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I hate DSMs! Electrical Problems. [Merged 2-9]

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NJGSX96

20+ Year Contributor
745
1
Dec 11, 2001
YMB, New_Jersey
Well the other day I went out and bought a new alternator and battery for my 1G. Of course the bolt for the alternator was in backwards and couldn't come out without removing the turbo/manifold/O2/exhaust, but thanks to my friend Phil and his Sawzall, that was a minor issue. Anyway, when I went to the parts store, they had a 75AMP and 65AMP. The 75AMP is for automatics, but was identical to the 65AMP, which was for manuals, so I went with the 75AMPer. Why not, right? Get it installed, everything plugged in, clean up the battery connections, install the new battery, fire it up, all good. This was Monday. Tonight after work I go back to the car and figure I'll add some goodies I got for my b-day while the car is down. About an hour later I have installed my nice new cockpit adjustable hallman MBC and I swap out my plug wires for the NGK wires I had on before since my Magnecors bit the dust... again. That is it. I do nothing else. Plug up the laptop, start the car, fire up TMO, log battery. 5 seconds into starting the car I hear a high pitched occillating whine and with it the lights are dimming and brightning. TMO battery log looks like I am logging O2 dipping to 11v and rising to 14.5v over and over. Finally steadies at 13.9v and the whine becomes constant, whih is coming from the alternator. I let it idle for 10 minutes. All looks good. I got out for a little test drive and as soon as I get to the bottom of my hill the log shows 12v and i can see the lights dim! Every time I come to a stop it dips to 11v and the dash lights for battery, coolant come on, then go off. I get back home as quick as I can, and park it. At this point the lights are all dim and the log shows 11.6v.

Is this for real? Is my alternator already f#cked up? In all my years of driving I have NEVER had to replace an alternator. is this common for them to die or come bad out of the box? Is the 75AMP not compatible with my car? Where the f#ck do I start to check now or is it just the alternator?
 
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A long time ago, I got an aftermarket head unit installed. About 3 months after that, I started having serious electrical problems. I dont know if the Head Unit has anything to do with the cause, its just the first thing I remember that changed before these problems.

I first started losing specific accesories. Interior lighting, power locks, and my newly installed radio were the first to go.

Then I started getting faulty indicator lights, that would stay on for long periods of time, or not turn on at all, or not go off at all.

Then I started having problems with my charging system, ran through a few alternators, and a few batteries. I was popping the 80A fuse regularly. Most recently, my head lights went out (both simultaneously low beams), and my right hazard/turn signals stopped working. This morning on the way to work, my car overheated..why do you ask? My fan just decided to stop working.

This is starting to become a serious problem, and I really need to address it so I can try and get that dependable DSM back that I once had (ha!)..

What have I done to try and fix the problem:

I first had to prioritze, so the charging system was the most important. After getting a good alty, a new battery, changin my 80A, and re-wiring the alty, the charging problem was solved.

There are two places I know of with fuses. The kickpanel, and under the hood. I have checked them and from what I can see, none are blown. I ran a jumper wire to my fan, and it works fine, so there is a problem somewhere in the harness, or the relay is bad maybe? im not positive.

I have a decent amount of gauges, and I was running them all independently to the open fuse spots on the kickpanel, but I think I am going to just draw them all off one power line.

Im sorry this is long but im trying to include it all. I need to solve these problems because im not getting rid of this damn car. Help me diagnose this problem PLEASE!
 
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After reviewing the wiring diagrams for your car, i noticed that all of the problem you described, had wiring that was tied into the radio in some way. So i think your correct in assuming that the radio is the most likely cause of the problem. The only think i saw that the Interior lights, power locks, and the radio had in common, was that they all seem to share the same ground. So i would start by check the ground on the radio. I have experienced all sorts of crazy, confusing electrical problems in the past that were the result of a aftermarket stereo being grounded incorrectly. good luck!
 
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So the ground from my radio harness could just be bad? This is just the black wire coming from the radio harness, right?
 
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Alright well I got to do some work yesterday

Overheating was caused by a combination of a small coolant leak and my fan not working. I did some troubleshooting and fixed a leaky hose. I think my fan is not working due to the relay. I did the check and bridged the connector from my Haynes, and it worked. So a few bucks for a relay should get my fan working again.

I am going to be wiring my gauges this weekend, and I checked the ground on my radio harness. It should just be the black wire from the harness right? Its grounded...i checked.

I checked my corner markers because neither of them are working either. Both bulbs are good, but the connectors are not getting any power...

Okay guys, help me figure out the rest of these electrical problems...dont tell me that all of you are stumped..if you need more information just let me know..
 
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Well I figure I will just keep updating this with my progress, and eventually someone will chime in to fix everything

I switched my fog light relay to use for my cooling fan. The cooling fan relay was bad, and I didnt want to pay $15 for a new one, so I figured the non-used fog light relay would be a good fit, and it works fine. The car is staying nice and cool.

I got new headlights, and now my corner markers are lighting up. I dont know how, because I didnt re-wire anything, and the bulbs that were on there before we good. At any rate, they still do not blink for signaling, and my low beams still do not turn on. Could this just be a pinched wire or something?

Interior situation is still the same. I will be pulling some dash parts, so someone tell me what I should be looking for..
 
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A pinched wire, a bare wire anything making contact like that.

I remember swapping out taillights on my 96tsi awhile back..I had accidentally squeezed a wire between the chassis and the light housing.. I had problems with the blinker until I released that wire.. no problems after. So check that console area again and see what you can find
 
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Hello everyone My names Rj i am new here. Yesterday i bought a 95 Talon Tsi with 118,000 miles. I took it for a test drive and everything was perfect. it started right up no hesitation, and drove it about 10 miles boosted fine no loss of power mechanicly or electronicly. everything worked fine ( wipers, turn signal, brake lights everything) so i bought it drove it about 50 miles or so put 93 octane in it ( filled it up), and at about 8 oclock it started dying. the tach went to 0 and when i reved it it jumped to just under 3grand, and jumped right back down to 0. i was pulling into autozone thankfully and put a new battery in it and it ran fine for about another 30 miles. also when i started the car back up the radio was at full blast and then when i shut it off it didnt work anymore. so today i woke up to go to skool and the car started to do it again. got out of skool and tried to start it and it didnt start. battery was dead( my check engine light is on and my sps light is also on.) also the door locks open and locked by themselfs when the battery wouldnt start my car this afternoon( the key was turned over) and i here a weird ticking coming from under the dash. please help me i am sorry this is so long, i just want my car to run at this point and any info is welcome!

Thanks ~Rj~:talon:
 
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Either your getting a power loss somewhere, or more likely you need to replace the alternator.

If you can get your car jumper and running let your battery charge for about 4-5 mins. then take off the jumper cables. at this point it should still be running. Now to see if it's your alternator pull off your positive cable on your battery, if it dies then it's time for a new alternator, if not then you have to hunt for a shortage somewhere.

Good luck,
Steve
 
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I think I am going to snip all the connectors that hold the harness to the enginer bay and just try and straighten some things out, see if that helps.
 
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ya thats what i am thinking it is an alternator. if it is do u think that would affect my fuel loss because it almost feels like it is detenating when i am driving. b/c our fuel pumps are electric right?
 
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Ok, over the last few days I've had a series of electrical problems that all seem to be linked to my blower motor and or rear defrost switch.

The blower motor does not turn on at all, and neither will the rear defrost. What happens when I do try and turn either one on, is as follows.

1.) Either will turn on my headlights, which then activates the horn.
2.) If the radio was on it kills it (and it's actually stayed dead save for one or two times it's come back on some how).

I've tested everything else in the car electric-wise, and they all seem to work save for the above mentioned. What I do know is this. When the horn originally came on, I pulled the fuse under the hood and it shut off, so (if I'm safe to assume) that means that from the horn to the fuse box under the hood is good, and that the problem lies somewhere between the fuse box under the hood and the steering wheel on the interior.

Can someone confirm that?

If thats the case, then my problem would resemble this (crude) diagram correct?

You must be logged in to view this image or video.
 
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^^ Will do. I don't recall seeing anything when I looked the first time, but then again it was a huge cluster of crap that I was just wading through trying to find a specific wire.

I just found out that my radio is also in the mix for turning on the headlights. Hit the on button for the radio (to see if it made a comeback) and it turned on the headlights. Ugh.
 
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My gauge and dash lights and parking lights went out, and now I found out last night after receiving a ticket that my rear lights went out too. My headlights still work, as do my blinkers and brake lights. I checked all the fuses and they all check out. So where should I start looking for wiring problems first? This all happened completely randomly when I was just driving down the freeway.
 
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luv2rallye said:
Check the taillamp relay in the engine fusebox. They're all the same so you can swap with another to test.
Click to expand...


If that doesnt work, I would go ahead and replace the tail light and gauge fuse, cant remember which on but when one goes out the tail lights and dash lights wont work I think its the dash light fuse.
 
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I'm having the same problem on my '93 TSi. In my case is the fuse in the engine that keeps on frying. If i put a new one it just keeps on burning them sometimes instantly and sometimes it won't do it for a month or so, i have checked almost all the cables from the fuse box in the engine to the taillight and nothing. Some help would be appreciated.
 
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I will start by telling you guys exactly what happened so this might be a little long ok?

As i was driving my alternator went bad on me and over charged the battery. This caused a major spike in the system that turned every thing on in the car! ( wipers came on at full force, every cell in the gauge cluster turned on, and car miss firing.) So when pulled over and checked under the hood i noticed the battery was bloated and a bit of acid spilling off of it.

I towed the car home and found a few problems.

1. Of course alternator and battery.
Replaced both

2. head lights, tail lights, and turn signals were all blown.
Replaced all bulbs and fuses and relays and all works well, Except for one.... as i turned the car on and hit the brakes the brake lights did turn on but the 15 amp fuse blew instantly, I then replaced it with a 30 amp fuse then turned the car on and hit the brakes and it was fine this time but this does draw a bit of concern to me since it does require a 15 amp fuse.


3. Both driver and passenger side seat belts do not retract or open any more. I recall when the huge spike occurred i noticed a bit of smoke behind me on the driver side rear panel.( The panel where the rear speaker sits)

As i took the panel off this is what i found.
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A small ecu type of board and two more relays next to the seat belt motor.

Every thing in this section here smelled burned from the relays to that computer box and the wires that connect to the seat belt motors.

I did replaced all the above mentioned and yet still the seat belts will not work. Also you know the little beep sound that comes on when you first open the door? Well now as i drive it makes that beep sound randomly.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Steve i know your really good at this stuff any ideas?

Thanks

Martin
 
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Thank you so much for the info! as soon as my car gets back from getting painted ill go over the whole wire harness.:)
 
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So i just put my talon in the shop to get the clutch replaced. Got the clutch in the car and everything hooked back up. Now the problem arises that my interior gauges, corner lens, rear running lights don't work. anybody got any idea to what the problem could be. My mechanic says that my fuse box under the hood has no power to the running lights fuse. somebody help i wanna get this car back on the road. A.S.A.P:beatentodeath:
 
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