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

[NJGSX96]

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?

 

[Robster]

Alright, I'll have to check out the coil pack, cause today when I tried starting it after it had been plugged in all night it didn't even attempt to turn over but the tach jumped up to about 1k and bounced slightly like it would if it was starting normally, then slowly lowered like it would trying to start with a dying battery.

 

[honduraneclipse]

Okay, so I thought my misfiring problems originated from possible leaking capacitors in the ECU, so I took that out and took it apart and replaced them. Put it all back together, same problem. I have two relays that click for some reason, the one on the firewall directly behind the throttle body. As well as the one behind the interior panel on the drivers side which looks like it might have something to do with the seatbelts. My battery is also going dead very quickly, so I don't really know what is giong on, and what are those two relays for. Thanks in advance for your help.

the same relay on my drivers side is clicking... and also my battery is dying out and has to be started with a jump.... oh yeah by the way i have a 6 bolt motor in my car ...so i guess i have to check my spark(coilpack)...also im going to test out my alternator which has over 130,000 miles on it autozone does free testing so im going to take it to them....

 

[DamionGST]

My car was down for a blown up cluch for a month (had to save the cash for the clutch). When I put the clutch in and start the car it runs for about two minutes then the dash lights and kick panel lights start flickering (any light that is on when it starts doing it starts flashing). So I shut it down and hooked up a multimeter to my alternator output. Started it and it ran fine then after about ten mins it does it again, and I see that the voltage spikes to 17volts so I quickly shut it down and change the alternator. Next alternator does the same thing but only spikes to 15volts when flashing occurs. So now I barrow my buddies alternater that we know works and the voltages stays within factory limits but I still have flashing lights.

This is what I checked so far:

1. alternator
2. wiring from the alterantor to battery
3. wiring from alternator to alternator relay
4. wire from alternator relay to ignition (black/w white stripe)
5. there is blue wire coming off the relay I can't figure out where it goes
6. checked the battery its good


If anybody has any ideals I would appreciate it.

 

[DamionGST]

Also does anyone have the mitsu 2g electrical service manual on cd they can emial me?

 

[94etalondl]

Okay. here is my problem. last year, I blew my tranny... so I let the car sit up. I just recently fixed the tranny. now no brake lights, no heater blower, no interior lights, no map lights, and the automatic shoulder straps only work when the key is on. I'm very confused and my book and telling me nothing. Plz help undefined

 

[GTM]

Okay. here is my problem. last year, I blew my tranny... so I let the car sit up. I just recently fixed the tranny. now no brake lights, no heater blower, no interior lights, no map lights, and the automatic shoulder straps only work when the key is on. I'm very confused and my book and telling me nothing. Plz help undefined

Have you checked fuses to see if you have power going to them. Since you had the tranny out it requires disconnecting battery cables and it's easy for one of the main fuses to blow and take out several circuits. They may be under a small cover next to the main fuse box and are quite large. You may have heard an unexplained pop and forgotten about it but that would be my first thought.

Cheers,
GTM

 

[94etalondl]

I have checked all of the fuses, none are blown. I may have to recheck in the daylight. I do remember having the ignition switch out at one point.. Do you think it could cause that too??? But I put it back in and it starts and runs fine, with the exception of low and old gas. About the blower, the switch gets power, but no power to the blower. Unless, there is a fuse missing from a thing where there is none shown in the interior fuse panel, but I tried to put fuses in. I read from a earlier post that there is a fused that would cause that. but I'm not sure which one it is.

 

[GTM]

I have checked all of the fuses, none are blown. I may have to recheck in the daylight. I do remember having the ignition switch out at one point.. Do you think it could cause that too??? But I put it back in and it starts and runs fine, with the exception of low and old gas. About the blower, the switch gets power, but no power to the blower. Unless, there is a fuse missing from a thing where there is none shown in the interior fuse panel, but I tried to put fuses in. I read from a earlier post that there is a fused that would cause that. but I'm not sure which one it is.

With so many circuits out I would be inclined suggest you recheck your previous tests. I much prefer a test light to a multi-meter for this for you don't have to look at the meter while you are probing both sides of the terminals for the light is easy to recognize. Your comment about the seat belts may be the clue that it's independent of the ignition switch so it doesn't have to be on. The same can be said for the parking light switch.

I don't remember how the back of the ignition switch looks, some have a short harness which connects to the main harness and some plug directly into the back of the switch. It is the latter which can be forced together off register so only a few connections are made. I've never tried this with a live circuit (battery connected) so cannot say what would happen if this was done but suspect it could be seriously disasterous.

As for the blower off the top it feed into a speed controller which if memory serves is made from resistance wire. This unit is mounted in the blower plenum (blower housing /box) and is accessable from the engine side.

We can get into more of these things if all the fuses are good.

Cheers,
GTM

 

[94etalondl]

Time to make myself look like an idiot.... I happen to be looking through my book and noticed where the brake lights where hooked up to a fuseable link before the fuse box. So I was going to go out side and I got the interior fuse cover and was geting the one from the engine compartment as well. I noticed when I looked down that the bat fuseable link was missing. *I think my brother took it off and put in the eclipse when sold it to him when I noticed the turbo was starting to glow a bright cherry red and the waste gate was locked up*. So I went and pulled a fuseable link off my parts car and put it in and my problems went away. Blower, brakes, dome, and map lights are now working.

 

[GTM]

Time to make myself look like an idiot.... I happen to be looking through my book and noticed where the brake lights where hooked up to a fuseable link before the fuse box.
...
Blower, brakes, dome, and map lights are now working.

Super, now which of us gets first dibs on boxing little brother around for not leaving an IOU note. Good thing it wasn't the throw out bearing eh??

Cheers,
GTM

 

[94etalondl]

it is acutally bigger brother. and if he wanted that tob of the bad tranny he is more than welcome. by the way, it is always a good idea to fix bad axles. *that is why the tranny went down it it* By the way, the old one I sold to my bro was a 90 GSX. Is it normal for the turbo to glow cherry red???

Thanks alot for helping

 

[butane]

Is it normal for the turbo to glow cherry red???

Yeah, that is normal. It is especailly bright after running the car hard.

 

[GTM]

it is acutally bigger brother. and if he wanted that tob of the bad tranny he is more than welcome. by the way, it is always a good idea to fix bad axles. *that is why the tranny went down it it* By the way, the old one I sold to my bro was a 90 GSX. Is it normal for the turbo to glow cherry red???

Thanks alot for helping

Sure thing. Bigger bro eh, you hold him...

What was the relationship of bad axles and wiping out the tranny that you had? Carrier bearing, pinion? You might take a look in the repair manual and see if there is a procedure for aligning the engine on the engine mounts. This is frequently overlooked by mechanics who don't scribe bolt locations and just stuff it in there. This can set the stage for the chain of events you experienced.

Back in the good old days when high performance imports were pulling 1-3 hp per sq in. seeing glowing manifolds was common. Unfortunately as smog laws became tighter it became a rare sight until turbos were introduced and what was once forgotten became common place again.

Combustion temps are in the 2,000-3,000F degrees and with the turbo forcing those super heated gasses out the exhaust starts to glow dull red around 1,300F which is why you can't use mild steel which starts to become plastic and will sag. Needless to say they will get more than dull red when the engine has been asked to perform. Many turbo equipped car owner's manual will advise letting the engine cool down by running at idle for a minute before turning the key off just because of this condition. Some are equipped with sensors which will allow the cooling fans to run for a short while after the key is turned off just to keep underhood temps down.

Cheers,
GTM

 

[pballernh]

Alright so my problem is this. I turn my ign to ON and my lights on my dash come on, but when I turn it to START and my ECU resets. I know this because my DSMLink knows this. So anyways, I also get my fuel pump relay clicking madly under my center console. I figured fiist it was a short somewhere in my electrical so I checked the wiring under the steering column and from what I can see everything is fine. I thought maybe the alternator is toast because my battery is drained. I charged the battery up and tried boosting my car but that didn't work and battery voltage is fine now. My radio doesn't do anything and I ended up disconnecting it with the rest of my center console. Then I tried disconnecting my TT and that didn't help anything.

SO anyways, I had a Viper 791XV installed at a store down the street just a few weeks ago. It has been working fine but now it won't do anything. When I turn my ign to START it is almost like the starter disable is going. I am starting to think there is something wrong with my alarm/install. I wanted to hear what people have to say before I go to the store.

Thanks

 

[ndilo21]

If you never had the problems before the alarm install than that is probably the problem. Bring it back to the place who installed the alarm and see what they say.

 

[chrisparrott]

dude pull the alarm is a little black box under you dash near your fuse box that ####ing viper shit is junk

 

[marcmsj]

I installed a new alternator yesterday after my original one decided to fail on me which was pretty expected with a car of my age.

anyway, after installing the new alternator, i decided to look at the voltage output on my turbo timer and at idle and while driving, it would fluctuate between 12.4-13.1 volts, mostly in the upper 12 volts, which is pretty low. after doing a WOT pull and reaching about 5000-5500 rpm, voltage dropped to 11.0 volts and my instrument lights and headlights dimmed out and then went back to normal after reaching cruising rpms. i did this a couple more times to see if i had the same results and the same thing happened.

question is... could it just be a faulty alternator? i did buy a reman one and am getting it replaced in a little bit but was wondering if there could be anything else wrong with my car. bad ground? short somewhere? any specific points i could check? i tested my battery out at pep boys and according to them, it's still in good condition, and it's a fairly new battery. i did check all the ground connections i could find in the engine bay, checked my battery terminals and wires, even the wire going from the alternator to the p/s pump and everything looked fine.

if i do in fact change the alternator and i get the same problem, what else should i look for? there is also a sqeaking sound that i noticed coming from the belt towards the rear of the engine (closer to the firewall) could a pulley be bad and causing this? any suggestions would be appreciated.

Marc

 

[trapspeed]

What's up?

Well, I was pulling my o2 housing out of my car today and had forgot my buddy turned my car on to listen to music. While I was pulling the housing out the o2 sensor tapped against something metal in my engine bay. Since then my window's haven't rolled up, my radio is not working nor the lights on the rear view mirror. Also, my headlights tend to stay on even if the car is off! The lights turn back on as soon as I connect the positive terminal on my battery.

I looked at the fuses and noticed my Alternator fuse blew. Any idea what the problem could be?

 

[luv2rallye]

Since then my window's haven't rolled up, my radio is not working nor the lights on the rear view mirror.

Not a wiseman yet but I'm an expert on dsm electrical systems. The two fuses in the lower left of the engine fuse box control all those so test them. As for the headlights, check if the headlight relay is stuck on (4th one in from the right in middle row od engine fusebox).

 

[GTM]

...
I looked at the fuses and noticed my Alternator fuse blew. Any idea what the problem could be?

Replace that fuse and the rest will probably be just fine.

What happens is the relays which depend on that circuit may find another path to activate the relay but not pass current to activate the units. This is in part caused by the bulb check system as it tests for burned out bulbs which has a bunch of conditional branching getting it's circuit through another fuse. (I think I said that right)

If not, let us know.

Cheers,
GTM

 

[dave99gst]

u now no the reason why every 1st step for maintainance normaly
states - remove one of the battery cables.

Ya im thinkin if you change the ALT fuse the rest will fall into line.

 

[trapspeed]

Thanks everyone.

Electrical problems are so tricky. Heh. I'll replace it and let you know.

 

[marcmsj]

so i installed the new alternator a few days ago and i'm having the same problems.. so it wasn't the alternator. voltage readings usually fluctates between mid 12 to low 13 volts which is considerably low. once or twice it was sitting in the upper 11's and i noticed the lights dim. my only guess now would be the grounding so i'm probably going to try that next. any other suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[2gPressure]

Thats a tuff one. I assume that when it was changed the belt was looked at to see if it is worn out and was tightened good. It could definetly do something like that if either weren't right. More symptoms would help. If it does it at a stop and revving the motor I would have another battery/alternator check done to get a better idea. Or if it does it in all first three gears at the same rpm too the only variant in your problem is engine rpm so I would look into parts that are related to engine rpm such as everything on the belts, like the starter, A/C, and power steering. they could be internally shorting and worsening the short at high rpms. maybe unplug them and the starter once the car is started and drive like that? im not saying do this, it's at least an idea

 

[Mack]

Check the running voltage at the battery. Most wires you can tap into have SOME sort of resistance inline, or have something attatched to lower the voltage. Crank pulley could have something to do with it if it is starting to seperate. If it hasn't been replaced w/in 5 yrs I would do it.