The_Ginger_Stig
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Posts posted by The_Ginger_Stig
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I have found a burnt connector coming off of the fusible links and I'm going to order parts from StarQuestParts to get EVERYTHING back to how it's supposed to be to clear up any doubt about the links. @tux I wouldn't be against having a bench power supply but at the moment would there be any reason I couldn't test the clock with leads hooked up the car battery? and thank you @Turbo Cary for the headlight idea I'll put one together and see if there's any high resistance in any of the circuits.
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It wouldn't be a 40 year old car if I didn't have to fix something every weekend 😕 Most of the electrical problems detailed in my previous "electrical gremlins from hell" post are still present which I'm going to detail in block form as to not crowd this already begrudgingly long wall of text. These issues seem to all be related whether it's a common connector or circuit but I can't trace down what's actually going wrong and maybe asking some of you wizards here will at least get me in the right direction.
As a preface: These issues have been going on for quite a while and seem to be possibly related to heat. I didn't used to get these problems when the weather was cooler but as the Arizona days get into the 110+ range they happen more frequently. These issues also seem to only happen after the car has been driving for a while and usually not immediately when it starts cold. As for if any of these problems being related to the battery moving under braking or weight transfer, the battery is currently held down by a ( non-stock ) battery bracket I made as I never had one in the first place. The bracket makes absolutely no contact with the positive terminal, it is bolted into the battery tray and the top lies across a non-conductive plastic section of the middle of the battery. The battery is newer, and has also been tested many times with a multimeter
I know this is a giant tarball of info in a weird format but I'm hoping that providing the most info I can will help the situation along.
Current Problems- Clock doesn't show time, but still has illumination light
- Power windows have no function
- Automatic seat belts have no function, currently stuck backwards
- HVAC panel illumination is completely gone, as well as the display
- Radio will have illumination for a brief second when ACC power is switched on, then cut off. I can hear a relay close then open after the lights cycle.
- Drivers side door light doesn't illuminate when the door is opened
- "seat belt" light in gauge cluster used to intermittently flash and trigger the buzzer, now is completely off
- Power antenna seems to have no power as it won't go up or down when switching on and off the radio
- The dimmer switch has a few spots where it cuts out lighting in the interior but I keep it at a known good spot that has decent enough padding around it that a bump wouldn't cause the gauge cluster lights to go out. I do have a NOS dimmer that I will be swapping in soon
- There is no automatic door locking.
Current Problems expanded
- 4. When buttons are pressed on the face of the HVAC unit, the unit beeps. The unit also still is able to operate the "blend" stuff going on in the dash as you can hear the "valves" and "flaps" doing their thing. When the issues were more "intermittent" the HVAC illumination would go out, and the blower motor would also stop.
- 5. The radio will turn on with ACC power and illuminate the panel that shows the station as well as the green lights in the EQ faders. A near sine wave sound is heard when the radio is on and a loud pop can be heard when changing from AM to FM and vice versa
- 6. When these issues were "intermittent", the door light would come on when the rest of the "problem circuits" detailed in this post were also working
What works
- Every circuit detailed on page 8 - 185-186 in the FSM works except the "heater control panel illumination light". Rear ash tray light, front ash tray light, Cigarette light,glove box light, power mirror light.
- Power adjustable mirrors
- Cigarette lighter functions normally
- Hazards and regular turn signals are completely fine as well as everything exterior lighting wise except the pop ups not going down but I figure that's an unrelated problem.
- All lights in the gauge cluster work except for both of the lights in the switches on the sides of the meter hood.
- The IR steering wheel controls light up and were working fine when the radio worked.
Things that have already been done
- I have cleaned, tested for continuity, and replaced unfit fusible links. Fusible links were either replaced with a MB fusible link bought from dad here, or made using the appropriate wire gauge specifically with fusible link wire
- I have properly rebuilt my ignition switch following instructions from this board and tested every contact for continuity using the FSM. The switch had minimal pitting and didn't require much attention ( I found a place where the PO used vampire connectors on a wire that seemed to have damaged it, it has been cut and crimped with a spade connector that is securely held in place ) P.S I've never seen a vampire connector in a car and not had to deal with some B.S resulting from them. 👎
- I have checked every single fuse in the cabin fuse box with a multimeter and all of them are completely fine. There is a weird 30 amp fuse in a place where it shouldn't be.
- I have cleaned the contacts behind the steering wheel and they are functioning well
Unrelated info that might be worth mentioning
- Both my rad fans have a primary temp sensor to have them come on both at the same time and for redundancy
- pop ups are stuck up. Won't come down but pop up with the switches.
Edits as a go along
- Getting a proper 12v and 230ma at fuse 11 in the clock circuit, still lights up but no clock
Thank you to anyone who helps me get this going along.
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The car feels absolutely amazing after everything mentioned has been replaced and I'm absolutely jealous of anyone who got to drive these cars new. Steering feels like butter and incredibly responsive.
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Sorry for the ~very~ extended reply on this but as life goes things got pushed around and I just got back to it today.
The fronts are a few months old and were balanced @tsi_tom.
I'm doing all new tie rod ends and ball joints but got stuck after I got both the tie rod ends out ( with sooo much PB blaster and half a propane can ) and realized there wasn't really a way to get the two bolts that hold the knuckle to the strut out with the struts disconnected from the center link because either the knuckle would rotate into the LCA until the LCA bushings started to reallly move, or I'd risk snapping the driver side tie rod connecting piece which is sadly no where to be found to order.Sorry if it's kind of a stupid question Cuda, but I'm not the most well versed in how much stress parts like these can take before they break so would you mind telling me how you got the two bolts that connect the knuckle to the strut out? Also from the FSM it seems like there's a non-reusable locking nut on the top of the ball joint that I can't find the size of so on the rare chance anyone has it written down or magically knows it please do tell. In regards to that nut as well, all the hardware stores around me only have grade 2 self lockers would that be okay?
phew, what a wall of text sorry for all of that
Everything is out and I'm on my way to doing a decent alignment tomorrow to get it a shop. Will update as I progress
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I just got under there and it looks like what I thought was a bushing was just a dust boot. This leaves me thinking maybe there's just play in the steering gearbox???
i get pretty decent vibrations in my steering wheel at like 38 - 46 mph and it goes away at lower, higher, and way higher speeds. The car only has
45k so I wouldn't think the box would be worn out but maybe there's a dead old bushing hiding somewhere? I'll investigate and
update as I go.
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I got the mks steering coupler replacement in a while back ago and while it did help with a little bit of slop I felt,
but I still get vibrations in my wheel. Diagnosis lead to me discovering a torn idler arm bushing which brings us to the question:
Can I get the idler bushing mount out by itself or do I have to pull the entire drag link out? Last time I was under the car I remember
it looked like I might be able to just undo the idler arm and its mount but I was asking here to see if anyone has any experience in that area before I go
gung-ho and find out I don't have a ride to work
As a side note, I have tie rods and ball joints ready to go so would pulling out the idler arm change the alignment enough
to warrant doing the rest of the suspension "items"
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I thought a heavier oil would fair better in the Arizona 110+ heat and the oil pressure didn't change a whole lot just maybe an 1/8th more on the gauge at idle and under boost.
I did end up putting it in because I had some free time to change the oil which I won't get more of for a bit, but would you recommend switching it out immediately or just at the next oil change interval?
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I've seen all the posts that mention running 20w-50 in passing but there seems to be some people that caution against it. I was pleased to find that my local parts chain sells vr1 because I know the added ZDDP is supposed to be good for older heads and valve trains, but I also know that the FSM doesn't have 20w-50 listed as a possibility. Does anyone have any experience running a 20w-50 or even vr1 specifically?
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I ended up just needing to rotate them while pressing with the little piston cube you can find at parts stores. Brakes feeling nice and my handbrake is nice and good again 😎 thanks Texas
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I started a brake change yesterday and got one side of the rear done nice, but when I got to the second side the piston was juuust out enough that I couldn't fit the new pads in.
I tried compressing the piston with a standard tool but it didn't want to go in at all and knowing how hard finding some common parts are I wasn't about to embark on a caliper rebuild the day before I needed to get to work
Is there anything specific about our brake systems that needs to be done to allow the piston to compress? I've seen some pistons where they need to be rotated but the FSM specifically states to not rotate pistons when installing into the caliper so I figured that was out of the question.
If anyone answers today you're an absolute lifesaver
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Funnily enough that's the exact price I was quoted, hope all goes well.
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Yeah just my local firestone, I have a pretty decent vibration in my wheel that makes it shake and it's a cyclical vibration that goes away at some speeds so I have a decent assortment of reasons to believe them. I just got a local wheel shop from them and I'm going to try that route because it seems a lot cheaper than buying a new set.
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Those look really good on our cars, wish they weren't on back order 😕 Seems like anything around our size is either crazy expensive or steelies haha
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I just got the unfortunate news that one of my front wheels is bent ;/
Currently I have the SHP wheels on front and rear ( 8j and 9j ) and I've been looking around for a new set and seems like they're all wayyy out of my price range, which is a shame because our wheels are some of the coolest factory wheels ever made imo. The main question I'm asking is: I'm looking at a set of 4 16x8's and wanted to know if I would run into any problems running a slightly less wide wheel on the rear considering the car was originally staggered with 16x8 in the front and 16x9 in the back. The new set linked above does have a +20mm offset and I know the rears have a -10mm offset, so would I run into any problems there if anyone has experience with different offsets?
Finally, does that wheel fit the image of the car? I love the look of mesh wheels, especially the SSR Formula mesh, but I don't want to disservice the look or break necks in the wrong way.
Ideally I've been trying to find a set of 1 piece wheels because I really don't like the look of the nuts of the lip but there doesn't seem to be many options that don't fetch used car money anymore, so if anyone has any wheel recommendations feel free to let me know.
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Thanks Texas, I just ordered this thermosensor because it looks like it has the on off temp inscribed on the outside and has MB007639 in its description so maybe it'll actually work. I also ordered the one from CoolCat to keep as a spare or use if the other one doesn't work. Drove a decent bit today and the car seemed to be doing really good on temps (under the halfway mark), but it was still only around 75 this morning so we'll see how it holds up after the heat hits. The bearings in the secondary fan seem to be crying for help so I'll probably end up using a "slim" ebay fan that uses the same amperage or less eventually.
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The problem has been found! When I bought a new primary thermosensor to replace the secondary, I made the mistake of trusting a cheap ebay listing that had the right part number. The reason the secondary and ac fan are always on is the sensor is always grounded. As I understand from the FSM, the sensors should only ground when they're at a specific temperature. My next adventure is finding a real primary sensor and probably a replacement secondary fan because mine sounds pretty unhealthy but I'm pretty sure the issues have been found and can be resolved. As for the reason my links were smoking... oh man I feel pretty bad for this one but I had the primary link going off the battery probably 2.5 X the length of the original one 😕 After it's been replaced with a fresh one and cut to the appropriate length it still gets hot-ish but normal link hot-ish. If anyone has a known good primary sensor or a good secondary fan I'll take both. Thank you to everyone that helped me 👍
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Oh boy. So I pulled out the 2nd rad fan relay (the relay on the right from the group of two relays with rubber shielding behind the horn) as indicated by the FSM here, and none of my fans ever turned on. I got a used but good fusible links box for the head, tails, eci, etc and have all new links in it. The links didn't smoke or even get too hot so that solves the original problem I guess, but now I don't know why the primary fan and AC fan won't turn on. I did discover a massive new exhaust leak though
. Did I end up pulling out the wrong relay?
I currently have the AC fan plugged in but I had the 2nd rad fan unplugged to avoid running power through it because if it's shorted then it'll probably just burn up the new links right? Looking at the wiring diagram on pg 90 of the FSM it looks like the only way that the "Radiator fan air condition relay (1)" can get power is through the 2nd fan motors connector but some of the other relays should have closed right? To restate: Primary fan and AC fan never came on even after the car was fully warmed up and a bit past half way on the coolant temp on the dash. My primary has never failed to come on at exactly halfway on that gauge so I'm completely stumped.
edit: I retried getting the fans to work at all with the secondary fan plugged in this time and without the secondary fan relay and still no dice. Fuse links didn't get too hot with the secondary fan plugged in though.
Side note for anyone that needs some NLA fusible links, I actually found some wire on the jungle site.
The oem Mitsubishi quick connect terminals are a little bigger than standard sizes so I just ordered a
pack of standard size terminals and opened them up and adjusted them.
This wire can be used for "green" fusible links, .5mm^2
This wire can be used for "red" fusible links, .85 mm^2
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@psu_CrashStill haven't found the issue
, just responding to TexasQuest. I'll check the secondary fan as soon as I can. If I'm reading the wiring diagram on page 90 right, it looks like pulling out the secondary fan relay would bypass any power going to the secondary rad fan until the pressure switch, dual pressure switch, or the engine coolant temperature switch closes right? So if I pull the secondary rad fan relay out and the AC fan comes on immediately when the ign swt is turned on it suggests that 1 or more of the 3 previously mentioned sensors might be faulty? However, if I pull out the secondary rad fan relay out and the AC fan doesn't immediately turn on and instead it turns on around the time that the Primary fan turns on, it suggests that there might be a fault in the secondary rad fan relay correct?
I'll be checking the resistance of the fan and will update within the hour.
I'm terribly sorry if that was too many questions or worded too poorly, I'm battling against time in college right now and I didn't get much time to read through the diagram.
I'll drag this car kicking and screaming to a daily driver status but it might take awhile
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Good to know. My car never overheated when it was in Washington state but as soon as the Arizona weather hit it's been a constant struggle. Even with that giant aluminum radiator CXRacing makes it still gets hot sitting in traffic. The car only has around 45k miles so I hope it's not losing its head or head gasket, but I've started to doubt anything on these old cars will last another 3 years haha.
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Dang that's a good place to start looking thank you. If I measure the resistance between the two terminals would I be looking for super low resistance from a potential short? Since oem replacement motors are around $250 right now would I have a chance at rebuilding it?
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update, tested the secondary fan as per the FSM suggests and it's dead. Makes me grateful that it didn't work if only the AC fan almost burned down the car. For anyone else searching for similar answers on why the secondary and AC fan kick on together, their relays are wired together so if one kicks on the other will too.
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I have gone over almost all of the grounds in the engine bay and cleaned them a while back but I can try cleaning them again. Do you or anyone else know why the AC fan might kick on when the secondary fan has power? I remember reading something a while back that said something along the lines of them having a fail safe in case the engine was way too hot but I can't find the post nor the wiring diagram for the fans in the FSM
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I've been having a ton of cooling problems in the Arizona heat, gauge gets close to 3/4 and I have to panic park and wait . So I figured replacing the secondary fan sensor that was broken (it spun inside the housing) would maybe help alleviate some heat. I ordered a 180 degree thermo-sensor because the goal was to get both of the fans to come on to try and cool it down a little. While I was checking the secondary fan by simply grounding out the connector I noticed something weird. The AC fan turns on (fan in front of the ac core) but the secondary fan itself does not. I thought it was weird but I decided to test it all anyway just to see. After getting the car up to temperature and having the primary fan kick on, the secondary never did work which is weird because the switch should be the same temperature. However, my fusible links started smoking and I immediately cut the ignition and waited a bit. I tried again without the AC fan plugged in and no smoke, but the secondary fan never did kick in after letting it warmup again and having the primary kick in. Is there any place that the AC fan relay and the secondary fan relay are connected? And why would the AC fan draw enough amperage by itself to start overheating the links? My links are old, but I've never had them overheat or smoke before. Any tips and help is appreciated thank you
notes on my current cooling situation:
- cxracing starion radiator (fan grounds are securely bolted into the rad)
- stock 3 electric fans
- undertray is currently off and has been because it's easier to work under there
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Thank you so much, I haven't actually gotten to putting it all back yet because the "bolt in" cxracing radiator required a ton of modifications to everything to get it in and done right. For flushing the oil can, would it be something universal I could look up or is it starquest specific?
Having electrical problems again with a lot of info if anyone can help
in Virtual Mechanic
Posted
Update: It's definitely just a weak connector in the fusible links area because after repining each connector to move the car it hasn't cut out yet. Just waiting on new fusible link boxes to get here and if anything else comes up I'll update, but until then, the problem was likely just the links. Thanks @tux for the link for that cheap little power supply, it's pretty handy.