white) wire and the light's ground (black) wire to the car's power (green) wire) you might have burnt out the light.

Make sure your wiring looks like this (and make sure your wires don't cross - bare metal to bare metal)

CAR THIRD BRAKE LIGHT
Green = power connect to Red = power
White = ground connect to Black = ground

Have you found anyone in a local car club who can help you out?

 

I am pretty sure something could be wrong with the unit, because it never worked from the beginning (straight plug and play). Oz has already dispatched a new one, so I will send back the old one and they can tell me what was wrong.