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?

 

[marcmsj]

the voltage drop at higher rpm's stopped... however it's still reading in the lower 12 volts. if the radiator fan is on, lights on, rear defroster on, i've seen it dip as low as mid 10 volts. belt is in good shape and tight (12,000 miles on belt)

voltage drops down the worst when i have my blinkers on. voltage drop is so much that i can hear the whine of my fuel pump change.

i'm thinking of hooking up a good battery to see if that would solve the problem... i'm running out of ideas.

 

[ClevSilverEclip]

Did you get a chance to check your grounds yet?


-A
/

 

[marcmsj]

Did you get a chance to check your grounds yet?


-A
/

yeah, i looked at all the grounds, cleaned them off, and made sure there was a good connection. no results. i'm also considering doing some sort of grounding kit. just using thicker gauge wires at all the ground points. guess i should just start with the cheapest solution and work my way up. as far as i could tell though, the wires all looked fine.

 

[LRS95TSI]

last night i went to leave my house and none of my gauges were working. mph, tach, odometer, and no power was getting to my a/f, and oil pressure, and boost (i have lit gauges)...no fuses are blown, any ideas?...or am i stuck going to a mechanic

 

[LRS95TSI]

i can't figure it out. all my fuses seem to be ok. what i can't figure out is that my boost gauge or my oil pressure or a/f aren't working cuz their power is connected to fuses inside my car. but my tack, odo, and speedometer won't work along with the lights for them? is it a short or am i missing something easy. i really need this crap to work man. WTF

 

[luv2rallye]

If you're not getting power, it almost has to be a fuse. Recheck them (and fusable links) using http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=179914

 

[LookDadNoBdyKit]

Last night some wires shorted out. I blew ignition fuse, radio fuse. I replaced them today but theres still some problems. The radio fuse was totally melted and deformed. The radio wasnt turning on. The constant power wire isnt getting any voltage at any time. I hooked up the constant wire coming off the radio to the main ignition wire and got the radio to turn on.

The speaker amp is also powering up, however, there is no sound coming out of any speakers. The volume IS NOT set to zero so there is some other problem.

This is the first problem.

The next problem is that the auto door locks, dome light, door buzzer are NOT working. I checked all the fuses under the dash and they are all good. I replaced them with new ones to be sure and nothing works still.

Any clue why my constant power wire isnt getting any voltage at all? Any idea why there is no sound coming out of speakers? Any idea why non of the accessories are working?

Id appreciate help ASAP! I need to drive up to the bay area this weekend and need to have all this stuff fixed by then.

Thanks,

Eric

 

[sonicnofadz]

check ALL the fuses in the car. There are two fuse boxes under the hood, and a fuse box under the dash...sounds like you may have fried alot of electrical components due to a high surge in current...your ecu also might be dead.

 

[LookDadNoBdyKit]

I checked all the fuses and they were fine.

The ECU isnt dead. The car starts and revs fine.

 

[huafist]

What wires shorted out? If the radio fuse was in as bad of shape as you say, then you need to start tracing wires back to where they've been burnt in two. That's why you're not getting voltage (or they've been electrically welded to something else).

 

[LookDadNoBdyKit]

What wires shorted out? If the radio fuse was in as bad of shape as you say, then you need to start tracing wires back to where they've been burnt in two. That's why you're not getting voltage (or they've been electrically welded to something else).

Im not sure which one exactly, but it looks like one of the wires that came off the ignition wire that i tapped into for my gauges etc.

I cut out all the old wires and put in new wires.

Is it possible that something metled inside the actuall wiring harnass?

 

[huafist]

Im not sure which one exactly, but it looks like one of the wires that came off the ignition wire that i tapped into for my gauges etc.

I cut out all the old wires and put in new wires.

Is it possible that something metled inside the actuall wiring harnass?

Like I said, start tracing things back. A multimeter will be your friend in this case. I'd start with the wires that I thought shorted, and then go back from there. You've obviously got something shorted or burnt in two somewhere or things would work. Good luck.

 

[1LE]

Ugh, been there done that. I had the illumination wiring short out in my radio. Melted the taillight fuse right down into the box, completely lost one wire from the fuse box back to near the power steering (as in GONE, completely vaporized). Big masses of other wires melted together... Oddly enough the car ran, ECU is fine, etc. Only other casualty was the battery.

Start where the melted stuff is and work your way along the wiring harness until you're past that section. Splice in new wiring as needed, repair old wiring insulation as possible (most of mine just melted the insulation off, no actual damage to the copper wire within). It was a time consuming job, but isn't hard. Mine took forever since it happened in the winter and there were lots of days I couldn't work on it due to the cold (so cold the electrical tape would not work properly).

 

[BulliT]

Ever since I bought my car I have had severe electrical problems, two alternators and three battery's later, I have purchased the alternator fuseable link and replaced it.

Now ever since that fuse blew, my radio(aftermarket blaupunkt) and my climate control panel wont turn on or work what so ever.

I checked the 10A fuse for the radio under the hood and it looks fine, and as far as the climate control can it be the relay for the A/C compresser/ climate ?


I have seaarched over and over, and this problem is really driving me crazy.

 

[IMMORTALSPYDER]

Check the wiring behind your radio. See if some previous owner hacked it up and crossed a wire. I had a similar problem in one of my previous cars. The wiring connector from Best Buy was wired wrong and connected a + to a -. Let's just say different things in my car kept blowing and catching on fire at random.

 

[BulliT]

Check the wiring behind your radio. See if some previous owner hacked it up and crossed a wire. I had a similar problem in one of my previous cars. The wiring connector from Best Buy was wired wrong and connected a + to a -. Let's just say different things in my car kept blowing and catching on fire at random.

My radio to say the least is sort of retarded, when it worked, if I went over a bump too hard the radio would be on but no sound comes out, The install is not professional on the headunit, so I will have that checked.

 

[IMMORTALSPYDER]

Ya that sounds like the best place to start since you're already having issues with the wiring.

 

[luv2rallye]

My radio to say the least is sort of retarded, when it worked, if I went over a bump too hard the radio would be on but no sound comes out, The install is not professional on the headunit, so I will have that checked.

Make sure all the connections (especially the speakers) are SOLDERED. Most places won't do that cause it takes time but that is the #1 reason for no sound over bumps.

 

[allstockdsm]

ok, so im driving down the road about a week ago and from inside the dash come a ticking sound like when you take two wires with an electrical chararge and rap then together, also when it does this the car acts like it dies for a split second and the gas does nothing. over the next few days it gradually gets worse until one night im going home and it starts doing this every few seconds until the car is barely running an it dies. now, if i try to start it it will fire once or twice but wont start up. if anyone has an idea about what might be wrong your help is greatly appreciatly and if this helps about a week before it did this i put a new alternator in it and it is a 90 plym. laser

 

[poppyseed]

somebody close this thread for neglect of using the search

 

[smuckles]

somebody close this thread for neglect of using the search

I agree with poppyseed

Search for ecu caps, and read through vfaq.com

 

[allstockdsm]

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[Flavor-DSM]

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[goingDSMsoon]

Boy I bet he is mad right now.

 

[ddavisaf]

Wow... regardless of him searching or not you should at least try and help him. Point him in the right direction at least....

The problem is in fact your ecu capacitors. When they begin to leak they eat the traces on the ecu board. You will need to take your ecu out and open it up to see how bad the damage is.

"steve" on the board is the ecu wiseman. PM him and he will be able to give you the appropriate links in order to replace the caps.