Strange electrical problem on terrano!!!
Submitted: Friday, Sep 10, 2004 at 22:48
ThreadID:
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6
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Member - Dragan T (VIC)
Hi everyone!
I've managed to dischage my car battery somehow yesterday. So after jump starting it I have removed one battery connection to check that alternator charging current is OK. The moment I disconnected the battery,
park lights came on and I havent been able to turn them off, unles i stop the car and disconnect the battery. Checked the switch fuses etc. etc. everything seems OK. Only thing I can think of is some kinda spike happened when I removed the battery so it fused wires somewhere. With terrano being imported It is impossible to find wiring diagram for it. So it's gonna be nervewrecking job!! Can anyone tell me if
park lights are connected via relay or directly to the switch? Did anyone have similar situation before or can give some reccomendations?
Thanx
Reply By: Moz - Friday, Sep 10, 2004 at 23:14
Friday, Sep 10, 2004 at 23:14
Hi Dragan,
Not good practice to disconnect the battery while engine is running - can cause
spikes which can damage ECU's and the like.
Usually the
park lights are controlled by the switch on the earth side of the switching circuit of the
park light relay.
Cheers Moz
AnswerID:
75998
Follow Up By: Member - Dragan T (VIC) - Friday, Sep 10, 2004 at 23:53
Friday, Sep 10, 2004 at 23:53
Thanx Moz
I think it spiked because it was charging at about 10 amps at the time
everything else is Ok just damn lights, Oh I feel like seting the car on fire. Spent whole afternoon on it and no go. And I'm ussually pretty good on car electrics.
FollowupID:
335838
Reply By: cwebb - Friday, Sep 10, 2004 at 23:51
Friday, Sep 10, 2004 at 23:51
Sounds like a crook earth to me. Have seen bad earths cause very strange problems. Have all of them checked, in particular ones that are often located around the bumper-bar area at both ends of the vehicle.
AnswerID:
76000
Follow Up By: Member - Dragan T (VIC) - Friday, Sep 10, 2004 at 23:55
Friday, Sep 10, 2004 at 23:55
Crook earth? How can that cause lights to be on all the time? I've never heard of it before. I'll check it tommorrow anyway!
Thanx
FollowupID:
335839
Reply By: Member Eric - Saturday, Sep 11, 2004 at 07:44
Saturday, Sep 11, 2004 at 07:44
Im with cwebb , sounds like a bad earth , also do you have a towbar ? I have seen them do funny things when they get watter in them .
AnswerID:
76014
Follow Up By: Member - Dragan T (VIC) - Saturday, Sep 11, 2004 at 11:58
Saturday, Sep 11, 2004 at 11:58
Thnax Eric, I'm still tying to think how can bad earth affect lights to be on all the time. Haven't taught about tow bar but it makes sense, I'll check it out .
Thanx again.
FollowupID:
335851
Follow Up By: Utemad - Saturday, Sep 11, 2004 at 15:58
Saturday, Sep 11, 2004 at 15:58
I wouldn't think it would be this. Although damaged trailer wiring causes lots of hassles sometimes. When everything is switched off as you have said there is no power to the trailer plug so it can't short anything.
FollowupID:
335871
Reply By: Utemad - Saturday, Sep 11, 2004 at 16:02
Saturday, Sep 11, 2004 at 16:02
Isn't your Terrano the same as a Pathfinder? I would have thought they had pretty similar wiring.
Try pulling the fuse for your
parking lights. On my Rodeo it controls the parkers and the dash lights. If the lights goes out then you haven't fixed the problem but you have found the faulty circuit. It is also much easier than removing a battery cable in the meantime.
AnswerID:
76036
Reply By: Eric Experience. - Saturday, Sep 11, 2004 at 21:58
Saturday, Sep 11, 2004 at 21:58
Dragan.
The fault is similar to one on a teranno I jump started in Officer about 6 weeks ago. Do you have an alarm system? In the alarms there is a transistor that flashes the lights, if you disconect you battery with the motor running you can get up to 400 volts from your alternator which is more than enough to destroy the transistor. The other possibility is a light on warning system, they use diodes to sample the light voltage if one of these diodes has shorted you lights may stay on. Eric.
AnswerID:
76060
Reply By: Member - Dragan T (VIC) - Sunday, Sep 12, 2004 at 23:59
Sunday, Sep 12, 2004 at 23:59
Thanx for the help everyone!
I have "found the problem" At least i think I did! it was fog lights switch!!! Switch exist but it is not connected to
park lights or any other since I don't have fog lights on my car!!! I switched it off, and parkers went off, I swithced it back on but parkers remained off. Now it buggers me since I don't know EXACTLY what happened there, but when I pulled switch apart I could see black marks on the contacts, they probably fused when that spike occured somehow. I lost too much nervs over it to dig in to it again, so I left it as it is for now. Still it keeps digging at the back of my head how the hell that could happen and is it gone completelly. If it reapears you'll know about it for sure!!!
Thanx for help one more!!!
AnswerID:
76142