Hey guys,

ive recently had some problems constantly blowing the fuse for the dash gauges, after wiggling wires, re-connecting some loose ones on my power mirror switch and then putting the carpet back in thats totally fine now, it hasnt done it once.

however i started putting my interior back in and i plugged my stereo back in and it was dead, i checked the voltage with my meter and theres no current coming from the constantly live wire ! i sort of scratched my head for a bit and checked the fuses etc, that was all fine, i then had to reverse the car out of the garage to tidy some stuff up and just by chance i noticed the standby light on my stereo was now on with the car running !

ive got a mini amp in the centre console too which ive wired into a constantly live wire on a switch, near where the power window wires are, its an orange wire, but i checked that along with the radio when the car was off and that had no power going to it either, but once again with the ignition on, that gets 12 volts.

these 2 things have always worked with the car switched off as thats how they have been wired up for years, and now all of a sudden they only work when the car is on !?!?!

one other thing, the light in the footwell was coming on when you opened the door, now it doesnt........unless the ignition is turned on.

the only thing that still seems to be working before i took the interior out is the BONG BONG BONG box under the dash, if you leave the keys in with the door open it still bongs at you.

Any ideas why my car has suddenly decided it doesnt want to let anything work unless the ignition is on ?

 

Anyone ? i wont be able to work on the car until friday again, someone said check the ACC fuse, but surely if that fuse has gone, that would mean they wouldnt work at all ?

its like some magic fairies have re-wired stuff so it comes on with the ignition instead of being constantly live !

 

one more ask guys, or do you think its just a case of calling in an auto electrician ?

 

Trying to make sense of this - you've got two power lines, one powering a stereo and one powering an amp. They have always had constant 12v, but now seem to have changed to be 12v in run. Correct?

Assume these two power lines are not factory, and are wires that you've run yourself previously? Only you know what you've spliced them too, makes troubleshooting online a little difficult. Where did you connect them?

 

Correct, however they arent wires ive added, they are factory ! a stereo installer done my stereo for me, he connected the new connector block to the factory wires, and purposley done it so the stereo had a constant live, and to power it off all together you clip the front fascia off.

same with the mini amp in the centre console, i done that myself a couple of years ago as i found a wire with a connector on under the centre console that wasnt plugged into anything and had been taped up, i tested it with my meter with the car off and it had 12v, so thats why i ran my amp to that wire, thats an orange wire near the back of where the shifter assembly sits.

The only thing i can think of at the minute is a long connector on the fuse panel that went into an IGN port, i had that unplugged to get at some other wires when i was searching, im wondering if ive plugged that into the wrong part, if there is another port that it fits anyway as im all out of ideas at the minute, i just havnt been able to get at the car this week, i'll be working on it tomorrow night.

 

I was so pre-occupied with the radio and the amp i forgot about other stuff that works with the car off, like the hatch release button and the windshield wipers, tried them and they too now only work when the ignition is on !

Also it might be worth mentioning that i can still use the headlights when the car is turned off, they work no problem.

I did notice this connector though which i missed earlier in the week, its right up by the firewall over to left, near where the stock holes are where the wiring runs through the firewall to the engine bay, its a purple wire with a white stripe and its not plugged into anything and i cant see anything in its vacinity to plug it into either, this probably isnt my weird wiring issue but surely it does something and should be plugged in somewhere.

 

Found another new problem tonight too, my brake lights now dont work ! the used to work if you pressed the pedal even with the car off, now they dont work whether the car is on or off.

Anyone shed any light on all my interior electric problems ? i know theres a brake light switch somewhere but ive got no idea where.

im not sure if its related to my other problems because the brake lights dont work at all now, but everything was working just fine until the gauge fuse started blowing etc

 

Things like the hatch release, brake lights etc you have mentioned not working, are supplied thru various fuses in the fusebox. The other side of these fuses should go straight to batt +, via wires in the big fat loom up thru the C100 cabin connector, and then a fusible link located on the started + post.

Sounds like a lot of things have changed to working only when the key is in run - weird. If everything was dead, I would suspect the fusible link had blown. But in this case, seems there is still power to the ign switch. Maybe there is a break in the wiring feeding part of the fusebox, and some circuit are being powered by some back-feed happenstance thru other fuses that are receiving power in run.

You're going to have to get your voltmeter and do a bit of troubleshooting. For instance, in particular in this case, the Acc and Stop/Haz fuses should have power at all times. If they don't, pull out the fusebox and check the fuseholder terminals and connections from the back.

Keep following the circuit back up-stream towards the batt, until the missing voltage appears - you have a full circuit schematic on hand right?

Your purple thingy wire there going nowhere - I think mine has that too - for some accessory our cars don't happen to use probably - cant remember offhand - I'll pop out to the garage when I get a chance. I identified and labelled everything several years ago when I had a wiring blitzkrieg.

 

 

thanks for the replys guys, my hazzards work with the car off i know that much, im gonna be working on the car tonight again so i will have another look, i really need to get the brake lights working because i think i will need to drive the car upto the paintshop on friday night and its gonna be there all weekend.

TreeFiddy, i managed to get a factory service manual for my car so ive got all the diagrams, it looks like loads and loads of things are powered through that 10amp dash gauge fuse which goes via a purple and black wire.

As you said if things had just stopped working it would of been easier to figure it out, but its because they now only work with the ign on. my hatch release button doesnt work now however the actual pull down motor still does with the car off.

im gonna try and sort the brake lights out tonight first so i can at least drive the car if i need to at the end of the week.

 

Interesting - the hazard flasher and the brake switch are both supplied by the stop/haz fuse, yet one works and one doesn't. As the brake lights have not suddenly started this 'work in run only' behaviour like other things have, might be a separate issue like a bad ground etc. See if there's power to the orange wire on the brake switch (assume you've found it now ).

If not and you can't find the fault in time, you could always run a temp fused hot wire from the brake sw to the batt to get you going for now.

Something you mentioned before - wipers - should not work at all times; should only work in acc or run. Would it be true to say only items run off the Acc fuse are doing the funky behaviour?

 

another couple of hours before i can go up and work on the car, my wipers used to work with the car switched off ? maybe somethings were wired up weird before i got the car then.

i thought i might check the wiring at the plug for the lights first, i think its a blue wire for the brake lights, so if i stick my multimeter in there it should gain 12v with the brake pedal applied, if it does then i know somethings wrong behind the lights and i will have to take the lights out and investigate, if theres no power at the connector then i will have a look at this orange wire on the brake switch, thanks treefiddy !

still not sure what to do about my other things not working, if my hatch released worked with the ign off i would probably just leave it the way it is to be honest but between now and thursday all im worried about are my brake lights so i will report back here later on tonight !

Scott.

 

Sounds like a plan with the brake lights; yep blue wire from switch to brake lights.

As for the rest, grab the meter and happy hunting! Interesting electrical problems can be fun to solve, feels great when you find the fault. It'll be something simple in the end, usually is.

 

well i fixed the brake lights, took me a while to find out because some stupid previous owner had cut the blue wire at the brake switch and replaced it with a red one, so i was constantly over looking the wire with it being red, and its not even part of the plug, its on its own just in the main wiring loom, no idea, but anyway once i found that it just needed reconnecting to power the brake lights and its all good !

i will have to leave my other problems for now as i need to get the car upto the paint shop this weekend, i just hope to god it gets me there ok and nothing craps out on the way.

 

Ah of course, there's a previous owner in the mix. All bets are off!

 

you should see the state of my engine wiring harness, im amazed the car still runs to be honest and the only error code i get is maf burnoff circuit failure, and looking at the amount of dodgy relays and cut connectors down near the air filter im not surprised! ive got a full replacement harness but havnt fitted it yet, not even sure if its the right type to be honest as it came from an 88 but we will see.