Sigh, time to blow off my tools - electrical gremlin

[Fanta]

This is on my moms 87 Conquest.

 

Here are the symptoms.

 

There's a smell of hot electrical wiring ( e.g. the smell of a fusible link burning, but nowhere near as sharp of a smell, and the fusible links are all intact and in good shape )

 

Thursday night - smelled the smell, parked the car, went to grab dinner, came back out, unlocked the car, opened the door - alarm went off ( this has never happened ). Started car up, turned off, locked the door, unlocked it. Nothing would turn the alarm off short of me having to disconnect the negative terminal on the battery. Reconnect battery, drive home, smell the wiring smell.

 

Park the car, hit the OFF switch for headlights, hit the headlight doors button to put them down, stereo ( aftermarket ) spazzes out ( as in it was rapidly powering on off on off on off ). Locked car. Next day, open up car, notice no door noise, turn ignition, battery is 100% dead.

 

So where would you recommend I would even begin at.

[vbrad511]

I'd charge the battery and unplug the ETACS. See if that fixes it. 87's were known for ETACS issues.

[Dred_85.5_TSI]

^ yup start there.

[Shelby]

the whole point of installing the fuse links was to prevent burnt wireing,, have you install'd the wrong fuse links in any spot to a higher then oem rateing and any after market wireing been done ,some thing add'd to the ign circirt maybe

[mthomlinson]

Wow! I just had the same thing happen to me today.

 

I have been smelling burnt plastic in my car all week Finally today I was sitting in a slow drive through and smoke started coming out of my Hazard Switch, So I turned the car off and waited for the line to move, 25 min later I went to turn my car on, no luck, it was dead. Later when I went to my parents for Fathers day, I took the Hazard Switch out, but now I have no blinkers or brakes lights and my headlights stay up.

 

Finally when I got home my alarm tripped out and would not turn off. I ended up disconnecting the batter just to turn it off.

 

So, from happened to me today, I would have to say that your switch is toast

[mthomlinson]

Anybody got a spare for sale?

[Metric-man]

Eclipses and 3000gt owners would start out a post exactly as you stated

 

There's a smell of hot electrical wiring

 

and 9 times out of 10 it was their capacitors in their ECU

 

I have never heard of a Starion melting a capacitor, but if I were you I would check your ECU.

 

Open your ECU and visually inspect it, ( disconnect the battery and use a grounding strap )

 

The ECU 87's connector plugs were facing up and able to catch moisture from the evap tray if the drain is clogged.

 

88/89 ECU connectors are mounted on the bottom.

 

Make sure also your negative ground coming from the ECU is still good.

[Komeuppance]

Smell could be from dirty contacts in your headlight/hazard switches. Why do you need to have the button for the pop ups on?? I bet your ignition switch contacts are dirty too.

 

Low voltage would definitely cause anomalies with electronic equipment. Check to see if your ETACS is draining the battery, check to see if your alternator is charging the battery, check to see if your battery will hold a charge.

 

-Robert

[Blue]

I vote ETACs, especially with the alarm trippin out.

[Indiana]

Those switches are the source of problems for everyone eventually.

 

If both are 87s what is the part # on your ETACS?

 

http://www.b2600turbo.com/TSBs/tsb%2008-16-86%20pg1.jpg

 

http://www.b2600turbo.com/TSBs/tsb%2008-16-86%20pg2.jpg

Edited June 20, 2011 by Indiana

[Fanta]

I know all too well about the ETACS - people at Jimmy's meet back in... 09? 08? Got to watch me swap one out with the recalled replacement unit ( this was how I discovered the car had been broken into once )

 

I'll have to check it out.

 

As for the headlight switch - I had always read flip up the headlights, then turn them on to minimize burning out the headlight switch doing both jobs ( I'm really rusty on the specifics )