2001 Toyota 4runner
Key Replacement - Save vs Dealer in Ventura County

2001 Toyota 4runner Remote Replacement - Fast, Affordable & Professional

Up on San Marcos Pass in Santa Barbara, a woman flagged me down at the laundromat parking lot. Her 2001 4Runner had been to another locksmith about ten days earlier. At first it worked fine. Then it started cranking, catching for two seconds, and cutting out. Classic immobilizer rejection.

She thought the car had a wiring problem. Electrical gremlin, maybe the starter.

I pulled the key and read the chip with my VVDI2. The other locksmith had put a 4D67 chip in it. The 2001 4Runner runs Toyota's first-generation Engine Immobilizer, which expects a 4C fixed-code chip. A 4D-series will sometimes register on the initial write but fail the secondary fixed-code handshake that the ECU runs with the transponder amplifier (part number 89760-35020). After a handful of start cycles, the car just says no. No warning light, no message, just crank-and-die.

I programmed a new key with a proper 4C chip matched to her immobilizer ECU, cut the blade to her TOY43 profile, and while I was at it swapped the CR2032 in her HYQ12BBX remote because it was reading low. Tested locks, tested unlock, tested panic, started the engine five times cold.

She told me she had been getting rides to work for three days thinking the car needed major electrical repair.

The fix was the right chip. That is the whole story. She paid a fraction of what the dealer quoted and drove home the same afternoon.

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