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?

 

[ChicagoGSX]

I checked the voltage on the battery and it is 12 volts, I'm not sure if that helps. I also replaced the negative battery connector with one that fits. Please any help would be appreciated.

 

[bobgeorge]

have you checked all your fuses?

 

[ChicagoGSX]

It turns out I blew my alternator fuse.

 

[candela]

Allright guys Ive been trying to diagnose my problem here for the last 3 days. I cannot get my car started do to the fuel pump fuse...here is the story:

Driving down the road and bam! car is dead. Long part short, the fuel pump is one of the first things I always check, I checked it and saw it was the fuse.. put in 3 new ones and they all blew immediately when turning the car on.

-I get it home and immediately start trying to figure this out. I went and got a new relay (as my FP is rewired) and started there...fuse blown.
-I rewire (solder) all the connections and use a better ground..fuse blown
-I go and get 10 gauge wire to the battery and a bigger 30amp fuse and fuse holder, check all connections...fuse blown

Keep in mind as soon as the car is turned to the on position the fuse automatically blows. This started out of no where while I was driving down the road.

-turn the car on check to see what Im getting at the battery and its 12.7 volts. I make sure the test connector isnt grounded and also check for continuity, no open ground...I cannot start the car to see if its spiking or anything. Since it was 12 volts I figured something must be grounding somewhere. I check all the wiring again, make sure the relay is correctly wired, put in a new fuse...bam! fuse blown

At this point the only thing I can assume is that I will need to rewire it stock again to rule out my wiring judgement (which Im positive is correct). I have quite a few things running off of my better including an amp power wire, alram, fan switch...etc which have all been there for a while now. Electronics is the one part of my car where I get silly so Im pretty much out of suggestions for myself To me the only thing that would make sense is either a surge of power (hense why I went up to a larger fuse/fuse holder) or a faulty ground (aside from damaged connectors and such, which Ive checked)....

So I am now open to all suggestions and comments on where to go next. Id like to get the car started so I can finish this project... thanks for all feedback

 

[CraigB]

What you need to do is start at the fuel pump. Disconnect the fuel pump and the turn on the key if it blows a fuse it is not the fuel pump. Then just work your way up to the fuel pump relay disconnecting and checking to see if you still blow fuses. It will be easy to find if it blows fuses every time.

 

[candela]

Well I actually have been outside the last half hour and tried that. I just came into get a drink and saw your post. Im going to finish and see whats up, but thanks for your reply. Ill update in about an hour or so.

 

[candela]

Update:

I tried following from the pump and got all these different results...

First I removed the power wire from the relay and the fuse didnt blow (obviously), then hooke dit back up and got the following: removed each of the other wires one at a time and it didnt blow any of the times. So I figure that the signal from the power is connecting to something and going farther to the pump so I removed the coverand reconnected everything and got nothing.

I then followed the power wire again from the batter covering every centimeter of wire and found one little spot where it had to be grounding. I figured that this would be the problem so I taped thesnott out of it and tried it again...boom fuse blown Followed it all the way to the pump and found nothing else...

So now I went to the store and bought more fuses and another relay just to be safe and found all the same results. So, I hooked another power wire up to my truck with a inline fuse, disconnected the regular power wire all in hopes that I may have missed something in my wire. I go to turn it on and the fuse doesnt blow but the pump doesnt turn on and the car obviously wont start at this point.

So now Im back to where I started with no clues in mind again and no idea where to finish this off. i figured it to be pointless to rewire it back to stock as it would be skipping this problem and trying to tackle another. I would want to keep it with the stock wiring anyhow. All of the other wires coming off the relay are all less than 2 feet in length and can easily be traced and I found no sign of damage to any, and reconnected them all to be sure.

I did however install a new pump about a week ago, but rechecked all the connections directly from the pump and everything was fine.
So unless Im really stupid and Im missing something vital here, what else is there to do? PLEASE, any input would be greatly appreciated and immediately sought out as I am fresh out of idea's. Thanks

 

[CraigB]

Do you have a multi-meter? If so set it to ohms and put one probe to body ground and the other probe to each wire. Every wire should read open the meter should not display anything unless you check the ground circuit. If one of them displays anything on the meter you found a short to ground. Oh and do this with the pump disconnected because a electric motor is a short to ground.

Let me know if you have any other ?'s I don't know how you have this wired if you can send me some pictures of the wiring you added.

CraigB

 

[candela]

I got it all set now...

I took off the power again and made a completely new one and used it and it did the same. So I concluded it had to be in the tank (which I checked). Its was a crack in the plastic harness of the pos. and ground the was connecting the pins together. I didnt see it the first time as I left it alone and just checked the position of them. Its all fixed now, but I appreciate your replies Craig...

 

[Novtec1]

Funny how the smallest thing causes the biggest problem... i was thinking something was touching but you got it figured out. glad you did.

 

[92BoostedTsi]

Ok I have a 92 TSI and if the engine is running everthing works fine. If the motor is off the whole car is dead. even with the key in the acc/on position. The only thing that comes on when your in the acc/on is the gauge lights, (check engine,abs, oil, coolant lights) turn signals, and front and rear wipers. the power seat belts dont work, headlights, parkinglights, hazards, dome lights, floor lights. also the radio doesnt work at all weather the car is running or not. that could be a different problem. does anyone have a good wiring diagram that i could get or have had a simular problem.

Thanks
Matt

 

[Lordpaxin]

Fuses

 

[92BoostedTsi]

All fuses under the hood and under the dash are good.

Matt

 

[J-Syght]

Well, I just brought a 99 GST, & coming right out of the dealership, there was a big puddle of water, which right after I hit, the service engine soon light came on, turns out it was just the loose cable to the battery. Well, since then it's been about three days, & when I come to a red light, with the A/C on it seems as is the car wants to turn off on me, or when I roll down the windows it seems, to dem my headlights. I can't figure out what it is. This car is just stock, there's nothing done yet. So if anyone knows what it could be please let me know. Thanxz

 

[truwarrior]

my lights dim when I roll down my windows.

 

[lowavenger96]

Clean the battery termals and have the battery load tested..

 

[Colossus]

Ok, this is gonna be kinda long, but here we go

I recently installed a boost and A/F Gauge in my 91 Talon TSi. I had some slight problems with running the wires for the gauges lights. I tried connecting it to the fuses in the fuse box on the interior driver side, but that didn't end up doing anything, no matter which fuse I tried. I kept unplugging fuse after fuse after fuse to try and find which 1 controlled my cigarette lighter and such, but after removing each one of them 1 by 1, the light never went off. That's kinda weird, being that even the diagram on the fuse box cover tells you which fuse the cigarette lighter is, and even that one resulted with nothing.

So, I ran the wires through the front fender panel and under the hood, across the bay along the firewall, all the way over to the battery. Just for something temporary until I had more time to sit down and run everything correctly and neatly. Well, it worked in my fog lights, but not in my headlight or tail light relays/fuses. I went ahead and connected them to the fog light one. Everything worked fine. Next day comes, and the gauge lights wont come on unless my bright lights are on. Keep in mind, my wires were still connected to the fog light relay/fuse. (Note that I say relay/fuse, because Im not sure wether the big black boxes in your fuse box under the hood are relays or fuses, I've heard both. They're 4 pronged with 2 one color, and the other 2 a darker color.)

So, we went ahead and switched them over, just trying to see the problem is, to the tail light relay/fuse. This resulted in a spark. I don't believe it was because I hooked them up backwards (ground/power), but because 1 of the single wires from the overall group of wires slipped over into another prong insert and made a brief connection. I thought nothing of it and continued on. When this yielded no result in the gauge lighting up, I simply ran the wires back inside and left'em there until I got back to my house to work on them some more.

Now, here comes the really interesting part. On the way home, my gauge lights wouldnt come on, tail lights wouldnt come on, and my headlights wouldnt come on, but yet the headlight pop-ups would pop-up. Upon arriving to the house, we found we had blown 10 Amp fuse, and went ahead and replaced that. This resulted in the working of the gauge lights, tails, and parking lights. Still no headlights. Went ahead and tried several of the same relay/fuses in the headlight fuse/relay housings within the fuse box in the engine bay. Still nothing. So, I went ahead and called a local garage to get a schematic of my wiring for the car printed up for $1.79. Started the car to go, and my headlights come on. Was like ok, maybe the car has to be on for the headlights to come on for some reason. Turned the car off, headlights still come on. That makes no sense.

After that, I went ahead and went to the garage, everything still working fine, went to Papa Johns, everything still working fine, and came home. From there, my power locks refuse to work. I have to unlock/lock both doors manually now instead of both of them unlocking/locking when the opposite door does. I also have no interior lights now, but that fuse is from me removing it.

Another really interesting electrical problem is the fact that after running the car for a while, I'll shut it off and leave it for a few hours or over night. When I turn it back on, my radio's shut off, and all my stations are reset. It acts as if the battery has been disconnected, but it hasn't. This doesnt happen everytime, just once in a while out of no where.

None of this makes any friggen sense to me, and it's becomming quite a pain, that and the fact that I cracked another radiator return line on the way to school today, and started pouring it all over the engine and street. Great day...Great day.

Anyone have any suggestions as to the problem might be? I'm at school now, so I'll update on any other weird problems when I return.

 

[Colossus]

Solved.

Wow, didn't know that removing your interior lights fuse could cause all those problems. Replaced it, problems solved. Connected my boost gauge power to my radio fuse, as nothing else seemed to work well Guess it's just stayen on whenever my car is on.

 

[Stock_Eclipse]

My 97 N/T has been acting up the past few weeks and I dont know what the problem is, I am hoping that someone can shed some light on the problem. The car has times that it doesnt want to start and when I turn the key to start it everything goes dead and it has to power back up.
I have put a new battery and starter in and I still cant figure it out, also when I hit the brakes my stereo cuts out I dont know if it is a bad connection or if its something else? I hope someone can help.
Kyle

 

[Pointer]

Take the positive battery leads apart and clean them.

 

[Mike1992]

go to autozone or something and have them check your alternator for -FREE!!!

 

[laserblue]

Do the usual battery maintenance... which is... remove both clamps and clean the inside surfaces with emery cloth [or whatever], then clean the battery posts, then follow the negative cable to the fire wall and take that bolt connection off and clean it also. Inspect every wire that you can find.
Try starting the beast again!
Let us know how you make out!

 

[Dick_Hertz]

Okay so I just put in a 16g turbo on my 97 spyder gs-t it has the stock alarm system. I disconnected all of my spark plug wires so I could prime the turbo. When I went to start the car I noticed that my inside lights didn’t turn on. So I though my battery was dead. So I put the key in the ignition so I could jump-start it and the dash lights came so I tried to start it. It turned over and I held it for like 30 seconds. After I conected the spark plug wires and started it. It started fine but my light still would not turn on. My power locks, windows didn’t work my headlights turned on. So I turned the car off and the headlights stood on and my horn was going off. I ran and disconected the battery. Then reconected the battery the horn was off but when I opened the door it went off again and the headlights turned on. So I pulled the fuse for horn. So now on my dash the battery light is on but it goes away when I rev it pass like 4k rpms and when I open the doors or the trunk the headlights turn on what gives. Thanks for any help you guys can give.

 

[1999GS]

I have a 1999 Eclipse GS. Last week my radio stopped working and my interior lights started flickering. The fuses were fine so I suspected that the was a short somewhere. I removed the fuses for the int lights and radio to prevent shorting untill I had time to get it fixed. Then a few days later, I had my heater cranked and when I pressed the rear defrost button, the horn started going off. I shut the car off and when I turned it back on the horn was still going off. I pulled the horn fuse and now I have no Heat (fan doesnt work), Rear Defrost, or Dash Lights. I have check all the fuses and currently have the dash taken apart and have been looking for melted wires for the last 3 days. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to find where the wires are bad or have any other ideas as to what could be wrong? Any suggestions would be greaty appriciated as my car is undrivable since I really need my defrost in this cold Canadian winter.

 

[laserblue]

Just a wild guess, since I know nothing about the later cars.... It sound more like an "open" rather than a "short", since "shorts" blow fuses. You could have a loose or melted connection to/from a ground, so electricity is finding weird alternate paths to take.
Like I just said....... a wild guess.
Happy hunting.... and write back if you luck out and find the problem. I'm curious!!!!