The car is a S5

I'm wondering if anyones knows if it could be one simple thing causing this. If I disconnect the water level sensor, the buzzer will sound. No lights will light up though. Not ever the door ajar. The blower wont blow, but If I push from hot to cold you can hear it switch over. When I crank the car it wont engage the starter. (yes, the starter is good. I jumped it to do a compression test) It will consume enough power to slow down the coolant buzzer. Then sometimes you can hear a faint clicking under the hood.

I removed the ECU and harness to install a Haltech. I definitely don't want to get this wired up if i can't even crank the car over. I put the stock ECU back in to see if that would fix the idiot lights, but it didn't.

I could rewire the starter, but not having the warnings bugs me.

 

it sounds stupid...but check your fuses...that's what it sounds like.

 

fuses are fine, the only one i didn't check was the 30a heater fuse. i couldn't pull it out and it started to rain on me.

 

probably not the same issue as you have but from what I remember I had the same problem.. I was removing the power steering and AC one day and I accidentally unclipped the main power wire from the main fuse box under the hood, the lights and everything would work but I wasent getting power to anything in the car and the starter.

 

check the bellhousing to firewall ground. Its located right beside the wiper motor on pass side. SOmetimes they get a little corroded underneath and dont make the connection. But its def a ground.

 

I checked the main fuses and I even pulled the wires out of the tape. Everything was fine. Everything else works, even the radio.

Bellhousing to firewall is grounded. Slave Cylinder to harness is grounded. There is a spade like the slave ground next to the oil level sensor that I have no clue where it goes.

 

The idiot light circuit is simple.

Turn the key to ON and the cluster is powered up.

Since the alternator is not turning over with the key to just ON, it puts a ground on the idiot light cluster and makes all the lights light up.

So go to the alternator and pull the small plug off the alternator. PUt a ground on the white/black wire. With the key to ON, the lights should light up.

IF not, make sure the METER fuse is good. If it's good, make sure the white/black wire at the plug of the idiot light cluster is getting a ground from the alternator.

So, will the headlights come up and on Bright when you turn them on? And if they are up and bright, and you now turn the key to START, do they dim real dim??? OR stay bright eyed and bushy tailed?

 

I went out and put the brights on and cranked the car. All the power shut off. So I double checked my battery terminal and it was a little loose. Tryed it again and the car cranked over, nice!

Now the oddball. The first light on the logicon for the dash vents stayed illuminated, even with the key removed. Tomorrow I'll put a ground on the alternator wire and see what happens.

 

I put a ground on the blk/w alternator wire and turned the key. No effect on the warning lights.

 

*****on the white/black wire. **********88

Should have been a WHITE wire with a BLACK stripe.

If it won't light all the idiot lights when you put a ground on it with the key to ON, then either that wire has a open b/t the alt plug and the idiot light cluster plug...........or there is no input to the cluster from the METER fuse.............or the cluster is bad. Icemark repairs bad clusters.

This does not answer why the car won't start. Just why the idiot light don't all light up when the key is put to ON and the engine is not running.

 

also, look into replacing your Ignition Switch, possiable Culprit... if its not getting good contact, some things like your Starter and such wont work correctly... dont know if that helped... Id go to a jy and get a used one for cheap... and if it doesnt work, your out like what, $35?

 

I got my car to start. Now the heater still doesn't blow and the idiot lights/clock doesn't work.

 

edit: okay nvm.

 

Alright, I got my idiot lights to work. I'm not sure what happend, but I definately have some major electrical issues. I was peaking under the dash and I noticed a toggle switch. Followed it into the engine bay and it was connected to the EGI fuse. I noticed all the switches were covered in thick oil. So I cleaned them off and I was still in the same spot.

I decided to check if my car had power door locks. I heard a click, but nothing happend. So I pushed down the passenger lock manually and unlocked the driver. The passenger poped up and all of a sudden my add coolant light came on. So I pushed on the clock time rod and it was glued in! Now I need a new warning cluster. Also my stock alarm doesn't arm anymore.