Hi I have a serious problem here. I was driving along and all of a sudden I notice that my tachometer and all my other gauges started dropping. I stopped and checked in my engine bay to see if anything was unhooked etc... all I saw was a plug that hooked up to a black box on the intake manifold.
Now the car runs, but turn signals, brake lights, interior lights etc don't work. I checked the fuses hoping it would be something simple, but they are all fine. The stereo works, but I noticed that whenever I turn the car off then on again it resets to a default station.
Since this is basicly my daily driver I need help ASAP.
Nothing electrical works...
Regarding the ground connections - there are several in the engine bay:(assuming an S13)
On Engine Room harness 1:One in front of the P/S(pass side) w/s wiper motorAnother in the front-P/S corner(in front of battery)Next, under the main fuse/relay box near batt. Near master brake cylinder, on strut tower.
On Enginer Room harness 2:(this is the harness the alt. is connected with)Should be one right beside the + terminal on the alt.Another, which is tied somewhere on the lower-pass/side body.
FYI, this doesn't include the grounds on the emissions harness.
Hope the info helps... Check the main harness2 for cracks or possible short to ground(a multimeter really comes in handy here).
Keep us posted.-Jamie
On Engine Room harness 1:One in front of the P/S(pass side) w/s wiper motorAnother in the front-P/S corner(in front of battery)Next, under the main fuse/relay box near batt. Near master brake cylinder, on strut tower.
On Enginer Room harness 2:(this is the harness the alt. is connected with)Should be one right beside the + terminal on the alt.Another, which is tied somewhere on the lower-pass/side body.
FYI, this doesn't include the grounds on the emissions harness.
Hope the info helps... Check the main harness2 for cracks or possible short to ground(a multimeter really comes in handy here).
Keep us posted.-Jamie
I haven't found the ground near the mbc but I tried out all the grounds I could find. On both headlights, the two near the battery, the one under the wipers, and on the intake manifold. All read at 11.6 on a multimeter.
One ground looked kinda corroded. Whats the best way to clean it?
Other than that I tried another plug thinking I mighta done something wrong the first time, blew again. This time though I noticed the ground near the intake manifold sparked.
Kinda sucks If I had a laptop I could sit outside and mess around with the FSM.
One ground looked kinda corroded. Whats the best way to clean it?
Other than that I tried another plug thinking I mighta done something wrong the first time, blew again. This time though I noticed the ground near the intake manifold sparked.
Kinda sucks If I had a laptop I could sit outside and mess around with the FSM.
Well check the harness and there are like 3 wires that are exposed right next to each other, once i figure out a way to get a soldering iron to work outside I'll splice em together and see what happens.
My friend also suggested it might be a bad distributor (cap?)? Who knows...
Well hopefully I won't get electricuted anytime soon.
Also how do you check resistance? You disconnect the ground on the battery and then check? I'm really new at all this electrical stuff :p
My friend also suggested it might be a bad distributor (cap?)? Who knows...
Well hopefully I won't get electricuted anytime soon.
Also how do you check resistance? You disconnect the ground on the battery and then check? I'm really new at all this electrical stuff :p
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evotech240sx
- Posts: 144
- Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2003 11:49 pm
- Car: 92 240sx fastback
- Contact:
Re:DVM basics
stfu: There are plenty of electricity basic primers on the internet, but here's a quick rundown:
Your car produces/operates mainly on DC voltage(direct current). This means the electrical potential on any given wire remains the same. AC voltage(alternating current), like what's in your house, varries potential.
I'll use the infamous water pipe example to explain:Think of a garden hose with water running through it. Correlate this to your battery wire wire with electrons flowing through it:
The voltage on the positive wire is similar to the 'pressure' of the water flowing through the hose.
The current your electrical system draws is the 'amount of water' flowing.
Resistance, is 'resistance to potential', like a kink in the hose.
I hope this helps - I don't have a whole lot of time to explain in detail at the moment. Post back with any questions you may have. The manual included with the meter should have good explainations of the functions.
-Jamie
Your car produces/operates mainly on DC voltage(direct current). This means the electrical potential on any given wire remains the same. AC voltage(alternating current), like what's in your house, varries potential.
I'll use the infamous water pipe example to explain:Think of a garden hose with water running through it. Correlate this to your battery wire wire with electrons flowing through it:
The voltage on the positive wire is similar to the 'pressure' of the water flowing through the hose.
The current your electrical system draws is the 'amount of water' flowing.
Resistance, is 'resistance to potential', like a kink in the hose.
I hope this helps - I don't have a whole lot of time to explain in detail at the moment. Post back with any questions you may have. The manual included with the meter should have good explainations of the functions.
-Jamie