Please help.. strange electrical problem

[sxslut]

Hey, I have a 89 240sx that i recently put a red top in. A little while ago when i was driving it the motor misfired a few times and the interior lights, tail lights, blinkers, and headlight motors stopped working. The headlights and high beams still worked fine though and the motor felt like it was running right. I am guessing there is a problem with a fuse or relay somewhere.. Anyone have any idea which one it could be?

[sxslut]

Ok.. so from what i have read, i would guess i have a bad timer control unit. Is that something that just goes bad, or does it mean i have some other problems?

[krazydriver]

First off check the 10amp fuse for the interior lights.

awhile ago, i rewired the back end of my car and somehow managed to plug the door chime harness into an old plug from an alarm that used to be in my car. Every time i opened the door with the key in it would blow that fuse.So see if it blows at some certain action, then you'll be able to find if you have a short in one of the car systems that is blowing the fuse.

If that is good...check the timing controlwhile it's possible you shorted something and it damaged the TCU(timing control) enough that it had worked for awhile and then failed... i find that kinda unlikely.

If you open the TCU you'll usually find that it's just a trace that's fried. Most of the time you can jumper it and you should be fine.

[rogoman]

Check the ground connections, especially the engine grounds. Also check the battery terminals for corrosion.

[got chub]

if the only thing that work electricity is the head lights then it is your 75A fusible link. part cost under $20 from Nissan (dealer item only). the same thing happened to my s14 i didn't know what was wrong so i took it to the dealer to get fixed and raped all at the same time. cost $135 for them to do it. also after you replace that you might want to inspect your wiring. when it happened to mine it cooked the last 8 inches of my lower engine harness from the over load of power and i didn't notice it till it went again and casue more damage to other electrical things. the fuse on the s14 is in the engine bay with all the other big fuses

[sxslut]

ok.. thanks i will try that

[sxslut]

well that was one part of the problem.. but i just put a spare in and it blew out the second i put it in.. so i guess i still have a problem.. i tried fixing the wire problems that i knew of but that doesn't seem to be enough
Modified by sxslut at 1:10 PM 12/7/2007

[got chub]

like i said mine blew again about 2-3 months later. that was when i found out the wiring was cooked. you might want to check all your wiring VERY carefully.

[sxslut]

ok.. I am pretty sure i found the problem. I pulled out the switch that makes the lights go up and down and found that the previous owner made the car do the sleepy eye thing by cutting the wire that sends the signal to make the lights go up... I guess he thought it was ok to cut the wire and not tape it or anything. After i took care of that i put a new link in and everything works again. so i hope that was it. Thanks for the help!

[sr20deTsomeday118]

sorry to unbury this thread but i am having a similar problem, my running lights and my dash/climate control backlights went out at the same time. i tried replacing the fuse for the rear lamps but the fuse blew almost immediatly?!? so now im stuck. im not eletrically inclined so any detailed help would be great!