beating my head against a wall here (electrical system is possessed by satan)
09-25-10, 11:56 PM
#1
beating my head against a wall here (electrical system is possessed by satan)
Ok.
Here's my problem, from the start to current:
Wiper hi switch does not work. I remove it, pull up the fix and say "to hell with that" and throw everything back together the way it was.
I bought new wiper blades because i had drove home the day before and not only did the high speed not work but my wiper blades were ****.
I went ahead and turned the switch to lo and no more nasty noise and was content.
I go to start the car to go for a drive and the motor turns over and yada, yada. It was just ABOUT to start when i hear a shitload of clicks from a relay/starter and then ALL POWER TO THE CAR WAS CUT.
I was like "wtf is this ****" and start checking stuff out. I noted my brake light (idiot cluster) and dome light were dimmed out so check the battery. 12.6-12.91 volts. All good. Ok, moving on.
I went ahead and did a short chassis ground. About 9" of 5ga oxygen free insulated wire to some clean contact i made on the strut tower. Stock chassis ground was left unhooked.
Car fired right up fine. I shut it off, fired it up and repeated this a bunch to make sure it wasn't a fluke. Went and drove around for a bit, shut the car off and smelled gas.
Checked and found a fuel leak (it's in another thread somewhere in this section, shed light into that if you can), tore the uim off and got busy and put everything back together.
Now, i was going to fire the car up to test it (it actually fired with very little if any cranking after i put the short 5ga ground on).
AS SOON AS I WENT TO CRANK IT, INITIAL PROBLEM CAME BACK. Click click click powercut to the entire car.
Every time i did this the clicks decreased in number until eventually i had no clicks.
If i waited about 60 seconds, the dome light would come back on ALL BY ITSELF. Now, as a check, i turned the ignition to the ON position without attempting to crank the motor, clutch was not depressed.
SAME ISSUE sans clicking.
Dome light came back on.
If i turn the key to acc, and dont touch anything at all, my blower will work, wipers will work, blinkers work...everything that should work when acc is on will work. I had to manually shut my sunroof though.....it only works when the key is in "on" position, factory.
So now, i'm in the process of de-looming the entire drivers side (usdm chassis) and i'm finding all kinds of fucked ****. Oxidized and exposed ground and power leads...it's bad.
I did have an issue with my alarm and ripped the control box out two weeks ago. Looking through the fsm, there's a starter cut relay. Perhaps something is tripping this off?
I also ask if these are symptoms of either egi relay (circut opening behind the dash because i WAS in there but i was gentle), main egi relay or the starter cut relay?
I'm just trying to rectify whatever problem i'm having right now and seeing what's causing it to trip like a breaker when i put the key in the "on" position and after a minute, the rest of the chassis has power again. It's really bizarre and i'm rather unfamiliar. It's retarded how much wiring these cars have in them. I'm planning on going full race spec with everything (she'll still be street legal) but for now i'm wanting a fix so i can drive. I dont want to pay insurance on a car that is just gonna sit for 6 more months until i have funds raised to strip her down and start a new.
Here's my problem, from the start to current:
Wiper hi switch does not work. I remove it, pull up the fix and say "to hell with that" and throw everything back together the way it was.
I bought new wiper blades because i had drove home the day before and not only did the high speed not work but my wiper blades were ****.
I went ahead and turned the switch to lo and no more nasty noise and was content.
I go to start the car to go for a drive and the motor turns over and yada, yada. It was just ABOUT to start when i hear a shitload of clicks from a relay/starter and then ALL POWER TO THE CAR WAS CUT.
I was like "wtf is this ****" and start checking stuff out. I noted my brake light (idiot cluster) and dome light were dimmed out so check the battery. 12.6-12.91 volts. All good. Ok, moving on.
I went ahead and did a short chassis ground. About 9" of 5ga oxygen free insulated wire to some clean contact i made on the strut tower. Stock chassis ground was left unhooked.
Car fired right up fine. I shut it off, fired it up and repeated this a bunch to make sure it wasn't a fluke. Went and drove around for a bit, shut the car off and smelled gas.
Checked and found a fuel leak (it's in another thread somewhere in this section, shed light into that if you can), tore the uim off and got busy and put everything back together.
Now, i was going to fire the car up to test it (it actually fired with very little if any cranking after i put the short 5ga ground on).
AS SOON AS I WENT TO CRANK IT, INITIAL PROBLEM CAME BACK. Click click click powercut to the entire car.
Every time i did this the clicks decreased in number until eventually i had no clicks.
If i waited about 60 seconds, the dome light would come back on ALL BY ITSELF. Now, as a check, i turned the ignition to the ON position without attempting to crank the motor, clutch was not depressed.
SAME ISSUE sans clicking.
Dome light came back on.
If i turn the key to acc, and dont touch anything at all, my blower will work, wipers will work, blinkers work...everything that should work when acc is on will work. I had to manually shut my sunroof though.....it only works when the key is in "on" position, factory.
So now, i'm in the process of de-looming the entire drivers side (usdm chassis) and i'm finding all kinds of fucked ****. Oxidized and exposed ground and power leads...it's bad.
I did have an issue with my alarm and ripped the control box out two weeks ago. Looking through the fsm, there's a starter cut relay. Perhaps something is tripping this off?
I also ask if these are symptoms of either egi relay (circut opening behind the dash because i WAS in there but i was gentle), main egi relay or the starter cut relay?
I'm just trying to rectify whatever problem i'm having right now and seeing what's causing it to trip like a breaker when i put the key in the "on" position and after a minute, the rest of the chassis has power again. It's really bizarre and i'm rather unfamiliar. It's retarded how much wiring these cars have in them. I'm planning on going full race spec with everything (she'll still be street legal) but for now i'm wanting a fix so i can drive. I dont want to pay insurance on a car that is just gonna sit for 6 more months until i have funds raised to strip her down and start a new.
09-26-10, 12:15 AM
#2
If you removed the alarm control unit then your starter cut relay is useless. So given that, you need to if you haven't already, disconnect the blue plug from this particular relay and jumper the Black/Green wire to Black/White.
Another thing to do is clean the battery terminals in addition to the ones on the starter and while at the starter clean the solenoid connection. If you could get the car started then take the multimeter set to voltage and place one lead on the alternator housing and the other lead to the negative battery post (not the clamp) and the reading should be no higher than .20 volts= 20 milliamps. This test will tell you the condition of the charging circuit grounds.
On a side note, the wipers, turn signals and blower should not work w/key to ACC, but work w/key to on.
EDIT:
Circuit Opening relay is used only to run the fuel pump.
Main Relay has two plugs to it. One plug has two wires to it and they are a Black/White wire and a solid Black wire. B/W would have battery voltage w/key to on and the solid Black is a ground wire. The ground wire goes to a block of grounds located below and to the side of the trailing coil up against the strut tower and should be cleaned properly which involves unpluggin, removing metal block from fender, sanding the metal mating points of the fender and metal block and the application of dielectric grease.
The second plug on the Main relay has four wires. Two come from the engine fuse box. They are B/G and W/L. The other two wires run from the relay to the coils and injectors (B/Y) while the other wire runs to the emission solenoids, sensors and ECU.
Another thing to do is clean the battery terminals in addition to the ones on the starter and while at the starter clean the solenoid connection. If you could get the car started then take the multimeter set to voltage and place one lead on the alternator housing and the other lead to the negative battery post (not the clamp) and the reading should be no higher than .20 volts= 20 milliamps. This test will tell you the condition of the charging circuit grounds.
On a side note, the wipers, turn signals and blower should not work w/key to ACC, but work w/key to on.
EDIT:
Circuit Opening relay is used only to run the fuel pump.
Main Relay has two plugs to it. One plug has two wires to it and they are a Black/White wire and a solid Black wire. B/W would have battery voltage w/key to on and the solid Black is a ground wire. The ground wire goes to a block of grounds located below and to the side of the trailing coil up against the strut tower and should be cleaned properly which involves unpluggin, removing metal block from fender, sanding the metal mating points of the fender and metal block and the application of dielectric grease.
The second plug on the Main relay has four wires. Two come from the engine fuse box. They are B/G and W/L. The other two wires run from the relay to the coils and injectors (B/Y) while the other wire runs to the emission solenoids, sensors and ECU.
09-26-10, 01:44 AM
#3
Thank you sir. That was helpful.
That block is in rather sad shape.
Because of electrolysis and whatnot, AND having a reverse vented hood, i think maybe water got in there when i was driving and just made things worse. That metal plate has rust and what looks like crystalized battery acid all over it. Some of it was totally exposed and i'm rather lucky i didn't smoke the ecu or anything out with the high potential from any 12v shorting out on the ground due to the exposed inner wires.
THanks for the input/info. If by some chance it doesn't rain tomorrow i will clean that area up as i'm re-doing that part of the harness. The starter crap looks to be covered in oil that had previously pissed out of the motor. I degreased a good bit of it but i suppose i forgot to do the drivers side. Oil is an insulator. I'm pulling the starter off too. Much work to be done!
I'll be taking some pictures in hope this thread will help others one day. I read through the fsm until my eyes started to bleed before posting up here.
That block is in rather sad shape.
Because of electrolysis and whatnot, AND having a reverse vented hood, i think maybe water got in there when i was driving and just made things worse. That metal plate has rust and what looks like crystalized battery acid all over it. Some of it was totally exposed and i'm rather lucky i didn't smoke the ecu or anything out with the high potential from any 12v shorting out on the ground due to the exposed inner wires.
THanks for the input/info. If by some chance it doesn't rain tomorrow i will clean that area up as i'm re-doing that part of the harness. The starter crap looks to be covered in oil that had previously pissed out of the motor. I degreased a good bit of it but i suppose i forgot to do the drivers side. Oil is an insulator. I'm pulling the starter off too. Much work to be done!
I'll be taking some pictures in hope this thread will help others one day. I read through the fsm until my eyes started to bleed before posting up here.
09-26-10, 01:57 AM
#4
Proper grounding procedures. http://www.aaroncake.net/RX-7/grounding.htm
Also, the blue plug to the starter cut relay should remain unplugged after it is jumpered.
Also, the blue plug to the starter cut relay should remain unplugged after it is jumpered.
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