1996 Acura 2.5 Tl, No Charge Condition

This 1996 Acura 2.5 TL came in with the complaint that the battery goes dead. The customer said that he thinks that something may not be hooked up properly because the alternator worked before and this is the second alternator that has been put on since the engine was changed. I confirmed the no charge condition. I was glad that the alternator was right on top and easy to get to.

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I had to removed the intake air tube from the throttle body. The I could reach may hand around the back side of the alternator to depress the clip and remove the harness connector.

In looking at a wiring diagram I saw that ignition power comes to the black/yellow wire from fuse #4 in the under dash fuse box to the vertical terminal on the left hand side of the plug in the picture below. I also noted that the same fuse supplies power to the charge indicator bulb which arrives at the connector on the white/blue wire and it is the vertical terminal at the right side of the connector in the picture below. In checking I found no power on either wire. A definite problem for this charging system.

The other two wires in the connector go to the engine control computer. Their colors are white/red and white/green. I did not bother checking these wires as I knew that I already had a problem on the first two wires that I had checked.

Going with the information from the customer and what I had gathered, I started tracing the harness as it went away from the alternator to the rest of the vehicle. It did not take long before I came upon this connector at the passenger side of the radiator. If you click on the picture below and enlarge it you will see that one of the wires that is pulled back is a black/yellow wire.

The plastic locks that hold the wire in place in the connector had been striped out. I figured from someone pulling the engine and forgetting to disconnect the wiring until it is too late. Anyways I had to resort to an old tried and true repair technique, Glue. I lightly coated the seal and base of the terminal with glue and used needle nosed pliers to push the wire back into the connector. I repeated this on all of the damaged wires at this connector. There were only two but that was enough.

After allowing the glue to dry thoroughly I put everything back together and checked the charging system. Back to charging. I finished charging the battery back up with a battery charger and wrapped this one up.

1993 Lincoln Town Removing The Right Rear Power Window Motor

This 1993 Lincoln Town Car came in with the complaint that the right rear passenger power window stalls when going up. Works fine if you help the motor by lifting on the glass. Pretty cut and dry worn out torque pins in the power window motor. The first step in the repair is to remove the interior door panel.

The first thing I usually start with is the trim covers for the pull handle retaining screws. To remove the covers I push up on the trim panel with my thumb and use a pocket screw driver to lift the top edge up and off the handle.

Now the screw can be removed. Repeat on the other end of the handle.

Now there is one screw at the front edge of the panel that has to be removed.

There is another screw at the rear edge of the door panel.

One screw under the ash tray cover on the switch panel.

One screw on the trim panel at the interior door handle.

With all of the screws removed the door panel can be pulled off the door. It is held in place by push pin retainers. Some Ford vehicles of this era use hooks on the door panel interior edges and the panel has to lifted up and off of the door. Take your time to see how yours comes off.

Notice the three rivets that are holding the motor end of the window regulator assembly to the door. They will need to be removed.

To remove the rivets I use a center punch to drive the core out of the rivet center.

With the steel core removed the rivet can now be drilled out.

After the rivets are removed the motor will pull down enough to gain access to the screws that hold the motor to the regulator. You will need a square bit to remove the screws.

Now the steel adapter plate can be slid out of the door. Note the orientation so that you will know how to reassemble. Save this part as you will need it to reassemble the motor to the regulator.

Now the motor can come out for repair or replacement.

To see how to replace the worn out torque pins please click here.

2000 BMW 323i , Locked Out

A friend of mine came to me one day needing some help with his daughter’s car, a 2000 BMW 323i that was locked and all attempts to get in failed. He asked me if I knew of any tricks to get into the car. I told him no but would look into it. Well a little bit of research on my part and I found out what the problem was but no one had the answer of how to break into the car without breaking a window. After exhausting all avenues that is exactly what he did. We did along the way find out some interesting things about the car. Number one is that the passenger rear full sized window is the least expensive to replace. Number two is that in order to keep the broken glass to a minimum we found that applying a self adhesive shelf liner to the glass before breaking it kept most of the glass in one place (stuck to the sticky side of the shelf liner). Number three is that the cause of the problem is a broken driver’s door lock cylinder and a situation that BMW refers to as double lock down. From my understanding in order for the system to come out of double lock down the key has to be in the ignition and switched on. Then the master unlock switch has to be activated twice and the computer system will unlock the car.

Once the car was unlocked and the glass had been replaced, the car came to the shop and we started looking for the cause. According to all that I had read it would be a damaged lock cylinder in the driver’s door. Removing the lock cylinder is quite easy once the door can be opened. There is an oval shaped plastic plug that has to be removed to gain access to an allen bolt. I had to take my time and be careful because I did not want to damage the paint.

Once the bolt was removed the lock cylinder just slides out.

Unlike most cars that have the lock cylinder attached to internal door linkage this vehicles lock cylinder only activates a switch. You can see the square recess in the white piece in the following door picture. We had to order a new lock cylinder from BMW by the VIN and it came properly coded for the original key.

Now what happens is the shaft on the lock cylinder breaks a little bit and finally jambs and will no longer turn the switch. It does not stick in the unlocked or locked position though it breaks in between the two positions and this position is what BMW refers to as double lock down. The thinking is that if a thief was trying to jamb something in the lock and rotate it, the vehicles computer system will lock the car down and not allow it to be stolen easily. What made the situation worse for my friend is that they has a remote and had never been able to get it to work. He thought the remote was faulty so he ordered a new one of those also. Turned out it was okay we just had to properly program it. I will do another post on that soon I hope.

The morale of the story that we came up with is this. The driver’s lock cylinder needs to be lightly lubricated every couple of years. The remotes need to be in working order at all times. The remotes need to be used 99 percent of the time. The key does need to be used, but use it at home when time is not an issue, and use it only with the windows down.

My thinking in all of this is that a BMW dealership should have the capability to override the system with a radio frequency command of some sort. Does anybody know if this is possible?

Britney & The Mazda MX6, Part 2

If you have not seen part one of this story please click here.

Friday morning rolls around and no sign of Britney, but to my surprise around two o’clock Bob and Britney both show up. Britney then informs me that she is on her way to pick up the check, and wanted to know if I would be at the shop on Saturday. I told her that the shop is not open on Saturday. She then asked what time I closed today. I told her six o’clock. She said okay and that she would be back. Bob did not get out of the truck he was driving. Six o’clock came and went, and I went home thinking I would hear something on Monday, if she actually got the money.

As it happened I did go to my shop on Saturday. I went for a few hours in the morning to clean off my desk and to pay some bills. I left around eleven thirty to go out to lunch with my bride. I came back around four o’clock, and had just sat down to do some posting when I heard a loud knocking on the front door followed by my phone ringing. Not knowing what was up I grabbed my pistol and headed to the front door. Well, I go to the front door and look out and see some unfamiliar and possibly unsavory individuals hanging around, and then I see Britney. I opened the door and stood with the pistol behind my back in one hand, while I held the door with the other. She blurted out “I’m here for the car”. I stated with a great deal of disdain that I was closed and would see them on Monday. She said she really needed to get the car, and that Bob was on his way already with the check. I looked at her “crew” and decided they were no real threat. Three guys and another girl, I sensed no hostility or aggressive behavior from any of them so I told them to hold on a minute, and I would be back out. I put my pistol up and got the keys to the car. On the way back out I asked exactly where Bob was and how long it would be? Britney stated that he was out on a wrecker call and headed back into town with the check, and according to his location he should be here in about twenty minutes. I asked again about the money, and she assured me that Bob had the check.

I brought the car around and started explaining to everybody what I had done to the car, and what needed to be done. My thinking was if they were her friends they would help remind her of what I said. She seems to have a problem with remembering. I was somewhat puzzled why Britney’s friends seemed overly interested in the car.

It was then that I realized that, “this sorry good for nothing piece of trash is selling the car that has been donated to her by the very same charitable organization that had helped her and her family”. I couldn’t prove it yet but I was sure of it none the less!!!

As I went inside I informed the group to just lightly knock on the door when Bob got there, and I would come back out.

About twenty minutes go by, and I heard the knock on the door. Knowing that Bob must be here, I went ahead and raised one of the bay doors. I figured they would need to come inside, and I really did not want to be behind closed doors with five people I really don’t know. I did not know if Bob would come in or just drop the check off. Well when I got the door up I looked around and no Bob. I asked Britney where he was. She explained that he was only a few minutes away, but she had gotten a phone call, and she had to go pick up her kids. She also stated that since she could not drive a stick, her friends would bring the car to her after Bob dropped the check off.

Okay let’s see where this goes. I had pretty much gotten over being angry, and was only a little miffed now. As I waited with her friends I chatted with them a little, and found that they really seemed okay. I started asking how they knew Britney, and found out that the oldest male, about 30, worked with Britney’s “baby daddy” at a local fast food restaurant. I went back inside, and started just organizing a few things while we all waited on Bob. I kept the door open as I did this, and kept looking back to make sure no one was coming in behind me. By this time a full hour had passed, and I had run out of things to do so I sat at my service desk, turned the computer on, played solitaire and waited. While I was waiting I noticed the guys messing around at the rear of the car. I thought they were just checking things out, but then I noticed them dropping leaves and trash on my parking lot. Not cool at all with me. I got up and demanded that they clean the mess up, and handed them a broom and dust pan to pick the mess up with. I was kind of surprised to see that they were apologetic, and did not waste any time in doing so. I was starting to like them more.

I talked with one of the younger boys about a problem he was having with his car, and gave him some instruction in what to do to narrow his problem down. Another twenty minutes and no Bob. Back to the solitaire.

After about another fifteen minutes a good friend of mine and his wife pulled up to see if every thing was okay. I explained the whole painful situation to my friend, Billy and at the end he asked me what I was going to do? I had already grabbed the phone book, and told him that I was about to call Bob to see where he was. I figured it would do no good though because he is in his wrecker, and I do not know his cell phone number. Maybe there would be some one else there or at least a message with his cell number. Well I dialed the number and it rang a couple of times and Bob answered the phone. I said ” Bob, what are you doing answering the phone. I thought you were on the way to the shop with the check for Britney” to which he replied ” No, I have been sitting here watching TV, and as far as I know she was supposed to bring you a check on Monday”. I briefly went over the story with Bob, hung up and then told Billy these people have got to go, and I am sick and tired of the whole deal. Billy being a good and wise friend told me to calm myself down before going out there, which I did sort of.

I explained to the group that we have a problem. Bob is not coming with the check, and I don’t know what is going on, but I was done for the day and they would have to leave. The cell phones all popped out and they were speed dialing Britney, no answers. They started getting their stuff including a license plate out of the car. When I saw them removing the plate I just blurted out, “Y’all are buying this car from Britney aren’t you”. ” We already gave her a hundred dollars, and are supposed to give her the rest on Monday” replied the young girl.

Well ain’t nobody getting this car until I get paid, and the bill has to be paid in full and in cash. I am not wasting any more time on this.

I further explained that I will need proof of ownership (title or registration), because at this point I don’t really know who owns this car. They said they would be back, called for a ride and left. I locked the car back up and went home. That was enough for today. Let’s see what happens on Monday.

2002 GMC Yukon, Tail , Stop, Turn and Reverse Lights Inop

This 2002 GMC Yukon came in with the complaint that the lights on the rear of the truck were working sometimes and sometimes not. The customer had only complained about the turn signals but in testing I found that different lights on both sides were not working properly. I figured it had to be a harness connection of some sort. I started looking around and I found this junction block. When I wiggled the connectors the lights would flicker with the movement. I unplugged the harness connector and water started dripping out and some of the terminals were green.

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I installed a new junction block, cleaned and tightened the terminals in the connectors. I added some dielectric grease and put it back together and all of the lights worked. I explained to the customer that the condition could return and if it did harnesses will need to be repaired or replaced. Also in my inspection of the junction block I found a major crack on the back side and after a close inspection I realized the vehicle had been hit in the right rear quarter panel and had only minor damage that had already been fixed but no one thought to look at the junction block or harnesses. This same junction block is used on many of the full sized Chevrolet and GMC trucks from the early 2000’s to at least 2007 Classic series. So if you run into and unusual lighting problem at the rear of any of these trucks you may want to check into this junction block.

2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee, Power Windows Inop

This 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee came in with the complaint that the power windows had gotten to where they worked sometimes and sometimes did not. Now they mostly did not work. When I checked them they wore working but as part of my test I held one of the switches while I opened and closed the door. It stopped working when the door was opened about two inches and would not start working again until the door was almost shut. Diagnosis of broken wires in the driver’s door jamb wiring.

I started removing the door panel by first removing the phillips headed screw at the bottom of the pull handle.

I next went to the round trim cover at the top right of the door panel and popped it out with a pocket screwdriver. Then I could remove the screw in the recessed hole.

There was one more screw in the bezel for the interior door release handle. For some reason they had to change from using phillips headed screws to using torx screws.

After the screws were all removed it was just a matter of pulling along the lower edge to get the push pins to release and then worked my way around to the top. With the panel loose I could pull it away far enough to release the clips for the linkage.

I also had to unplug the harness connector to the power mirror and and the power window switch assembly.

Next came the removal of the speaker. Back to phillips screws.

The reason for the speaker removal was to gain easier access to the wiring going through the front edge of the door. Turns out that I probably could have just worked from the outside of the door. It did seem to give me some more angle to maneuver though.

I think by just pulling the rubber boot back I could have seen that all I really had to do was depress the two white tabs and I could have pulled the connector out of the door. With the connector pulled out I could release the clip on the black connector and then separated the inner and outer connectors.

Now to the inside. One plastic torx nut to remove.

Unsnap the running board trim cover and lift out of the way.

Then I had to remove the three phillips headed screws from the kick panel extension that ran under where the running board trim panel was.

With all of the screws removed the kick panel rolled out of the hole.

With the kick panel out of the way the next step was to remove the three torx screws from the hood release cable assembly. Then I had to disconnect the junction block connectors so that I could maneuver the wiring harness to the inside of the Jeep.

With the harness now fully inside the truck I could slide the rubber boot back and forth to find the actual wire damage.

If you click on the following picture I think you will be able to see the broken ground wire.

I know you can see that wire now.

I spliced a new piece of wire to the old wire.

Installed two pieces of heat shrink tubing and melted in place. The reason I used to pieces instead of just one is for strain relief for the spliced joint.

Then I slid the new wire through the rubber boot and bent it backwards to make the splice joint stay as far away from the center of the door jamb as possible. Ideally I would have liked to have had a new terminal and pice of wire and that way I could have only had one splice joint and it would have been in the interior of the vehicle away from all flex joints.

After splicing the other end of the new wire into place and securing the joint away from the flex points I slid the whole harness back though the body side door jamb. I made sure the white retainer was properly installed on the harness connector. Then I put the rubber boot back in place over the white retainer.

Just a matter of connecting the two harnesses and pushing the retainer back into the door. Of course I still had to put the door panel back on also. On the next one I am going to try doing without removing the door panel.

2003 Mini Cooper, Runs Hot

This 2003 Mini Cooper came in with a complaint of running hot, but not real hot. The customer stated that the gauge would go a little high but it would never got to hot. They also stated that at times some coolant would be forced out of the over flow even though the gauge would not show it as being hot. I ran the car and found it to be doing just what the customer complained of with the exception of it was indeed running hotter than it should have. I did some reading and basic checking and found a blown fuse. Fuse number 5 which also happens to be a 5 amp fuse supplies power to the relay in the second stage fan switch assembly.

In the process of looking for the second stage fan switch I noticed a small fan under the car at the power steering cooling unit. I tried to turn it but it was stuck. Decided to unplug it and see if the short went away and it did! I never did find it in my wiring diagrams but I knew it was the problem from my testing.

I removed the unit.

Ground off the rivet heads.

Mounted the new motor to the shroud assembly. I had to modify the shroud slightly to get the wiring to bolt down squarely (sorry no pics). I painted the shroud to seal up the grinding marks left from removing the old motor.

Britney & The Mazda MX6, Part 1

I really never intended to have stuff like this on this site, but something happened recently that I just had to share with you. It’s long so I will do several posts on it to break it up. Just bear with me.
For about a month and a half an owner of a local wrecker company, Bob, contacted me about trying to get a 1991 Mazda MX6 running for a girl that was down on her luck. I am not against helping anyone, but I really did not want to get involved in resurrecting an eighteen year old car. I just think it is a bad idea. The complaint was that the car would not crank with the key, and attempts to ” jump stuff ” had been unsuccessful. After a long conversation I agreed to work on it. There were several failed attempts to have our schedules meet on dropping the car off, I did not hear from him again. I figured I was lucky, and they had decided to not pursue the repair or took it elsewhere.

About five weeks went by, and a girl called up and asked if I would work on her 1991 Mazda MX6 That would no longer crank up. I remembered about Bob calling about the same car and complaint, and I asked if she was the girl that Bob had called for earlier. She said yes and asked if I was still willing to work on the car. I really did not want to do this, but she had a sad story.

She is about 25 years old, single mother of three. Her first born died of cancer three years ago. I was told an agency that helps families with children with cancer was picking up the bill. Sounded little strange after three years but reasonable. She stated that the agency could pay with a credit card number over the phone when the repairs were complete. RED flag, I told her that I will not take a credit card number over the phone, and she would have to arrange for a check or cash. She said she understood and would make arrangements.

The car in question arrived on a Wednesday, and boy what a cream puff. The outside was cleaned up pretty good, but the rest of the car was a mess.

After Bob and I were able to force the car to roll off of the flat bed (under inflated tires and rusted brakes), I started investigating what I had to do. The battery was new but stone dead. I hooked my battery charger up and turned it on. The alarm went off as it should have but the remote was dead. Someone had already removed the siren so only the lights were flashing. I knew that I was not going to work around and eighteen year old aftermarket alarm system so it had to go. No big deal I have taken hundreds of these things off over the years.

I had to lay a fender cover over the mold in the carpet, and wear a face mask to do this though. I can’t afford to get sick.

Anyways I muddled through removing the aftermarket alarm system, and restored the wiring to the factory design. During and after the repair, I was checking out the basics to make sure it was not just a complete waste of time. Oil level was good, antifreeze was okay and everything seemed to be mostly in order. I had to vacuum up a lot of leaves from under the hood. Turns out this car was recently hauled out from under a tree, and had been covered in about three inches of leaves. I was very surprised to see that there was only minor rodent damage.

Back to the repair, I removed the aftermarket alarm system, repaired the wiring, charged the battery and checked the fluids. Time to crank this beast. To my surprise it cranked up and ran. A little noisy at first, but as it warmed up everything came around pretty good. I found an exhaust leak and a few other minor issues, which I later documented on the paperwork.

Bob called to find out the status of the repair late that afternoon. I told him that everything seemed pretty good at that point, and I was going to look it over again the next day.

Thursday came around and I started the vehicle and all was okay. The battery was good, the alternator was charging and no drains. I figured I would call Bob in the afternoon when I was caught up from the rest of my work, and I also wanted to see if there were any leaks under the car. I had parked the car in the back yard overnight, and now I had it on clean concrete.

Before I could call anyone, the girl (Britney) that owned the car showed up with a couple of friends, who stayed in the vehicle they had arrived in. She wanted see what was going on with the car. I was in the middle of doing something, so she goes over to the car and sits in it, no big deal it’s her car. She was getting out of the car as I was coming over to explain everything to her when she said something to the effect of “I thought you had the car fixed. It still does not crank up”. She was very polite in her statement and just seemed a little confused. Being a diagnostician I thought about it for a second, and asked if she had pushed the clutch pedal in. She seemed even more confused, and said “she didn’t think so but should she have”. I explained that with a modern vehicle with a manual transmission, will not start without the clutch pedal pushed in for safety reasons. She seemed to understand, but stated that she did not know how to drive a car with a manual transmission. Well that seems a little odd.

I finished explaining to Britney what I had done, and what needed to be done, as soon as she could afford it. She said great and wanted me to talk to some one at the agency that was helping her, so that the bill could be paid with a credit card over the phone. Whoa Nelly, hold the phone, we already had this conversation. I do not accept credit cards over the phone, and reminded her that she had to make different arrangements. She decided to call the agency anyways while I just stood there waiting. I took the time to look at the vehicle she had come up in and at her friends. I paid attention to the way she was handling herself, and the way she was interacting with her friends during this phone call. This girl is trouble, a she wolf with her pack is what I was thinking. Actually I was thinking worse, but don’t really want to express those feelings as I need to keep this “clean”.

She said that she was sorry for the confusion on her part, and that she could not get in touch with the lady at the the agency. She had left a message, and as soon as she had worked out the details she would be back with a check. I did not hear back from her the rest of the day, and was feeling pretty confident that I would either not see her again or it would be a long time.

Britney & The Mazda MX6, Part Two

2000 Ford Mustang, Shifter Interlock Erratic, Inop

This 2000 Ford Mustang came in with the complaint that the shifter interlock for the automatic transmission would not release properly and that it would have to be tried several times before it would release. I checked it and found that it required the brake pedal to be firmly pushed in order for it to work for me. I figured there was something wrong at the stoplight switch. If you click on the following pictures to enlarge them you will get a better view of the light green that was burnt at the switch connector.

A gentle tug and the wire pulled right out of the harness connector.

I disconnected the harness connector from the switch and detached the wiring from the brace where a push in connector had it secured.

With the tape and the push in connector removed I separated the wiring.

Then cut and spliced in the new repair harness connector. Part number 4020

For some reason the end caps are not available and I always make an effort to take it off the old one.

And then install it on the new connector.

I finished the job by wrapping the wires up with tape and securing the push pin connector to the harness and then securing the harness to the bracket. The customer did not realize that the stoplights were not working properly either. The brake pedal would have had to of been pushed quite firmly in order for the wire to move enough to work and by that time the vehicle would have been stopped. The result was a very delayed stoplight condition.

1998 Chevrolet Cavalier, No Charge Condition

This 1998 Chevrolet Cavalier came in with the complaint that the battery would go dead while driving. The battery and the alternator had been replaced and the battery light stays on while the engine is running. The first thing I did was to check the wiring at the rear of the alternator. The main battery lead had power on it at all times as it should have. The small red wire should have had 5 volts on it with the key on but it did not. I checked the wire at the connector carefully and found that it would stretch if, it was pulled with a modest force. Pulled a little harder and the wire separated.

Pretty easy diagnosis and replacement of faulty harness connector at the alternator. If you need to order this connector please click here. I replaced the connector and checked and found that the 5 volt reference voltage was still missing. Got to dig a little deeper.

In checking a wiring diagram I confirmed that the signal on the red wire came from the ECM. I knew that I have found problems with damaged wiring near these computers before so I decided to investigate. For some reason an engineer placed the ECM inside the lower right fender.

There are several screws and push pin retainers that have to be removed in order to take the splash panel off of the car. The right front ABS sensor wiring is also attached and has to be removed.

If you click on the following pictures you can see damage on a red and a gray wire.

My initial though was that mice had gotten in there and checked on the wires but there were no other signs. Instead I think what happened is that some one had jumped the red and gray wires together to possibly turn the charge indicator or battery light out in an attempt to keep the light off when the other wire at the alternator would fail to turn the alternator on properly (flashing light). Maybe it fell off or they pulled it back out. Anyway the red wire was severed and the gray wire was damaged. I repaired both and the alternator now charges properly.

I had to extend the gray wire in order to repair the damage, so I just looped it back around in the harness.