How do I track down an electrical gremlin?
 

Ok, ive got a problem, thats preventing my -RE from coming to life.

Whenever I try to hook up the battery, I get a nasty popping noise, and black marks on the terminal. So I k now somethings shorting out. I tried pulling out the main fuses in the engine bay, except the main one. Still no change. I did some wiring to the stock harness, so I could use the -RE alternator, and thought that maybe my wiring there was faulty. so I disconnected the connections to the alternator, and tried again, with no change. None of the things Ive added, (ECU, gauges, electric fan) have been wired yet, so it cant be one of them messing it up. So im wondering, where do I go now?

I had the same problem when I reinstalled the tranny. I must have not been very careful with the starter. The starter fried on my and was shorting out. The starter also wasn't fused. When I connected the battery, i would see big sparks and black marks on the post. Eventually I got the nerve to hold the terminal to the post. I did and started seeing smoke. From the starter.. thats how I tracked down the problem. I wouldn't really suggest you do the same though... I could have very easily had a huge fire.

well... its a possibility anyway.

Hmm. Ill have to check the starter wiring.

Pull the negative battery terminal, hook up a test light to ground and the other end to the - battery terminal. Start unplugging things/fuses etc until the light goes away.

My friend had the same problem on his Corolla SR5 to GTS conversion. He couldn't figure it out so I did the same thing as Kenteth. Just forced it on there, waited a few secs, and then saw smoke comming from the alternator ground. He was then able to fix it in a matter of minutes. Its probably not the best solution, but it worked for him.

Tim

Aah - the smoke test...

The starter wires seem a good place to start(you already disconnected the alternator). Disconnect the power wire from the starter and try again. If you still get a arc when putting the cables on, try this.......Just below the engine fuse box, there is a single black wire with a single connector on it. Disconnect that wire and try again. If you have no spark/arc as you connect the battery cables, then suspect something in the ignition/key area. That black wire feeds the ignition switch, by the way.

But im wondering, how could something in the ignition be screwed up? I havent messed with it, and I havent really touched the wiring since the car last ran, with no problems.

Ok, im a stooge.

I disconnected the big fat wire from alternator, but not the plug. When I was putting the -RE alternator plug onto the stock harness I must have mixed up the two small wires. I thought I put the white/blackon the -RE side to the white/black FC side. It seems as the -RE harness side is actually a white/really dark blue and not white/black like I thought.

SO anyway, ive got a white/blue and white/green on the -RE side and a white/black and a black/red on the FC side. Ill try switching them around next time I get a go at the car.

Oh, and by the way, when I unplugged the small harness of the alternator, the batter no longer gave a nasty spark.

Thanks guys.