[jcollinson]

So the other night, I try to turn on my rack lights and notices they were not working, so I figured ok, blown fuse.

Then yesterday, I drive over to my buddies house and all was well. Well this morning around 0230, I was driving home and A/C wouldn't turn on, turn signals wouldn't work, and on the dash, where it tells you what gear your in was not lighting up either. Volts started dropping, then Radio wouldn't work. Next, dash lights started coming on. Luckily, volts hung around 8.8V so I made it home, but barely.

I had this problem around 2 years ago, and took it to my mechanic in my hometown and he had to fix a 3 ft. section of wire behind the head-unit. He said he replaced as much as he could see. I have an AVIC-D3 installed and come to think of it my reverse camera wasn't coming on either.

Guess i'll start tracing wires back and hopefully get lucky. I definitely don't wanna take it to the stealership at any costs.

Anybody else ever have any problems like that?

 

[jcollinson]

Anybody? Lol

 

[Misterquad]

Sounds like something is grounding out and draining your battery. Your charge should be at 13.8V. I would start tracing from the first fuse blown.

 

[Cogen Man]

With 8.8V showing on your ScanGauge something is definately draining your battery. Short to ground somewhere as misterquad stated. But where ? Get out the digital multimeter. Start with roof lights and that head unit. I see in your sig you are lite up like a f'ing Christmas tree. So most likely the problem is in the lights.

 

[jcollinson]

Ya I unplugged all the lights do thy have no power going to them, time to pull some fuses.

 

[jcollinson]

No fuses blown, so I'm going to start tracing wires. Hopefully it's noticeable.

 

[KD7NAC_07FJ]

he had to fix a 3 ft. section of wire behind the head-unit.

Why did he replace a 3 foot section of wire? There is really only two things I can think of that would necessitate having to replace the wire itself. Rodents and too much current/shorting.

If it was rodents chewing on the wires you could be in for a lot of work tracking down and fixing the damaged wires.

If it was due to some sort of short determine if it was due to chafing if not then you have a more serious problem of too much current. In that case the best place to start is figuring out exactly what wire shorted and what system does it go to.

In either case I'd get some more information from your mechanic and start talking with your insurance. This can get very expensive very fast.

 

[conversejohn54]

its possible your alternator is not supplying enough power. I had a similar issue this last summer with very similar symptoms. If you cant track it down to being a short you may be having alternator power issues.

 

[jcollinson]

He said it shorted a wire, and I'm guessing the wire was that bad. Bad part is I'm hoping he'll remember. It's been a couple years. He said it was due to the radio. So I was checking all the wires. He said it went as far as the firewall si I'm wondering what wire would go that far from the radio...
Im thinking it must be the same thing. Everything is exactly happening like it did that last time. I tried to fix it last time, but end up running out of time and just took it to them. I did put a new alternator on at that time though.

 

[jcollinson]

Does anybody know how to check the alternator output, like which wire. I couldn't find a thread that said which wire.

 

[Cogen Man]

Here you go. Nice little video.

 

[jcollinson]

Thanks for the video, but with a possible electrical short, that method isn't going to help me much since power is likely being drawn elsewhere. I may just take it off and have it tested. But the thing is, the battery light never came on.

I found a piece of wire that looked burnt from the cigarette lighter, and replaced it, but that didn't help.

What were some symptoms from those whose alternator Went out??

 

[jcollinson]

Well everything looked fine. Still looking though.

There are 4 wires on the plug on the alternator., 2 are running lower volts, but the 3rd was around 6v and the other was around 10.7-11.2v. Maybe it is the alt. Probably take it off tomorrow and take it and have tested.

 

[jcollinson]

Well went to Advanced and had the alternator tested and its putting out enough volts.

Back to wire tracing in the AM....

DAMN MY LUCK! LOL

 

[jcollinson]

Well I think I got it all figured out. Looked like my power wire from the battery to the amp was somehow shorting out. I have it ran through the interior under the channel between the door. Also unhooked the wire to my rear view camera, as I seen that many have had problems with it being hooked up to the reverse lights. Went back through my fuses and the IG1 fuse was blown. Popped one in there, and everything seems to work so far. Going to have to figure out where to wire my camera now that it comes on with reverse, or its pretty much worthless for me, but the FJ is back! :rocker:

 

[tacomaDave]

My radio works, but it's stuck on one station. It wont change from CD to FM/AM to AUX because the screen wont light up. It did this about 2 years ago and went away on its own. Does anybody know what's wrong or had the same problem?
Thanks