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electrical help...headlights, horn, and cigarette lighter dont work.


substock
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Everything was working perfectly fine up until a couple of weeks ago. I know everything worked as i just passed my state inspection and the horn and headlights were working at that point.

 

It started when i noticed tha my cigarette lighter wasnt working, after doing some troubleshooting i noticed that the horn didnt work and the fuse for it kept blowing. I was told that the horn and the cigarrete light are tied together and a bad cigarette lighter would cause the horn fuse to blow. Is this true? If so whats the best way to remove the lighter?

 

For the headlight, they popped up but the headlights and foglights dont illuminate. The parking lights do work. I did search the site and found posts saying to clean the fuseable link block next to the battery(the exposed one) i did this as well as replace those links. I also cleaned and rebuilt the dash switches for the lights. After doing those they are still not working. I did pull relay cover and i do feel the relay switching when i hit the headlights switch.

 

Does anyone know where else to start looking? Thanks in advance for the help

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sure do odds are very good it's a dirty connector on one of the fusible links or power connector to the link box holder,, you need to service BOTH fuse link box's and all terminals

may fix other problems you didn't know you had

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sure do odds are very good it's a dirty connector on one of the fusible links or power connector to the link box holder,, you need to service BOTH fuse link box's and all terminals

may fix other problems you didn't know you had

 

Ill take the fuseable link blocks apart and reclean all of the terminals this week

Edited by substock
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I'd check your headlight relay, even if you can hear it clicking, it might still be stuff. Can you borrow one form anybody? Cleaning those terminals is a good idea too.
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Here is a write-up from mikec that may be helpful:

 

First, check fuse #1 (top/left corner) since it feeds power to the headlight relay. Make sure it's contacts are good too. I think it feeds the dome light and interior lights too so if they work this probably isn't it. Fuse 9 also gets involved so check it as well. The headlight "fuse" is really a fusible link - look for a green link on the end of the fusible link box by the ignition coil. The links are those little loops of wire for those that don't know - they are a special wire and their diameter determines the amp rating - don't replace them with generic wire! Check the contacts on this link and look for any signs of burning/melting in the insulation.

 

Relay A44X controls the headlamps themselves... if you remove the battery and the metal plate between it and the fender you'll see a pile of relays. A44X is the 3rd relay back from the front of the car, on the row of relays closer to the engine. It should be one of the smaller relays. Swap it with the one next to it and see if your headlights come alive while your taillights crap out.

 

Try this: check your "flash to pass" function by pulling the stalk towards you with the headlights off. The pop-ups should raise, the lights should go on for a moment, and a few seconds later the pop-ups should return closed. The flash to pass-pass has its own relay that must be CLOSED for the normal headlights to work; if this relay fails relay A44X won't operate. It's the relay mounted to the firewall by the brake master cylinder. Unplug it and look for a direct short on the relay pins that line up with wiring harness wires blue+white and blue+yellow.

 

A relay is made of two parts: an electromagnet coil that pulls on a "wiper" arm for the switch. When the relay clicks you know the electromagnet is moving the wiper a bit - and that the stuff controlling the relay is working... but is the wiper moving far enough to touch the other contacts? Are the contacts clean and making good connections - if the relay switches high current (like headlight relays do) it's typical for some arcing to happen. This slowly burns the contacts away and/or causes deposits which don't conduct very well. That's why I suggested swapping with a similar relay as an easy test.

 

Trace the wires to the appropriate pins, then unplug the relay and use an ohmmeter to verify zero ohms between the two relay pins. This tests two of the three contacts of the relay wiper part.

 

Before you spend money on the passing relay, try this:

unplug the relay. Use a jumper wire to connect the blue+white to the blue+yellow harness wires. This simulates the passing relay in it's normal position. The headlights ought to work now if the passing relay was the bug.

 

 

Can you feel relay A44X click when the headlights are turned on/off? That's one way to isolate the problem - we can cut the headlight circuit in half depending on your answer. If it clicks, then the headlight switch, passing relay, fuses, etc. are working because the relay is getting its signal. The problem is the fusible link, wiring to the headlamps, or their ground. Look at the ground wire attached to the passenger strut bodywork; the wire should be on the front side of the bodywork (near the airbox).

 

Yes, the ground ought to be screwed to the engine-bay bodywork that surrounds the suspension upright.

 

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Thanks Jainsworth, reading through you post my interior lights are working (removing fuse 1 from the issue), but isnt fuse 9 the horn fuse(going off of memory at the moment)? If so as i mentioned above the horn fuse keeps popping. Ill go through and reclean the fuseable link blocks again this weekend as well as check the relays mentioned
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Horn and Cigarette lighter : Fuse no.9. Those two are the only circuits on that fuse block.

 

Headlight relay: A-44X in the Engine Compartment.

 

Sub Fuseable link 2: Headlight circuit. No.4. (Green wire) in the Engine Compartment.

 

Locations can be found via the Factory Service Manual.

 

My suggestion? Clean every one of your Fuseable and Sub Fuseable links. Like I stated. They can be found in the FSM, Volume no.2, Under Electrical.

 

Especially, if your car has sat outside, been exposed to high humidity or has been near the ocean.

 

Bill

Edited by Caliber308
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The major weaknesses of the Mitsu fusible links are:

A. Positiond rite next to the battery, battery discharge fumes will easily corrupt the connections

B. No cover was provided, so the fusible link tab connectors are exposed to the open air and mositure..

 

Thats why they need to be serviced every couple of years..

 

Just my $0.02... ;)

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The fuse block fuse retainer clips for fuse #9 may be weak.

 

Try disconnecting the battery and then remove fuse 9. Then, with a small set of needle nose pliers, squeeze the fuse block (located under the driver side dash) #9 fuse retainer clips together to create sufficient tension between the clips and the fuse. It might be a good idea to squeeze all of the fuse block fuse retainer clips to re-establish good tension on all of the other fuses.

 

DON'T OVER DO IT WITH THE SQUEEZING. ;)

 

If you are still blowing #9 fuse then remove the subject fuse block mounting fasterners and inspect the wiring and solder joints on it's back side for evidence of shorting or burnt wiring.

 

What size fuse are you using in the #9 fuse retainer? It should be a blue 15 amp one.

 

Assuming that you have ALREADY CLEANED FUSIBLE LINK BOX #2, AND TESTED THE FUSIBLE LINKS AND THE PROBLEM STILL PERSISTS, pull the black metal panel outboard of the battery and disconnect the engine compartment relay box from the body and inspect the bottom of the relay box for evidence of corrosion/burnt wiring insulation or loose wiring. The best way to do this is disconnect all of the wiring harnesses feeding it so you can really see what's under it. Clean all of the female relay box connectors, male relay metal terminals and the wiring harness female & male connector metal terminals. See FSM page 8-104 for the relay box's relay locations.

 

What is the condition of your head light wiring harness male & female metal connectors at the headlite male connectors? Regardless - clean 'em - they ain't been cleaned in at least 24 years.

 

Remember on thing about the Starquest fusible links. Even though they MAY test good cold, that doesn't mean that when they're heated up under their rated electrical load they won't short out or be bad. ;)

 

For What It's Worth.

 

KEN

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  • 2 weeks later...
I took the day off so i finally had some time to work on this today. Pulled all the fusible links out along with the relays and cleaned all the relay terminals, fuse link terminals, grounds (behind the battery cover engine blck, main battery, and the one next to the horn), as well as the connectors. After doing these items still no headlights or foglights
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The headlight circuit has several sub-circuits:

a: switch that drives the main headlight relay (A44X) pick coil

b: flash-to-pass mode

c: high current path from battery through A44X to headlights and back to ground via the low/high beam switch

d: high-beam mode

 

"a" tests:

A44X is the primary headlight control relay; the headlight on/off switch and the flash-to-pass relay and stuff mostly control relay A44X. So verifying A44X "clicks" in sync with the headlight on/off switch is the first step. Got a 12volt mechanics test light? Or a multimeter (digital or analog?) Or even a small 12volt light bulb in a socket - like one of the side marker lights? (not a big bulb... one of the small 12volt bulbs!). You can use those in parallel with the "pick" coil on A44X to test for voltage. Connect the test light/multimeter/bulb to the red and blue+white wires at A44X. Easiest way to do this is to 1: remove the battery, 2: remove the metal plate that covers the relay panel, 3: undo the 3 screws that hold the whole panel to the fender and another screw that has a small ground wire on it (hard to see - you'll need a small flashlight) near the top of the panel if I remember correctly, 4: identify A44X and unplug it. With the relay panel in your hand, trace the red and blue+white wires to the socket for A44X. Now you can stuff the test lamp/multimeter/bulb wires into the socket for A44X. Tuck the relay panel somewhere safe - no shorts - and re-connect that small wire to ground. Plug the battery back in - making sure you don't reverse the polarity (will definately BLOW a few elecronic modules in the car like ETACS). Now turn the headlght switch ON. If you have voltage at those relay wires, half the circuit is proven good - we've checked/verified "a" in my initial list and ruled out "b" screwing up the basic headlight function.

 

Assuming A44X is getting power - if the above test confirms it - time to look at the "high amp" side of the headlight circuit. Basically, A44X switches +12volts from the battery on or off; this +12volts then flows through the red+blue wires to the headlights. One wire is low beam, the other is high-beam - the wires are NOT left headlight/right headlight. One red+blue goes into a connector and turns into a green wire... this green wire then continues to both headlights. So re-install A44X and move your test light/multimter/bulb to the green wire at one headlight and ground the other wire from your test light/meter/bulb. Turn the headlights on (battery connected)... if there is +12volts at the headlight bulbs now then the relay stuff and wiring are working... the problem is with the ground path between the headlamps and the car chassis/battery - post. The ground path is from the headlights to the turn signal/high beam control stalk, then to ground #8 which is behind the turbo boost guage - yup, in the dash assembly - and also ground #1 which is on the bodywork next to the air filter canister - just below the air intake hose basically. So verify those grounds first.

 

If those grounds are good, you'll need a multimeter for the next tests... no simple bulb is gonna work now. Don't have one? Harbor Freight Tools has dirt-cheap digital ones in yellow or red plastic cases that work fine for StarQuest troubleshooting. Set the meter to "ohms" or "resistance" and the "X1" or "200" scale ("200" and a Greek Omega letter on many digital meters), whatever your meter uses. Ground the black meter wire to the battery "-" post or to a solid bare metal chassis point. Remove the "knee" panel from below the steering column (a few screws along the bottom-most edge, 2 in the hood release lever, one behind the on/off switch near the release lever - the switch just pulls out, and one behind the small cover plate between the steering column and stereo). Then remove the screws holding the bottom plastic cover of the steering column and wiggle that cover free. See the wide wiring connector coming from the ignition key and turn signal stuff? Unplug it. On the wiring harness connector (not the part that goes to the turn signal switch - I mean the end that goes into the dash guts) probe the black wire that's in the bottom row (bottom=row opposite the locking clip) in a corner. It should read pretty much zero ohms to ground. No? That's your bug - that wire should go to grounds #1 and #8. If okay, plug the connector back in. Now measure from ground to the red wire (two slots over from the black wire) which should also show ground. If not, flip the high-beam switch and try again. Still no? Your high beam/low-beam switch is kaput. If you do get zero ohms (or at least less than 1 ohm) from the red wire to ground, then measure from the red wire to either headlight's red wire - that should also be zero ohms. If not, the red wire itself is busted somewhere. I'll bet though if you have zero ohms to ground on the black wire you'll be missing the zero ohms to the red wire ==> bad low/high beam switch. Still at the switch... measure from battery - post again (ground) to the red+white wire (2 slots over from the red wire) in the large connector. Flip the low/high beam switch... your meter should now read zero ohms.

 

With fuse #9 blown, relay A44X can't "pick" so the headlights will in fact be dead. They'll pop-up... but won't light. Nor with the flash-to-pass function. You won't be able to get the "a" tests to pass if fuse #9 is blown.

 

If fuse #9 keeps blowing - quickly - there is a short in the wiring harness somewhere. Easiest way to find the problem: replace fuse #9 with a side marker light bulb. That'll let current flow through the wiring (and the short) without overheating the wiring harness. You can then futze with the wires near the horn speakers (plural - there are two behind the bumper, down low; the one by the air filter canister is the theft alarm horn), cig lighter, flash-to-pass relay at the firewall, the large wiring connector near the wad of relays by the ignition coil, or even behind the fuse box itself. When the light goes out, you've removed the short. Has any work been done to the car recently? In the dash or instrument panel? By the relays near the ignition coil? Think back... there's a chance some wiring got pinched during re-assembly. Frequently "new" problems like this can be traced to an "oops" during some other recent repair.

 

mike c.

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Bill i apologize to you as i misread your post, i had read you post as the horn and cig lighter were the only items on that fus and the headlights had nothing to do with fuse 9.

 

I started with the cleaning of the fuseable links and grounds first as i knew:

1 - i knew it probably needed cleaned

2 - i was hoping this would be 2 separate issues

 

I wasnt meaning that i ignore starfighters post, his was just the next thing on my ljst to check and then mikes last post, i simply didnt want to begin mixing everyones fixes in 1 shot and make additional problems for myself

Edited by JAinsworth
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  • 2 weeks later...

well I was working on the car all morning, what I did today:

 

squeezed fuse 9 terminals

rechecked all fuse link connections

removed interior fuse block for solder joints, damaged wires

rechecked relay wiring with fuseable links

inserted a flash bulb to substitute fuse 9 and then played with all the wiring (gently at first and then more forceful)

 

Non of this corrected the issue

 

I basically have my interior all taken apart so that I was able to play with all of the wiring. As I this didn't start occuring until I replaced my oil pan gasket and rear main seal (so that I could pass state inspection) I pulled the center console and radio out thinking i damaged the wiring there, after checking on that wiring I then got under the car to check that I reconnected the wires by the transmission, as well as anything around the starter and the alternator.

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I went back through the car today, and believe that i will need to replace the harness. I pulled the battery and the tray out this morning to unwrap the harness and inspect the wiring, when doing this i found wires that were cut and taped back together (and some just left as is).
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