2005 Suzuki Forenza, Changing The Low Beam Headlight Bulb

This 2005 Suzuki Forenza came in with the complaint that the driver’s low beam headlight was not working. The vehicle owner had given up on trying to change to bulb himself because of limited room to work.

I looked it over and decided the easier avenue would be to remove the headlight assembly and then change the bulb. The two top screws are easy enough to locate and remove.

There is a nut on the inside of the radiator support that has to be removed as well. Kind of looks like a pain but it is not. All fasteners were 10 mm hex.

With the three retainers removed the headlight slid out of the front of the car. It was slightly difficult to deal with the front fascia cover.

With the headlight assembly out of the car I supported it with my leg while I removed the rear bulb cover.

A counterclockwise twist and pull.

Firmly pull the wire harness from the bulb. Make sure you grasp the connector body and do not pull on the wires.

In this case I had to use pliers to grab and release the locking arm for the bulb.

Install the new bulb, connect the wiring and install the bulb cover. Then mount the whole assembly back into the car.

2003 Ford Focus, Runs Hot, Cooling Fans Inop, Part 1

This 2003 Ford Focus came in with the complaint that the car was running hot. It has a 2.0 liter engine and is a non SVT model. Although similar to later model vehicles with the same set up, this year is unique in it’s wiring harness design. After asking multiple questions of the owner and doing some basic inspection I found that the coolant was not boiling over but the temperature gauge was reading quite high. After determining that the cooling fans would come on at high speed at a temperature of 250 degrees, I decide to start investigating the low speed fan operation and started with checking the low speed fan relay. It is the light gray square relay in the center of the picture.

After removing the relay I found that the center plastic was slightly melted. Close inspection found that the terminal was not fully seated and had been making a poor connection, hence the heat damage.

Time to open up the box and see what is going on. I started by removing the intake breather tube and air filter cover. Then I could access the 7 mm headed screw to the left of the fuse box in the following picture.

Next, I released the holding clips on the opposite end of the fuse box.

After separating the retaining clips that held the two halves of the box together I was able to see inside the rear of the fuse box. The wiring looked pretty good so I decided to push the wire back into place and see what I had.

The terminal pushed back into place without too much effort so I knew there was a chance it would be usable.

To confirm the terminal was okay I inserted a jumper wire and tested the terminals drag resistance. It was okay.

I installed a new relay and held the wire in place with my pliers to make sure it would not back off.

If I had to I could have cut,spliced and moved all of the wiring to the empty relay cavity but that is a huge amount of work and everything currently is okay.

On to confirming the repair. Well things are not going so well. The temperature is up to 238 degrees and the low speed fan has been commanded on but the fans themselves are not on.

Now the engine is up to 244 degrees and the medium speed has been commanded on and still no fans on.

Now we are up to 250 degrees and the high speed fan fans have been commanded on and the fans are finally on. This is what I had originally discovered in testing earlier. My guess now is that the relay and wiring problem I had found earlier had probably been caused by some one else testing and they had pushed the terminal in and not corrected the condition.

I did find out what the original problem was and I will post about it tomorrow. The following picture is where the gauge should be normally when the the low speed fan comes on.

This is just a pet peeve of mine and has nothing to do with the repair but here it is. The air filter had obviously been replaced. Why did the installer not clean the dirt out of the air filter box? It takes about what 30 seconds to vacuum out the dirt with a shop vacuum? It just bugs me!

To see part 2 of this repair please click here.

2003 Ford Focus, Runs Hot, Cooling Fans Inop, Part 2

Welcome to part 2 of this repair on the cooling fan system on a 2003 Ford Focus. To see part 1 please click here.

I consulted the wiring diagrams further and found that there was a fan resistor located in the fan housing. After unplugging the connector this is what I found. One terminal was badly damaged on the harness connector.

The resistor was damaged as well.

I spliced in a new harness connector. The connector part numbers are Ford#4U2Z-14S411-DA Motorcraft# WPT822, The Electric Connection #4071

Installed a new resistor.

Hooked the connector to the resistor.

Retested the system and all is well. My guess is that the resistor and its connector were the original problem and poor test methods by the previous shop had pushed the terminal for the relay out of position.

2005 GMC Sierra, Speedometer Sticks, Replacing Faulty Gauge Stepper Motors

This 2005 GMC Sierra came in with the complaint that the speedometer does not work. In fact it was stuck at 55 mph when it was sitting in the shop key on engine off. This repair can apply to any one of up to seven gauges on 2003 through 2007 Classic series Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC full sized trucks and SUV’s.

I went ahead and took some pictures of the remaining gauges while the engine was running and fully warmed up. this gives a point of reference for the gauge positions in case something goes wrong when replacing the gauge stepper motors.

Obviously the instrument cluster will need to be removed to replace the faulty stepper motor. I started by switching the ignition on, dropping the shifter all the way down into D1, tilting the column fully down and holding the brake.

Grasp the edge of the instrument cluster trim panel and pull it loose form the dash. Repeat the pulling process all the way around the outside edge of the panel.

Roll the top of the panel out and depress the panel down slightly to finish removing the trim panel.

There are four 7 mm headed screws that hold the instrument cluster in place. One in each corner. With the screws removed pull the cluster out far enough to unplug the harness connector. Make sure the key if off when disconnecting the harness.

Now that the cluster assembly is removed the front cover has to be removed. There are several clips that hold it in place the upper ones are easy to unhook. The two lower ones shown in the next picture can be difficult sometimes. Remember to use a gentle touch.

Now that the lens cover is removed the gauge needles need to be rotated fully counterclockwise until they stop. Again a gentle touch. Using masking tape mark the lowest position of the needle. The faulty gauge will need a slight bit more force to move it. About the same force needed to click on your mouse.

The faulty speedometer gauge needle moved fully counterclockwise to it’s stop position.

All of the gauge needles moved to their respective stops and marked with masking tape.

Move the needle past its stop to loosen the grip between the needle and the motor shaft.

Now breakout the super sophisticated special tool to remove the needle from the stepper motor shaft.

It is best to slide the fork through enough to be able to grab the other end and pull straight up. In particular if you are planning to reuse the old stepper motor. Also if you are only replacing the faulty stepper motors, I do not recommend turning the needles to break them loose from the shafts on the working gauges.

The underside of the needle.

Now the remaining two halves of the instrument cluster assembly can be separated.

There are clips along the edge of the black plastic cover that have to be released.

Make sure you leave this cover in place until the needle positions are marked and the needles have been removed.

If you remove the rear cover before the needle position is marked you can wind up with this much disparity between where the tape and the needles are actually positioned. Ask me how I know this?

This and most of these trucks have six gauges. If there was a transmission temperature gauge it would have been in the lower left corner.

Now the fun begins. You must use a small but hot soldering iron to melt the solder and remove the stepper motors. I use the tip to straighten out the four leads after the solder is softened.

I also hold the motor as shown below and keep constant pressure against the circuit board. Then it is a matter of switching back and forth between the four leads to remove the motor. There are all sorts of  devices to aid in the removal of the solder but I prefer to remove the motor in this fashion and then use the tip of the soldering iron and sometimes a small wire to open up the holes.

Well I have installed new stepper motors for all six gauges in this instrument cluster and it is time to put it all back together. Because I have a scan tool that can read instrument cluster data I take the extra step of making sure the gauges reflect the digital data.

I put it all back together and this one is done.

2000 Cadillac STS, Door Locks Cycle Up & Down While Driving

This 2000 Cadillac STS came in with the complaint that the power door locks would not work from the driver’s power door lock switch  and that the door locks would cycle up and down while driving down the road. All other functions on the driver’s door worked fine. It took me a little while to go through this system and develop some test procedures. Now that I know what to look for it should only take a few minutes to do the basic tests. First the power window switch mus be removed so that circuits can be tested on the underside of the switch. push in on the spring clip and lift the switch from the door panel.

Using a volt meter check the voltage on the red/black wire, terminal #7 and the orange/black wire, terminal #6. There should be a nominal 5 volt signal present on both wires with all switches in the rest position.

The voltage on both wires on this vehicle varied between .5 and 3 volts with all switches at rest. Dropping down below roughly 2 volts can trigger the locks to cycle.

Now I need to disconnect the power door lock switch and that requires removing the door panel. There is a Phillip’s headed screw in the lower left corner of the panel.

The cover behind the inside door handle has to be removed. It takes a gentle touch and even then one of the clips will likely break.

Now, a Phillip’s head screw is revealed for removal. A #3 Phillip’s screw driver works best.

The flap behind the inside door pull handle is held down with Velcro tape and takes a little effort to grab and lift up.

After lifting the flap two more Phillip’s headed screws are revealed for removal.

The lower edge of the door panel can be grasped firmly and pulled away from the door to release the push pin retainers. Work your way across the bottom of the door and then up the side to the top of the panel.

With the bottom of the door panel pulled out about two or three inches, rotate the panel clockwise as shown in the picture below. This will allow the panel to be released from the door lock button.

Now tilt the top of the panel away from the door. The yellow clip has to be rotated away from the cable end. Then the cable end can be lifted up from the back side of the door handle.

Using a small screwdriver or similar tool gently lift the locking tab on the white retaining clip. Then slide th white retaining clip from it’s slot in the metal bracket.

Now that that is free you can better see the direction the yellow clip had to be rotated.

Almost there. Lift the harness from it’s perch on the inner door panel. this allows the panel to came away far enough that nothing else will be damaged while disconnecting the wiring harness connector.

With the door panel removed the inner metal bracket can now be removed. It covers the power door lock switch. There are four studs and this one had two nuts on each stud. They were 8mm or 5/16″.

There are two more Phillip’s headed screws along the lower edge.

The metal bracket is finally out of the way and I can now disconnect the power door lock switch. Lift the locking tab.

Pull the harness connector from the switch.  I went through and tested the red/black, orange/black, black, and white wiring between this switch connector and the power window switch connector. They were all okay. I reconnected the door panel harness to the door and installed the power window switch once again. The 5 volt reading was still low so that told me that the power window switch was indeed faulty. I also tested the power door lock switch and there is supposed to be less than 5 ohms resistance between terminal “C” and “D” when the switch is depressed in the lock position and between terminal “C” and “E” in the unlock position. In case you were wondering the yellow/black wire is for the illumination of the power door lock switch. The same test can be done at the power window switch connector between terminal 1 and 6&7.

Since the power door lock switch tests were out of range, I went ahead and installed a new switch. two 7mm screws hold the switch in place.

I plugging in the new switches and tested the system. All was good. I then installed the metal bracket and installed the door panel back onto the door.

I removed the old power window switch from the escutcheon plate as shown below.

The voltage readings with the new switches installed. A reading of 4.87 volts is good enough for me on a nominal 5 volt circuit. When the door lock switch a activated the 5 volt circuit will be pulled to less than one volt and close to zero.

2006 Chevrolet Impala, Rear Window Defroster Does Not Work

This 2006 Chevrolet Impala came in with the complaint that the rear window defroster does not work. The amber LED on the push button switch turned on and off as the switch was activated so I turned my focus to the rear window defroster relay and fuses. They are located in the underhood fuse box.

The rear window defroster / defogger relay in the picture below.

The rear window defroster 40 amp fuse. It is labeled as the BATT #3 fuse.

The heated mirror 10 amp fuse. It is labeled as the HTR MIR fuse. Since this car does have heated side mirrors it makes testing a little easier. The fuse should have power on it with the key on and the rear window defroster switch turned on. The relay should also click on and off with the switch command. Power at this fuse will indicate that the switch, relay and wiring in between are all okay. The 40 amp BATT 3 fuse can be removed and inspected to see if it is okay as well.

If everything tested good in the underhood fuse box the attention should turn to the passenger side  kick panel. The rocker panel portion lifts up to release the retaining clips and then it can be pulled away from the pillar.

There is a large connector tucked in underneath the carpet. I am pointing to the damaged wire in the picture below. You may want to click on it to enlarge the picture.

With the connector pulled out you can see the heat damage on the under side of it.

I cut the purple wire on both sides of the harness connector and spliced in a bypass wire.

I did have to disconnect this harness from the interior fuse box in order to have enough room to work with the in line harness connector. The grey lever has to be lifted fully and then the connector can be wiggled free. It took a fair amount of twisting to get it to release.

The new wire connected to the purple wire on both sides of the in line connector.

I tucked everything back into position and re installed the plastic cover.

I installed a fused jumper wire into the circuit in the underhood fuse box and took an amp reading. Just a hair over 19 amps.

Another one fixed.

2006 Toyota Camry XLE, Skips and Check Engine Light Is On

This 2006 Toyota Camry with a V6 engine came in with a misfire complaint and an SES light on. A quick check with my scan tool revealed a code P0302 for a cylinder #2 misfire. There was also a code P0174 stored for bank 2 too lean. There were some transmission codes also but I will leave that for another post.

Time to do a visual inspection. The first thing to do is to remove the top engine cover panel. It is held on place by three Allen headed bolts.

The oil filler cap can be removed as well for easier removal. Lift the panel to detach the rear hold downs.

Right away I noticed that this does not look correct.

The wires for the number two injector are eaten off at the injector connector and where they should be coming out of the harness.

A piece of the missing wires.

I opened up the harness and wired in a new injector harness pigtail.

I also had to replace some vacuum hoses that had been eaten off as well.

Thank goodness the rat that ate this was nowhere to be found.

1995 GMC C1500, Air Will Not Blow Out The Vents

This 1995 GMC C1500 came in with the complaint that the air would blow from everywhere except the front vents. In using the controls, the air flow would adjust from the defrost to the floor. All other functions were okay as well.

The mode actuator is located under the driver’s side of the dash, above the gas pedal.

The part that I am pointing to is half of the actuator vent arm. The half that is attached to the mode actuator has to be rotated and rolled off of the attaching hook on the actuator assembly. The white plastic hook can be seen in the following picture. It is just above the screwdriver blade. Click on the picture to enlarge.The other half uses a push pin to attach the arm to the door lever. I used a large flat blade screwdriver to separate the arm from the door lever.

To install the new arm, I first attached it to the hook/pin on the actuator assembly. Then I lined up the push pin in the arm assembly with the hole in the door lever and snapped it into position.

The old attaching arm pieces and the new arm below. Somewhere along the way the plastic pieces broke and fell out. This allowed the two halves of the arm assembly to separate. Which in turn prevented the air flow door for the face vents to open properly.

2000 Chevrolet Suburban, Instrument Cluster Does Not Work

This 2000 Chevrolet Suburban came in with the complaint that the instrument cluster does not work. I checked communication with my Tech 2 scan tool and found a communication problem with most modules. Including the instrument cluster.

Since my scan tool would power up, I knew that I had power to the DCL and at least enough ground to power the scan tool. I looked at a wiring diagram and saw that there are two grounds going to the DCL. Terminals 4 & 5.

Terminal #4 did have a ground signal present.

Terminal #5 did not have a ground signal on it.

Terminal #5 is connected to the black wire with a white stripe.

According to the wiring diagrams it terminates at the rear of the passenger side of the engine. I reached back into that location and found this broken wire. It is black with a white stripe.

A closer look at the broken wire.

The ring terminal and bolt that attaches to the rear of the engine. The bolt has 13 mm head.

I made an extension wire with a new ring terminal and spliced it into the original wire.

The repaired wire, crimped in place and sealed with heat shrink tubing. Notice the throttle cables to the right of the wire extension with ring terminal. If this vehicle had a Throttle Actuator Controller (TAC)  it would have had a Reduced Power message displayed in the dash and would have had very poor acceleration, when this wire broke.

I took this picture of my ratchet and extension so that you could have a better idea of just where the bolt is located.

The new wire extension is bolted down and I twisted a loop into it so that the wire can move some without breaking.

2006 Pontiac G6, Turn Signals Will Not Cancel After Making a Turn

This 2006 Pontiac G6 came in with the complaint that the turns signals would not turn off or cancel after making a turn. Instead the driver would have to manually turn the switch off after turning. Not a real big deal but it is quite annoying. The problem was inside the turn signal switch and this post is more about how to change the switch.

There are three 7 mm headed screws that hold the lower steering column cover in place.

Once the screws are removed and the lower cover is dropped, the upper cover lifts up. It will not come off though because it is attached to the instrument cluster bezel by a rubber dust cover/filler panel.

Two T15 torx headed screw hold the upper edge of the bezel in place.

The lower edge of the bezel has spring clips that hold it in place. A firm grasp and pull will allow the bezel to come free. The picture below shows the instrument cluster bezel and upper steering column cover assembly.

The turn signal switch has two harness connectors that have to be disconnected. Push in on the latches and pull the harnesses loose.

There are two clips that secure the turn signal switch to the steering column. One upper and the lower one as shown in the picture below.

Once both clips are released the turn signal switch will slide out of its holder.

Raise the steering column to the full up position and remove the switch. It takes just a little bit of a twist or roll motion to bring the switch all of the way out.

The white plastic tab in the picture below is what is supposed to catch on the steering shaft to cancel the turn signal. On the exterior everything appears okay but the white piece was broken internally.