1997 Dodge Ram 2500 Pickup, No Low Beam Headlights

This 1997 Dodge Ram 2500 pickup came in with the complaint of no low beam headlights. A simple test of tilting the steering column up and down with the headlight and dimmer switches on and positioned for low beam operation proved that the problem was in the steering column when the low beams came on and off with the repositioning of the tilt column. I went ahead and removed the tilt handle by unscrewing it. Sometimes a wrench is needed.

Next, I removed the screws that attached the covers to the column.

With the covers fully removed, I used an 8 mm socket and ratchet to loosen the attaching bolt in the rear of the connector body.

I also removed the multifunction switch to make the repair easier.

Using a small screwdriver , I removed the black cover from the connector body. Double click on the picture below and you will see the broken purple/white wire.

I used a small hook to pull the white plastic terminal lock from the connector body.

The original terminal.

I obtained a wire and terminal from another connector body and spliced it into the connector harness. Part of the locking clip for the terminal was damaged, so I used a little super glue on the exterior surface of the terminal to hold it in place in the connector, as insurance. Reassembled and this one was done.

By the way the connector that I used to obtain a terminal and wire from is at this link.

1999 Chevrolet Tahoe, ECM 1 Fuse Blows

This 1999 Chevrolet Tahoe came in with a complaint that the ECM 1 fuse in the under hood fuse box would blow, which of course causes a no run condition. Usually five to ten minutes after a cold start. That in itself is enough of a clue to me to start looking around the exhaust and sure enough there it is. The harness was not properly secured after an engine exchange and the harness for the crank sensor is shorted out on the passenger exhaust manifold.

I disconnected the wiring harness from the crank sensor, power steering pressure sensor and ground locations. I then pulled the harness up so that I could work on it easier. The picture below shows the melted loom and exposed wiring.

The only wire that was actually damaged was the red power supply wire for the crank sensor.

I replaced the damaged wire.

Placed the wiring back inside the loom and wrapped the whole thing with metal tape to reflect the heat. I then routed the harness correctly down to the lower side of the engine and secured the harness in the factory retainers that were still in place. Whoever had done the engine work was in too big of a hurry to put the wiring back correctly. Their loss is my gain.

1997 Chevrolet K1500 Pick Up, Tach and Speedometer Inoperative

This 1997 Chevrolet K1500 pick up came in with the speedometer, tach and shift indicator not working sometimes. In testing I also found that there were codes stored related to the TCC (Torque Convertor Clutch) and transmission. P0740, P0785 and P1860. This is a pretty common problem but I was looking for a quick simple test that almost anyone could do, to confirm the cause. The simple test is to check for ignition voltage at the “Trans” fuse, #20, 10 amp at the fuse box located at the left (driver’s) end of the dash. No power here with the key on and most likely the ignition switch is faulty.

This fuse is powered by a white wire from the ignition switch. Check there for power as well, with the key on. If power is not present, the only other test is for power on the red wire at terminal D5 of the ignition switch connector. It is easier to just confirm power on both red wires and not worry about terminal designations. For more information on getting to and changing the ignition switch please click here.

1995 Buick Park Avenue, Intermittent No Crank Condition

This 1995 Buick Park Avenue came in with a complaint of not cranking sometimes. The customer stated that when it happens nothing works. He could wiggle wires around the battery and it would come back to life. The battery had been changed recently. The battery cables should have been checked when the battery was installed, but as you can see from the picture below it was not.

Arc marks on the battery post, along with a little melted plastic.

The bolt side was no better. Heavy arcing.

With the bolt removed, I pulled the rubber boot off of the battery cable terminal.

Now, you can really see how bad the corrosion was.

I used my battery brush attachment on a cordless driver to clean the terminal.

These brushes work really well as you can tell in the next two pictures. To order one of these battery brushes please click here.

I trimmed the distorted inner ring from the terminal boot, using a razor blade.

Put the boot back over the terminal end and applied dielectric grease.

A new bolt tightened down.

I wiped off the excess grease and this one was done. To find new battery bolts please click here.

1996 Honda Accord, Fuse Location For Turn Signals

This 1996 Honda Accord came in with inoperative turn signals. The car had been in a minor front end collision. The customer had looked for the turn signal fuse and could not find it. It is in the fuse box on the driver’s kick panel.

It is kind of hard to see when you are looking at the fuse box by leaning in from the outside of the car. To see it you actually have to lean way in and have your head almost on the brake pedal, before it comes into view. Why they decided to put it at the very end of the fuse box, where it is hidden by plastic, I don’t know?

1995 Pontiac Sunfire, Lights Flicker, Radio Turns Off

This 1995 Pontiac Sunfire came in with several electrical complaints among which were the headlights flicker or flash, the radio turns off any time any lights are turned on or off, multiple dash warning lights flash on and off and the engine is sometimes hard to start. Sounds like a major ground or power fault to me and sure enough it was a faulty body ground. Some one had changed the negative battery cable but failed to install the body ground. Of course if you look at the bottom of the battery tray where the ground is supposed to attach the whole corner is rusted off.

I found a safe convenient location and attached the ground lead to the body. By safe, I mean that there is nothing behind the panel to be damaged by the screw. A simple fix to repair what seemed to be a very complicated problem.

1999 Ford Explorer,Driver’s Low Beam Inoperative

This 1999 Ford Explorer came in with the complaint that the driver’s side low beam headlight was not working. The owner stated that he tried two different bulbs and still nothing. The economy is helping me do posts about old problems. I haven’s seen this problem in several years. People around here are breaking out older cars that have been sitting in their yards for a while.

Anyways the problem occurs on vehicles with the driver information module. These vehicle use a lamp outage module to report to the driver, that a bulb is blown.

The module is not too hard to find once you know what to look for. First unsnap the drivers information panel and rotate to the side.

Next, lift the cup holder panel up and away.

The lamp outage module is located on the right inner side of the center console. It is held in place by two phillips headed screws. The picture below shows removal of the rear screw. Use a magnetic screw driver or an extra magnet to keep from dropping the screws.

The front screw.

Grab a hold of the module connector and rotate the assembly up and out of the console.

It will have “Lamp Outage Module” printed on it.

Release the clips and pull the circuit board from the module.

Locate the faulty solder joint or joints and resolder as needed. Double click on the image below to enlarge. The faulty solder joint is the top right one with the black ring around it. The bring is the actual crack in the solder.

1994 Oldsmobile 88 Royale, No Run and No Power Windows

This 1994 Oldsmobile 88 Royale came in with a complaint of an intermittent no run condition along with an intermittent no power window condition as well. If one system was okay, so was the other and when one was acting up, the other one was as well. This is a very common problem, and I have been waiting a long time to find one of these vehicles with condition. The problem is located under the driver’s side carpet.

There is a ground gang connector under the carpet on the driver’s side, that for a multitude of reasons fails. The most common cause is water damage like this one.

If you double click on the pictures you will be able to see the corrosion and moisture.

I removed the cover to inspect.

The internal terminals.

The damaged comb connector.

I was able to clean the comb connector and replace the damaged terminals. I packed dielectric grease into the connector to help keep moisture out and reassembled. If needed one can cut all of the ground wires loose and connect them all together using standard splicing terminals.

2004 Chevrolet Tahoe, Code P0178

This 2004 Chevrolet Tahoe came in with the SES light on and complaints of poor fuel economy and a “strange feel to the engine”. I checked codes and found a code P0178 stored along with misfire and lean codes. P0178 is set if the frequency reading in the fuel composition sensor is below 45 Hz for 12.5 seconds or more. The normal frequency readings should be between 50Hz and 150Hz. The frequency reading indicates the ethanol percentage and the pulse width indicates the fuel temperature. The FCS is located near the driver’s frame rail, in front of the fuel filter.

There is a three wire harness connector.

The white wire, terminal “A” has a five volt reference signal sent from the ECM. The FCS job is to cycle the five volts to ground and create a varying square wave as it relates to both ethanol content and fuel temperature. With one lead of my multimeter attached to ground, I lightly touched the terminal for the white wire. The correct signal was present. Notice I stress “lightly touched the terminal”. Anything other than a light touch could damage the spring tension of the terminal.

Next I checked for 12 volts across the pink(terminal “B”) wire and the black(terminal”C”) wire. Again I used a light touch and I also used a fused jumper wire, with the correct terminal end, as part of my test set up.

The full picture to show how the parts are connected for testing.

This is one of my favorite tests for testing current carrying capabilities of a circuit. I have read about people using sealed beam headlights, small motors and other items to place a load on a circuit see see if it is okay or weak. Those are okay but seem too cumbersome to me. I simply do this. First I look at wiring diagrams and determine that I am at the correct terminals and wire colors. Next using diagrams again, I make sure that I am only testing a directly fused circuit and a direct ground. I DO NOT USE THIS TEST FOR CIRCUITS COMING OUT OF SOLID STATE DEVICES, such as computers. Actually, I do but it is with a deep understanding of automotive electronics and intensive studying of a particular circuit to make sure that I will not damage anything. This is what I do: I install a fused jumper wire with the correct sized terminal ends for what I am working on. I remove the factory fuse for the circuit and go up to a larger fuse. I then place a fuse with the original fuse rating in the in line fuse holder and in this case I turned the ignition on. The fuse blew immediately. This quick test, tells me that the power and ground side of the circuit will both handle to factory load rating. I put the original factory fuse back in its place and my testing is done.

Of course I also have the luxury of using a Tech 2 scan tool. This coupled with the tests that I had already shown indicates that the fuel composition sensor is faulty. 42 HZ is below the minimum 50 Hz.

The sensor is pretty easy to change. Disconnect the two fuel lines. Of course after relieving pressure at the service port according to manufactures instructions. Remove three bolts and of course disconnect the electrical connector.

The tool needed to disconnect the fuel lines.

Another view of the tool.

The new unit installed along with a new fuel filter. One trick that I have learned, since it is almost impossible to get the forward fuel line off of the fuel filter is this. I remove the rear line from the filter and trace the front filter line around to the FCS. I disconnect the line there and the pull the line and filter out together. Once at the bench I cut the fuel filter tube and then I can use my tool to remove the remaining fuel filter tube from the fuel line.

The sensor is installed and the FCS frequency reading is now within specifications. Also notice that the fuel alcohol content is now at 8%. Earlier it was at 38% and had gone as high as 42% while I monitored the data.

2005 Suzuki Reno, Harsh Transmission Shift

This 2005 Suzuki Reno came in with a complaint of a harsh transmission shift and the check engine light was on. I checked codes and there was one stored for the transmission but I cannot remember exactly what it was right now. I think it was P0700, no communication between the TCM and the ECM. Anyways I knew this car had been at another shop and they were trying to locate a drain on the electrical system. That will be another post. I really did not want to do the transmission diagnostics. I detest working with transmission fluid but, after looking at a wiring diagram, I decided to check the basics. The fuse box legend shows the TCM fuse to be three up from the bottom and in the middle of that row.

There was no fuse so I simply installed a new fuse, cleared the code and test drove the vehicle. All was fine. Thank goodness I did not have to do much on this problem.