strange electrical problems
11-09-2009, 04:58 PM
#1
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strange electrical problems
it looks like i'm stuck with my wonderful car until the economy picks up a bit so i'm trying to work out a few more bugs.
i have a few intermittent and very strange electrical problems. for one night, a few months ago, every time i switched from bright lights to dim or dim to bright, the car would completely stop for about half a second. it was just long enough for all the slack in the drive train to be taken up and slow the car down, then pick it back up. so i got a big jolt, all the lights turned off, dash and all, everything electrical was gone, just because i hit the dimmer. that's long since gone away though.
more recently, and also no longer a problem, i started the car at night and was watching the oil pressure gauge as i do pretty regularly, and as i turned the headlights on, the oil pressure gauge dropped. i flicked the lights on and off a few times and it ended up coming up to the 65 psi cold idle reading that i expected. (on a side note, if you'll recall my old oil pressure problem. that seems to have been due to running mobil 10-30 in the summer. castrol 10-40 has it back up to wonderful pressure. love nissan engines! and yes i consciously choose to ignore the warning about not switching from synthetic back to conventional. i'll let you know how it works out.)
so i guess i'm wondering if anyone has any idea of where i should start. i figure i'd have to take a lot of stuff apart to trace the headlight wires and see if they're rubbing something, so it would be cool if anyone had maybe had the same problems and might be able to point me in a little bit more specific area.
so those are the big ones, and i haven't noticed any other strange electrical problems. but a question on a slightly different topic now: where is the fuse for the interior over head lights? i've looked all over and read the diagrams and can't find it. none of my overheads work. thanks in advance
i have a few intermittent and very strange electrical problems. for one night, a few months ago, every time i switched from bright lights to dim or dim to bright, the car would completely stop for about half a second. it was just long enough for all the slack in the drive train to be taken up and slow the car down, then pick it back up. so i got a big jolt, all the lights turned off, dash and all, everything electrical was gone, just because i hit the dimmer. that's long since gone away though.
more recently, and also no longer a problem, i started the car at night and was watching the oil pressure gauge as i do pretty regularly, and as i turned the headlights on, the oil pressure gauge dropped. i flicked the lights on and off a few times and it ended up coming up to the 65 psi cold idle reading that i expected. (on a side note, if you'll recall my old oil pressure problem. that seems to have been due to running mobil 10-30 in the summer. castrol 10-40 has it back up to wonderful pressure. love nissan engines! and yes i consciously choose to ignore the warning about not switching from synthetic back to conventional. i'll let you know how it works out.)
so i guess i'm wondering if anyone has any idea of where i should start. i figure i'd have to take a lot of stuff apart to trace the headlight wires and see if they're rubbing something, so it would be cool if anyone had maybe had the same problems and might be able to point me in a little bit more specific area.
so those are the big ones, and i haven't noticed any other strange electrical problems. but a question on a slightly different topic now: where is the fuse for the interior over head lights? i've looked all over and read the diagrams and can't find it. none of my overheads work. thanks in advance
11-09-2009, 05:32 PM
#3
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well, i should have mentioned that the cover from that fuse panel is missing... so i guess what i was asking is which fuse panel are they in. and now i know. thanks much.
but, i've gone through every fuse in there, cleaned them, and inspected for breakage and they're all good. so what else would cause both interior lights to go out? well, all three rather. the two front ones and the one in the middle.
but, i've gone through every fuse in there, cleaned them, and inspected for breakage and they're all good. so what else would cause both interior lights to go out? well, all three rather. the two front ones and the one in the middle.
11-09-2009, 05:50 PM
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Location: Naperville, IL
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Short in the wires? Coincidence (all bulbs are bad)?
And a fuse can be bad without looking bad. I had exactly that happen... my one-touch power window wouldn't roll down and I didn't have power steering... fuse looked fine, so I left it alone and continued along my diagnosis. Ended up replacing the fuse anyway out of frustration and it resolved my problem.
So replace the fuse... they're cheap. And then break out the multimeter if that doesn't do it.
And a fuse can be bad without looking bad. I had exactly that happen... my one-touch power window wouldn't roll down and I didn't have power steering... fuse looked fine, so I left it alone and continued along my diagnosis. Ended up replacing the fuse anyway out of frustration and it resolved my problem.
So replace the fuse... they're cheap. And then break out the multimeter if that doesn't do it.
11-09-2009, 05:57 PM
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quite helpful! thanks. so the one touch window and the ps use the same fuse? just like the cruise control and the horns. that seems so strange to me, doubling up on fuses. i'm pretty weak with electrical components in general
11-09-2009, 06:50 PM
#6
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Sometimes what'll happen at the end of a design process is they'll reach a problem like this...
"hey, I need 2 amps for the one-touch power window operation that we just decided to add since it's so simple, but none of the circuits related to the power window system have 2 amps to spare"
"oh yeah? well I've got 3 amps to spare on the power steering electronics circuit"
"cool, let's put the two together"
And thus, strangely related electrical problems occur a decade and a half down the road.
"hey, I need 2 amps for the one-touch power window operation that we just decided to add since it's so simple, but none of the circuits related to the power window system have 2 amps to spare"
"oh yeah? well I've got 3 amps to spare on the power steering electronics circuit"
"cool, let's put the two together"
And thus, strangely related electrical problems occur a decade and a half down the road.
11-22-2009, 07:58 PM
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oh yeah that one looks better. i'll check 'em out pretty soon.
ok, another addition to the real problem...
driving tonight for a good long while with the lights on. i try to dim the dash lights, just out of boredom of driving on the interstate for hours. the button doesn't work. however, wheni push it, i start getting feedback through the stereo. the head unit is on, but there's not feed to it. usually silent in this situation. but i started getting feedback. then about 100 miles later, still dark, i had to hit the brakes quite hard, and while it did it, my dash lights quickly dimmed to apparently where i had adjusted them to without being able to tell. i turned them back up and it all works. the noise went away also.
obviously, i have some wires rubbing. judging by how many different problems i've had that are all slightly related to the head lights in some way or another, i'm guessing that there's likely a fair amount of rubbing going on in several wires in one pretty close area. maybe even a mouse or something. so what i'm wondering is where should i start here? i guess i'll start tracing back from the head lights and try to trace to the switch, and then to the battery, but... that's a lot lol. i might have the car down the frame by that time. so what should i do? does anyone know if this harness is actually close to the surface? can anyone give some spot to start? i've got no idea!
ok, another addition to the real problem...
driving tonight for a good long while with the lights on. i try to dim the dash lights, just out of boredom of driving on the interstate for hours. the button doesn't work. however, wheni push it, i start getting feedback through the stereo. the head unit is on, but there's not feed to it. usually silent in this situation. but i started getting feedback. then about 100 miles later, still dark, i had to hit the brakes quite hard, and while it did it, my dash lights quickly dimmed to apparently where i had adjusted them to without being able to tell. i turned them back up and it all works. the noise went away also.
obviously, i have some wires rubbing. judging by how many different problems i've had that are all slightly related to the head lights in some way or another, i'm guessing that there's likely a fair amount of rubbing going on in several wires in one pretty close area. maybe even a mouse or something. so what i'm wondering is where should i start here? i guess i'll start tracing back from the head lights and try to trace to the switch, and then to the battery, but... that's a lot lol. i might have the car down the frame by that time. so what should i do? does anyone know if this harness is actually close to the surface? can anyone give some spot to start? i've got no idea!
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