Strange electrical problem on my 93

David Neibert

SCCoA Admin
Ever since getting my car back from the shop that installed the turbo I have the following electrical problem.

None of the key fob functions work.

Power locks will only function in the lock position (from either door) to unlock from inside you must use the door handle, to unlock from out side requires the key.

When the key is on (motor running or not) if the drivers door is opened and the seat belt shoulder harness moves to the open position, the dash lights will start blinking on and off along with a rather loud clicking sound similar to how the hazzard flashers sound, but faster. The dash will iluminate and blink even when the headlights or turned off.

With the door closed the blinking and clicking stops.

There was nothing electrical done by the shop who installed the turbo except for wiring in some resistor packs into the fuel injector harness, wiring up an electronic boost controller (I was there and checked that wiring), and extending O2 sensor harnesses. None of these seem related to the problems I'm having.

The only other electrical problem I had was that after picking the car up, the battery wouldn't hold a charge. We checked it and found that the alternator was pulling 3-4 amps with the car turned off. After replacing the alternator it charges fine and doesn't pull any amps when the car is off. I believe they damaged the alternator at initial startup, because the car had been sitting 7 months and the battery had to be jumped with a big battery charger to start the car.

Anyhow I haven't got a clue of where to even start looking. Any suggestions would be apreciated.

David
 
he he he the locks is the switch mine got rained on window open and it did that . new switch and it was ok.
same with the light switch looks like your sc was left with the window down in the rain or the door open this gets water in the door switch. lock switch key pad. ect. mine had all this wrong . some new switches and all was fixed .

i left my window down one night and within a week all my switches were bad

I just go to wrecking yard and strip all the switches from any tbird everytime i go you can never have enough extra switches ya know.
 
Manny,

When you say your car was doing the same thing, do you mean the blinking/clicking dash or just the switches working in one position ?

Even if the switches were bad, they should still work with the key fob. The trunk release doesn't work either. The car was stored indoors and there are no signs of moisture on the interior of the car, so I really find it hard to believe that both the passenger and drivers side switches are bad, and only bad in the unlock position.

I believe it has something to do with the module mentioned in this thread. But I don't know where it is or how to test it. Maybe it's just a blown fuse that supplies power to the module...I don't know.

http://www.sccoa.com/forums/showthread.php?t=73762

David
 
I have to ask......

Have you tried new batteries in the fob?

My 92 will do the blinking and clicking thing when you open the door without disarming the alarm.....
 
It's in the trunk inside the black housing next to the fuel pump relay / reset switch. Definitely sounds like backfeeding is occurring. Could be due to a blown fuse or bad ground affecting the keyless entry system.
 
I believe the clicky flashy thing is caused by the relay its a blckish box about 2x2 its up under dash near the hight of the gas peddle cable mid way towards the face of center dash pod that radio is in .

take lower panel off under steering and metal cover then turn on lights you will hear it click if its bad tap it if it stops flickering its bad .

on my 93 the alarm was bad I took off fuse waited a few then replaced fuse and it worked great. dont really know what is wrong just trying to give you a few that it was on some of my sc's ive owned 9 total in three yrs

like to buy em fix em sell em even part some out.
 
I had that loud clicking noise happen to me whenever I went to start it for the first time after I rebuilt it.

Turned out to be a bad ground. It was coming from the trunk like Dave said, but went away after I added another ground to the battery.
 
XR7 Dave said:
It's in the trunk inside the black housing next to the fuel pump relay / reset switch. Definitely sounds like backfeeding is occurring. Could be due to a blown fuse or bad ground affecting the keyless entry system.

Would that fuse be located in the power dist box near the battery ?

David
 
I’m using ‘92 schematics which hopefully are similar to your car.

You asked which fuse to check. The keyless entry module is powered via three fuses/breakers – the 15Amp INTERIOR LAMPS fuse (it’s not blown if the interior lamps, sun visor lamps, trunk lid, etc., lamps work), the 20Amp SEAT/LOCKS circuit breaker (it’s not open if the power seats and remote fuel filler release work), and the 15Amp RUN fuse (it’s not blown if the automatic rear view mirror and rear window defrost switch work).
All are in the fuse box below the dash.

The trunklid release (using the switch behind the glove compartment door) and the power windows use the same 20 amp fuse. Do the power windows work? The trunklid release using the door keypad does not use this fuse (the key fob probably operates similarly).

Regarding the flashing dash lights when the door is opened, locating the path for the back-feeding (which XR7 Dave pointed out) may help in solving the problem. Both the door courtesy lamp switch (on the door pillar) and the door-ajar switch (at the door latch mechanism) are closed when the door is open. Verify which one of the two switches is involved in the back-feeding by opening the door and operating the two switches in turn. Press the door pillar switch to open in and see if the flashing stops. Do the same for the door latch switch - open the switch by pushing your finger or a large screwdriver into the latch to simulate the striker (verify that you have operated the switch by looking at the door ajar warning lamp in the instrument cluster).
 
J.D. said:
I’m using ‘92 schematics which hopefully are similar to your car.

You asked which fuse to check. The keyless entry module is powered via three fuses/breakers – the 15Amp INTERIOR LAMPS fuse (it’s not blown if the interior lamps, sun visor lamps, trunk lid, etc., lamps work), the 20Amp SEAT/LOCKS circuit breaker (it’s not open if the power seats and remote fuel filler release work), and the 15Amp RUN fuse (it’s not blown if the automatic rear view mirror and rear window defrost switch work).
All are in the fuse box below the dash.

The trunklid release (using the switch behind the glove compartment door) and the power windows use the same 20 amp fuse. Do the power windows work? The trunklid release using the door keypad does not use this fuse (the key fob probably operates similarly).

Regarding the flashing dash lights when the door is opened, locating the path for the back-feeding (which XR7 Dave pointed out) may help in solving the problem. Both the door courtesy lamp switch (on the door pillar) and the door-ajar switch (at the door latch mechanism) are closed when the door is open. Verify which one of the two switches is involved in the back-feeding by opening the door and operating the two switches in turn. Press the door pillar switch to open in and see if the flashing stops. Do the same for the door latch switch - open the switch by pushing your finger or a large screwdriver into the latch to simulate the striker (verify that you have operated the switch by looking at the door ajar warning lamp in the instrument cluster).

JD,

I went out in the garage this morning and checked a few more things.

Power seats and windows are working.

The interior lights and sun visor lights are not working.

So it sounds like the best place to start would be replacing the 15 amp INTERIOR LAMPS fuse under the dash. I'll do that this evening and report back.

I couldn't get the dash to blink and click with just turning the key on, and didn't really want to wake all the neighbors starting this thing up, so I'll check that out while changing the fuse tonight.

Thanks for the help.

David
 
hey mine has these two gray wires that are pluged into the fuse box next to the fuses I was trying to figure what they are for and unpluged one the doorlocks didnt work and the power seat would not work .

anyway after pluging it back in now my doors unlock from drivers side but not pass side and my seat belt dont retract on pass side unless the drivers door is opened . what gives did your darn gremlin's cousin come over to my house?

someone help him out so i can get mine fixed .

i know its not the alarm I removed mine long time ago.

ill try removing wire again and reinstalling it a few times maybe a stuck relay or just needs a swift kick like my motorcycle does wont start kick the side cover and viola it starts . i know not very good way to deal with it but hey it works.
 
Well after watching American Idol, I decided to go out to the garage and hunt down that fuse for the interior lights. Didn't take long because when I got in there with the flashlight, I found a 15 amp fuse laying on the driver's side floormat.

Since there were only two open slots in the fuse panel, it was a real quick repair. Pushed the fuse in and nothing...tried the other slot and on came the lights. All the remote key fob functions are also working now and the blinking clicking dash thing is history. :D

Thanks to all who contributed with answers and especially to JD for digging out the wiring diagrams and figuring out what fuse covers each of the functions. If it wern't for help like this, I would have given up on these cars years ago. Thanks again.

David
 
David Neibert said:
Well after watching American Idol, I decided to go out to the garage and hunt down that fuse for the interior lights. Didn't take long because when I got in there with the flashlight, I found a 15 amp fuse laying on the driver's side floormat.

Since there were only two open slots in the fuse panel, it was a real quick repair. Pushed the fuse in and nothing...tried the other slot and on came the lights. All the remote key fob functions are also working now and the blinking clicking dash thing is history. :D

Thanks to all who contributed with answers and especially to JD for digging out the wiring diagrams and figuring out what fuse covers each of the functions. If it wern't for help like this, I would have given up on these cars years ago. Thanks again.

David
All of this and the fuse was laying on the floormat?:rolleyes: :p

Put down the Budlight and step away from the car :D
 
Kurt K said:
All of this and the fuse was laying on the floormat?:rolleyes: :p

Put down the Budlight and step away from the car :D

Kurt,

Without interior lights, it's pretty damn dark in the footwells. :rolleyes:

Besides that, I didn't really think a fuse could cause the dash to blink on and off. I thought those jackazzes at Forced Fab must have drilled a screw thru one of the wiring harnesses or something equally difficult to track down. Looks like they pulled the fuse to probe for "ignition on" power for the boost controller and just forgot to put it back in.

I'm just happy it was such an easy fix.

David

PS: I need you to come over and help me re-program the boost controller sometime within the next week.
 
Kurt K said:
All of this and the fuse was laying on the floormat?:rolleyes: :p

Put down the Budlight and step away from the car :D
Don't ya just love it when it turns out to be something almost embarrassingly simple? :p Doesn't happen too often though, does it? Good to see ya figured out the problem and I agree with ya David, if it weren't for the great help and suggestions that come from this board, I think a LOT of people would have given up un these cars. Heck, that's how I got my XR7. The previous owner didn't want to have to work on it any more cuz he said it was near impossible to find any info. Luckily for me, he is not an "intraweb" kind of guy. :D
 
David Neibert said:
I need you to come over and help me re-program the boost controller sometime within the next week.
Hmmm, might try to do that soon, so you can check out my new phone. I want to see if the new technology actually works better like they advertise. I will say I do get better reception at my house, than I do with my old phone.
 
Kurt K said:
Hmmm, might try to do that soon, so you can check out my new phone. I want to see if the new technology actually works better like they advertise. I will say I do get better reception at my house, than I do with my old phone.

Is it still with Cingular ?

David
 
David Neibert said:
Is it still with Cingular ?

David
Yes it is. Currently, it's Jenn's phone because, even though there's a 30 day trial period, Cingular said there would be no way possible to switch back to my AT&T phone if I didn't like it.
 
Back
Top