jreynish

iTrader: (2)

So A few days ago I went to make sure everything was ok on my car to take it out of storage. The battery was dead, so i put the booster charger on it and boosted the car. Car started like a champ, ran by itself until i saw temp on the temp guage I then turned it off. The battery is still dead so put a charger on it overnight (automatic one) still battery dead. So I bought a new battery and went out last night to replace it and drive the car out of storage, however;

The Engine turns over (starter turns engine). The door lights,interior lights, headlights do not work.(they all did the other day) The Heater fan blows with the key on, the idiot lights work, but the tach does not. Any thoughts or possible causes the car is about an hour outside the city so i would like a list of things to check for when i go out there.

Hailers? (wiring god)

Car is a 1990 Turbo

pfsantos

iTrader: (1)

Quite odd to have the other stuff stop working at the same time just after replacing a battery. You obviously didn't reverse the battery connections, since the starter turns over correctly.

I'd start by checking fuses.

You may want to PM Hailers so he sees the thread faster.

HAILERS

I never look at pm's. Ever.

Odd problem there. Starting with the headlights........check the Headlight fuse in the engine bay fuse box. The headlight switch, when you turn it, just puts a ground on the Headlight relay. The power for the headlights comes from the engine bay Headlight fuse. The headlight relay gets its power from that same source. But that's the least of your worrys.

The interior lights not working could just be the Illumination fuse in the interior being blown.

The Warning lights working is good. Means the ignition sw is feeding the interior fuse box IG1 fuses.

Tell you what, the Illuminaton fuse in the interior fuse box is part of the Battery bus. IF memory serves, on a series five that batt bus gets fed by the BTN fuse in the engine bay. See if that BTN fuse is good. But that batt bus also feeds the Stop fuse and Hazard fuses in the interior fuse box. See if your Stop lights and Hazards work or not. IF not, then its for sure the BTN fuse in the engine bay fuse box isn't any good.

But none of those fuses on the batt bus have anything to do with starting the car. ENGINE fuse is the main player there.

Tach not working is a pretty big clue. The ENGINE fuse in the interior has to be good for the coils to get power, and Main Relay to pull in (feeds the ECU and injectors.

So check and make sure the ENGINE fuse is good. One fairly quick way to do that is to jumper the yellow, two socket fuel pump check connector in the engine bay and put the key to ON. You should be able to hear the fuel pump run and fuel passing thru the fuel rails on the engine. Engine fuse being bad is my best guess.

Fuse box covers and fuse locations are in the FAQ thread at the beginning of this section.

The interior fuse box cover I attached is series four. Series five Similar.

IN the other jpg, see the green lines on the dwg? Those go to the Batt bus on the interior fuse box. You can see, if you follow the green line, that they get fed in turn by the 60A fuse in the engine bay fuse box at the top of that jpg. Actually from the 60 and 80 amp fuses in the engine bay. So check those fuses in the engine bay. EDIT...EDIT...EDIT....I thought about it and the 80a is good because the starter turns over. The 60a BTN is still suspect.

Still, those don't have squat to do with the engine running. Just the ENGINE and the EGI fuse are engine related. Engine in the the interior and EGI in the engine bay. Could just be that EGI fuse bad as far as the engine no start.

I rambled a bit. You can sort it out.

If you have a meter and none of the above works, pull the plastic cover off the LEAD coild assy to expose thet two wires on the coil and see if they have batt pwer with the key ON. Should.

jreynish

iTrader: (2)

All under hood fuses have been replaced with ones from another car that are known to be working.

The headlight fuse I did not check to be honest because that was not my major concern, but will check and replace with a new fuse just to be certain.

The Ill Fuse is good.

Signal and warning lights do work, not sure about brake lights will have to check tomorrow.

I do not think the main relay is clicking come to think of it, nor the circuit opening relay under the dash.

The engine fuse is good also changed that with a new one. When i jumper the fuel pump connector the fuel pump runs.

what connection do the main relay and the circuit opening relay have in common?

HAILERS

The Main Relay and Circuit Opening relay are both powered by the ENGINE FUSE. But you say it's good. But you also say the fuel pump runs and that's controlled by the Circuit Opening Relay. So that's confusing.

Unless someone has bypassed the normal power path for the fuel pump.

Yeah, see if the Stop lights and Hazard lights work or not. That'll tell if the batt bus is getting fed in the interior.

Since you turn signals work, that meas the IG1 bus that has the engine fuse on it is getting power.

So it seems maybe the Main Relay isn't pulling in even though the engine fuse in the interior is good and getting pwr. No reason to thing the gnd for the Main relay is bad. Worked the other day. Later.

Starting works just like the jpg attached. The ENGINE fuse gets powered up when the key is put to ON and that pulls the MAIN RELAY in. The Main Relay passes the pink and blue power to the coils, injectors and ECU via the EGI fuse in the engine bay.

HAILERS

Kinda seems the headlights and Main Relay use the same gnd point #2. But so do the turn signal lights and they work. Still no reason to think the gnd went bad anyway.

The other jpg was non turbo this one is turbo. Not much difference b/t the two excecp the gnd point for the Main Relay.

Second jpg is just to show how the ENGINE fuse feeds both main relay and circuit opening relay. Can't have one item work and the other not with the fuse being good....seemingly.

jreynish

iTrader: (2)

I have an identical car right next to it based on those diagrams you posted I will;

Replace Main Relay, and Circuit opening relay (from other car)
Replace Headlight fuse
Check to see if brake lights/hazards work, and confrim that turn signals work.

anything else I should check tomorrow when i go out to the car to help diagnose (and hopefully rectify) the problem?

HAILERS

I would not mess with the circuit opening relay. It controls the fuel pump and I think you said the pump works when you jumper the fuel pump check connector. So it must be good imho.

jreynish

iTrader: (2)

well that will be a last resort then, I will let you know how it goes tomorrow, hopefully it is good news!

jreynish

iTrader: (2)

Uppon further investigation;

Brake lights work, reverse lights work, four ways(hazards) work, Signal lights work, Dash lights work.
Head lights and interior/door lights do not work.. all fuses responsible for these circuits replaced.

I switched ecu's from the car to another one and it started right up, it seems while boosting the car the last time I managed to fry the ecu... not sure how.. .but it is completely dead, it does not work in the other car either.

Though i still have the problem of no headlights or interior lights to fix.
any thoughts.

Also when i turn the lights on the marker lights and dash lights do come on, but when the door is open the annoying dinger does not go off to tell me my lights are on.

Help/suggestions to be appreciated I plan to go out to the car again tonight to get a new ecu (which I have in my place) installed.

Thanks

HAILERS

Try the headlights on high and then low beam. It could be you blew the filiment in either the high or low beam of the headlights. They do go up and down though? Or not? They just don't light up, right? Right.

To make the headlights work you turn the headlight switch to ON. What you do when you do that, is put a ground on a wire in the headlight switch and that wire goes to the headlight relay.

Your headlight switch sounds like it is working right. So it's good. The problem is either one or both filiments in the headlights themselves are burnt out, or the headlight OR dimmer relays are bad.

So try the high and low beams and see if one works. Proves the relays are probably good if the lights work in one of those positions.

The red line in the jpg represents the ground you put on the relay when you turn the headlight switch to ON. The BLUE represents the power from the HEADLIGHT fuse in the engine bay.

Both relays are located up front near the left of the radiator area. Headlight relay should click when you select the headlights ON or OFF.

jreynish

iTrader: (2)

Ok, so I found the issue!

The relay for the healights was dead. The high beams did work, and the lights did pop up.
Everything is working, now.

So in short careful boosting your car with a bad battery, you could potentially fry your ecu!