Drawing too much power?
02-17-2010, 11:05 AM
#16
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As you have found, each of the lights in your car effectively has a three-way switch - OFF/ON/AUTO. The first rick is to determine which position is ON and which is AUTO if one of the door switches or the hatch switch is faulty or if there is a short to ground in the brown/white wires.
My first effort would be on the most common cause - the hatch switch. Remove the tool cover and pull the floor carpet back enough to find the switch at the bottom of the hatch lock receptacle. Disconnect the brown/white wire. (Brown is solid ground, brown with a color stripe is a switched ground.)
Your next challenge is that the interior light has a delay built into the system, so that when the doors are closed the lights stay on for a few seconds. Alan's suggestion of taping the switches will at least reduce the complication that this causes in testing. Just be aware that it take some good tape to hold the switches down for an extended time.
Assuming that you have taped the switches down, and several minutes have elapsed, it is easy to see if the red lights are off or on - check both of them. If they are now off, you might have been luck enough to find the problem quickly. Try your interior lights - you should now have two OFF positions and one ON position. Remember the ON switch position. Untape a door switch and see if you now have a second ON position - if so, this is the AUTO position.
Retape that door switch and test the other one in the same way. If it works, congratulations!
If the red lights are still on with the hatch switch disconnected, tape the passenger's door switch. As Alan recommended, hold the pin as you unscrew the switch. You should be able to carefully pull the switch and attached wire out just far enough to check it. Clean the contact area and check the switch operation. If you don't find the problem, check the other switch.
If neither of the three switches seem to be the problem, carefully remove each of the lights and inspect the wiring. You need to study the connections until you understand them. You will have one always-connected power wire (usually red, but green on one light unit)on one end, and one or more brown solid ground wires, and one or more brown/white switched ground wires on the other end. When the switch connects the end of the bulb to the brown wire, the light burns. When the switch connects the end of the bulb to the brown/white wire, the light burns when a door or the hatch is open so the brown/white wire is grounded (and a little longer when the relay grounds it). Look for mixed-up connections or short circuits to ground (pretty rare).
Be very careful with the light over the rear-view mirror - it is very easy for the power wire to short-circuit to the roof metal.
Have fun - at least these aren't nasty and greasy!
My first effort would be on the most common cause - the hatch switch. Remove the tool cover and pull the floor carpet back enough to find the switch at the bottom of the hatch lock receptacle. Disconnect the brown/white wire. (Brown is solid ground, brown with a color stripe is a switched ground.)
Your next challenge is that the interior light has a delay built into the system, so that when the doors are closed the lights stay on for a few seconds. Alan's suggestion of taping the switches will at least reduce the complication that this causes in testing. Just be aware that it take some good tape to hold the switches down for an extended time.
Assuming that you have taped the switches down, and several minutes have elapsed, it is easy to see if the red lights are off or on - check both of them. If they are now off, you might have been luck enough to find the problem quickly. Try your interior lights - you should now have two OFF positions and one ON position. Remember the ON switch position. Untape a door switch and see if you now have a second ON position - if so, this is the AUTO position.
Retape that door switch and test the other one in the same way. If it works, congratulations!
If the red lights are still on with the hatch switch disconnected, tape the passenger's door switch. As Alan recommended, hold the pin as you unscrew the switch. You should be able to carefully pull the switch and attached wire out just far enough to check it. Clean the contact area and check the switch operation. If you don't find the problem, check the other switch.
If neither of the three switches seem to be the problem, carefully remove each of the lights and inspect the wiring. You need to study the connections until you understand them. You will have one always-connected power wire (usually red, but green on one light unit)on one end, and one or more brown solid ground wires, and one or more brown/white switched ground wires on the other end. When the switch connects the end of the bulb to the brown wire, the light burns. When the switch connects the end of the bulb to the brown/white wire, the light burns when a door or the hatch is open so the brown/white wire is grounded (and a little longer when the relay grounds it). Look for mixed-up connections or short circuits to ground (pretty rare).
Be very careful with the light over the rear-view mirror - it is very easy for the power wire to short-circuit to the roof metal.
Have fun - at least these aren't nasty and greasy!
02-17-2010, 01:16 PM
#17
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I too am chasing a current draw. But I am unsure how to use my new meter and the written instructions are vague. They say to connect the black probe to COM and red to appropriate A recepticle. But which for my purpose, 20A(yellow) or mA (white)? What does mA mean? Then where do I set the dial? I assume I use the sector with the A and straight line for DC, but there are 4 choices. And when I connect in line with disconnected ground strap and body, what will I see on the readout? Help!
Last edited by Jim Chambers; 05-25-2015 at 10:25 AM.
02-17-2010, 01:40 PM
#18
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mA = milliAmps (1/1000th of Amp) (on the ranges they show just m - same thing)
Start with the 20A socket and see first if you have less than 200mA if you do you can migrate to the mA socket and the 200m range
The range number shows the max value it can handle - if you overload this you will likely blow the fuse - bad OR the meter - worse. Start high -> go low. When you switch to measuring something else start high again.
Buy some spare fuses when you can - you will probably need them...
The 20A position only works with the 20A socket. The mA socket works with all other A ranges.
Yes you need only the DC Amps ranges.
What you will see on the display should be self explanitory... try it
Alan
Start with the 20A socket and see first if you have less than 200mA if you do you can migrate to the mA socket and the 200m range
The range number shows the max value it can handle - if you overload this you will likely blow the fuse - bad OR the meter - worse. Start high -> go low. When you switch to measuring something else start high again.
Buy some spare fuses when you can - you will probably need them...
The 20A position only works with the 20A socket. The mA socket works with all other A ranges.
Yes you need only the DC Amps ranges.
What you will see on the display should be self explanitory... try it
Alan
02-17-2010, 01:54 PM
#19
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Search on my username. I've put several current draw troubleshooting threads together. It's the same ole stuff. Think lights, relays, and aftermarket stereo ****.
02-17-2010, 01:55 PM
#20
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Thank you Alan. The procedure I am following is to disconnect the battery ground strap from the body, then placing the meter in line, that is one probe (red?) on the strap and the other on the body terminal. I will start with all interior lights on. I should then get an Amp reading of some value, correct?
02-17-2010, 02:58 PM
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Alan,
Like I said, I dont know if using the ECU disconnect relay applies to Sanjay's situation.
FYI - The car runs and idles great and there are no ECU problems with my car.
Honestly, I wouldn't have known about the relay being installed if the shop owner had not pointed it out to me.
VTY,
Joe
Like I said, I dont know if using the ECU disconnect relay applies to Sanjay's situation.
FYI - The car runs and idles great and there are no ECU problems with my car.
Honestly, I wouldn't have known about the relay being installed if the shop owner had not pointed it out to me.
VTY,
Joe
02-19-2010, 07:51 PM
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I got the car back this afternoon and check the red door lights; sure enough they don't go off when the door is closed (I was able to check by sitting down my the middle of the door and cupping my left hand in front of the light and pushing the switch in and out with my right. Easier than using tape or peeking inside the door). I'll check the switches, to see if they just need to be cleaned. This may be a silly question, but there are just the 2 door switches and the hatch switch that are wire to the courtesy light right?
02-19-2010, 08:22 PM
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02-19-2010, 08:34 PM
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But, that leads to another question...if those lights do not go out, shouldn't the other lights stay on all the time also? Right now, they don't come on at all. All of the interior light fixtures are broken, but I was able to Crazy Glue one of them and it still did not work.
(Time to go play Wii with the kids - Fridays are family night; you'll have to excuse me if I don't reply to further posts quickly). Thanks again.
02-19-2010, 08:42 PM
#27
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You need to get all of the lights to operate before you can effectively trouble shoot the system. Start with getting them to light in the "always on" position first, then move to the "on with the door open" position. If any one is not working correctly, it can be the cause of your problem. By my count (in my '90 GT) there are 6 interior lights (rear hatch, rear above the back seats, each door, passenger footwell, front ceiling) plus the reds in the doors which all operate from the door switch. There are two others that are independent of doors but can be a problem, one in the glove box which operates with the glove box door and one in the engine compartment (mine operates with the parking lights).
02-20-2010, 11:49 AM
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Thanks all, unfortunately, I found another problem that has to take priority....
On the way home from the shop yeaterday, everything seemed fine. The car handled and accelerated well; but after i stopped to fill up gas, I noticed a very strong gas smell. After I got home a neighbor came over and he smelled gas about 1 hour after filling up. This moring i went into the garage where the car had been for over 12 hours and same thing...gas smell.
I looked under the car and didn't see any leaks. I did notice that the car is now slow to turn over - as if there is not enough gas. What do you think...leak someplace, fuel injectors,...?
I'll do a search to see if I can find some threads on this issue.
On the way home from the shop yeaterday, everything seemed fine. The car handled and accelerated well; but after i stopped to fill up gas, I noticed a very strong gas smell. After I got home a neighbor came over and he smelled gas about 1 hour after filling up. This moring i went into the garage where the car had been for over 12 hours and same thing...gas smell.
I looked under the car and didn't see any leaks. I did notice that the car is now slow to turn over - as if there is not enough gas. What do you think...leak someplace, fuel injectors,...?
I'll do a search to see if I can find some threads on this issue.
