I've searched for quite awhile and have found nothing related to my problem.
A few days ago, my parking brake light was on even though the brake was fully released and when driving the 4runner it felt like the brakes were still stuck. Also, the engine was making a horrible noise and i could hardly accelerate at all to get pulled over to the side of the road. After driving around for about 10 minutes, the light when off and it was driving fine. Then, i started it up again after the car had been parked for about 4 hours and the light was on again..same problem again, except the engine sounded worse.. i pulled over and turned the key off to turn the car off. THE ONLY PROBLEM WAS THE ENGINE KEPT RUNNING (very wierd sound). It sounded like my engine was going to blow up. I turned the car back on and back off and finally the engine rumbled to a stop after i pulled the key out. I left it there for like 15 minutes and tried to restart it and it started up fine. Sorry for such a long post but i am just really confused. It started just recently (pass 4 days) and happens randomly... any suggestions???
thanks so much

 

It seems to me like the electrical system is messed up. Relays stuck? I do not see how the brake light relates to the engine and ignigion key. I would get out the wiring diagram and start tracing, especially the ignition area. Be prepare to pull out the EFI fuse when you can't turn the engine off.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Nam

 

i had this same problem, it was fixed when i replaced my starter and battery...

i hope that helps.. gl w/ it