Resolved 2G electical gremlin

[BoostKrazy]

So the other night im on my way to the local street meet (1997 gsx eclipse) and the radio starts turning off then on repeatedly.. looked at my turbo timer and it says 10.0v.. so i stop at my friends house, turbo timer starts dropping in voltage, starts blinking and car dies.. had to jump it to get it running.. got it back to my house and noticed the tail light relay was buzzing.. when i went outside the next morning my tail lights and turn signals and dash lights were on (solid, not blinking).. opened my door to see my light switch was OFF, i had to click it on then off and lights went out.. now i have to disconnect my battery every time i park it or the lights will come on by themselves and drain my battery.. i replaced my alternator and alternator choke fuse, battery and tail light relay.. turbo timer says its charging at 12.3-12.5 with ac on and 13-13.2 with ac off.. so confused.. just want my lights to stay off and not drain my battery over night.. any advice, tips, hints or help will be greatly appreciated.. thanks guys

 

[wrencher]

Did you check fusable link #1 100/120 amp, # 5 40 amp, & # 6 30 amp?
Know I've ran into issues with charging & lamps with these before.

 

[BoostKrazy]

I really need help with this... checked all fuses.. this cars had nothing but problems since i got it.. im seriously depressed.. every day, a new problem, i cant even keep up.. i have around $6,000 in parts sitting here waiting to go in.. but im not putting anything in until it proves to be reliable.. so pissed though..

 

[BoostKrazy]

Ok so i never figured this problem out.. other night i fired it up to go on a little joy ride (so depressing not being able to drive it daily) i got about 20 feet and it died.. jumped it, right when i took cables off, it died.. noticed when i turn ac on, headlights etc, lights dim and battery light gets brighter as i rev.. im really confused.. alt said it was putting out 12.5 volts (even when it was new).. has had 3 new batteries in it.. i really need this car up and running..

 

[wrencher]

12.5 volts for charging is low.
It should be able to do 14 volts.
If the alternator was going hard near or full field, it might get to 12.5 while putting out 80+ amps.

Pulling the battery cable is not a test anymore, not a suggested test method at all on our cars.
Or any other modern ECU/PCM controlled fuel injected engine.

From the sounds of it you may have a charging issue to start with, how old is that alternator?
If your feeling ambitious maybe take the alternator off & get it tested?
That can tell you some of the story, but the ECU is envolved somewhat with the regulator on these.
That the parts store cannot test.

As for the lights staying on, need to check the tail light relay & associated circuits for the issue keeping them on.

 

[BoostKrazy]

Alternator, alt fuse, battery, tail light relay and ecu (dsmlink) are all new.. problem was happening before ecu swap, i even changed the turn signal stick.. and i have to take off the cable or battery dies from lights coming on

 

[shavers55]

troubleshooting that i learned in the Navy is between the good and the bad lies the ugly. battery is good and alternator is good more than likely not the problem either trace flow going before those two units or after units..troubleshoot. I would recommend troubleshooting the ECU. if you have a friend with an eclipse see if they will let you pop and swap and see if the problem still arises. if so you can rule that out. then i would next go for the relay modules with the associated problem. pop and swap those with a friends "pig" and see what happens. most likely you have a short somewhere. thats the thing with electronics the simplest and smallest problem will wreck havoc on your car and your brain. good luck man

 

[BoostKrazy]

The problem is still occuring, i have the turn signal stick completely out of the car and the lights will still come on by themselves, and relay is still buzzing. Me and my buddy pulled somewhat most of the harness (from the fuse box in the bay to the fuse box under the dash) and found a burnt wire (green with white stripe). We replaced the burnt portion of the wire and some other wiring problems we found. We took out an aftermarket alarm, that was horribly put in, and the knock off turbo timer. So now im back at square one, with a bunched of fixed/replaced wires and nothing but factory electronics hooked up. We can not find any other portion of this green/white wire that is burnt/torn/ripped anywhere.
P.S: all other electrical issues have been fixed, I.E alternator, and battery (relocated to trunk)

If anyone can offer a wire schematic of where this wire goes from front to back and in between, or give any details/ideas or thoughts, it would be greatly appreciated.

As always, thanks Tuners
Tyler

 

[stars]

Chances are if you found some burnt wires, you more than likely have burnt the E.C.U., swap with a known good working unit if your confident that you have all the wiring problems fixed. The buzzing relays is a common complaint that occurs when E.C.U. failure is imminent.

Do a search on E-Bay for Factory Service Manuals. There is 2 books that go with each year, make and model of D.S.M's. One book covers drive-train to body inside and outside. The second book covers the entire electrical system from the inside and out. They will answer all your questions plus more, that I will guarantee.

 

[BoostKrazy]

We pulled the ecu (which was new from ecmlink) and no leaking caps or burn tracks, and no smell of electrical burn. Im so confused right now. Other than this, the car is running perfect, better than it ever has. Fixed the trans, ball joints, axles, oil leaks, minor wire tuck, emission delete, battery relocate (the electrical problem was before this) and like 6k in brand new aftermarket parts..

i also forgot to mention, yesterday after we thought we fixed all the burnt wires and thought we fixed the problem, i plugged the turn signal switch back in, jumped the fuse with a copper wire, and turn the lights on and off repeatedly, and the turn signal stick started smoking (which was brand new, first thing i replaced when this problem first occurred).

could a bad ground be causing this problem? a hot wire? short?
aarrrghhhhh so frustrated!!!

 

[stars]

I would say you found out where the short was at when you seen the part smoking, secondly not best to jump fuses with copper wire. The fuses are in place just so you will minimize component damage if a short to ground on a positive wire does occur. Since you said you have to unplug the turn signal switch over night, because it does kill or drain the battery, I would say you have isolated where your problem is; have you not? I am almost leaning toward that you may have got a bad turn signal switch but, I think you need to check over the the wires, fuses and relays that run the lights and turn signal circuits first. I still say you got some wiring disfunction going on, so that is why I say check that stuff first before you invest in another turn signal switch.

 

[BoostKrazy]

Ok, so me and my buddy pulled an all nighter last night trying to figure this out..
and the problem was SOLVED!!!
i started pulling the harness and sure enough, found 4 green/white wires from the engine bay fuse box, running under the radiator and behind the driver fender that were bubbled, burnt, black, melted, you name it. Traced them back to the point where they were no longer burned, snipped em and spliced 4 new wires in. No problems at all today