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Electrical Short?


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I think I have a short somewhere and it recently drained my battery after sitting for a week. The "open door light" is stuck on and some of the lights like the ignition key ring is also on. I tried to ignore it because the car usually starts if I drive it everyday but after a week with out charging the battery, its dead.

My question is where do I start looking to trouble shoot this problem. The doors are all closed, hood, trunk are also closed but this light is still on. Is there a relay somewhere that controls all this? I'm at a lost on this. I do not want to go to the dealer because it might cost more then the car is worth. Its a 92 ES.

TIA for all your suggestions...

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I think I have a short somewhere and it recently drained my battery after sitting for a week. The "open door light" is stuck on and some of the lights like the ignition key ring is also on. I tried to ignore it because the car usually starts if I drive it everyday but after a week with out charging the battery, its dead.

My question is where do I start looking to trouble shoot this problem. The doors are all closed, hood, trunk are also closed but this light is still on. Is there a relay somewhere that controls all this? I'm at a lost on this. I do not want to go to the dealer because it might cost more then the car is worth. Its a 92 ES.

TIA for all your suggestions...

likely a broken door switch. they are usually push type...the door pushes it in when closed. it could be broken off or something. just find out how your car controls this and off you go!! There is no relay.

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  • 3 weeks later...

The way the switch works is that when the door is closed the switch is OPEN and does not send the signal to GROUND (body ground). When the door is open then the switch CLOSES and GROUNDs the signal.

So, I took all the switchs off and just let it dangle preventing it from shorting to GROUND (simulating all the doors are closed) and the "open door light" and the ignition key ring light is still ON.

So my question is where does this signal that goes to all four switches come from? Is there a module or something that all these plug into? I think its causing me my grief but where is it? The factory serivce manuel schematic shows something but I can't quite figure it out. Any ideas?

TIA...

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Ok, sounds like the switches are functioning properly. I was looking at the schematic, They show a "Integration Relay". Pull that out of the circuit, and see if the cabin lights work. From the way I read this schematic, this relay is suppling a parallel ground to this circuit, It is what gives the time delay on the lights.

If the lights switch without the relay, the next step would be to check the door handle switch (which provides a input to the Intergration relay).

The reason the schmatics look a little confusing is because they actually have two circuits providing a ground the the lights. Checking the door switches first is the logical start, at this point it looks like there could be a problem with the relay, the relays input, or a short in the wire. Removing the relay will show you which way to continue.

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Tried to get to the door switch but found it impossible to access so I gave up. I then went to the Integration Relay and removed that. It interesting that the dash OPEN DOOR light was still ON. All other lights were off (dome light and ignition ring). So this is still a bummer. I think that I have a short in the wiring somewhere.

Oh, one thing I didn't do was to test the Integration Relay or to see it if where it plugs into is shorted to ground for the door switch at least. Easy enought to do... But then again, with the relay removed wouldn't that be the same as an open going to the light?????? Hummm, maybe or maybe not.

If both checks out okay then I'm screwed. I hate shorts! You never know where they are... :angry::angry::angry:

Any other ideas????

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Well with the relay out, that definately points to a short one of the wires going to the door switches. Not much else left in the circuit. By removing the relay you have eliminated the possibility of it being shorted internally. I am afraid that you are going to have to isolate the wires going to the doors one at a time. I do not see any other options at this time.

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I had a chance to do a continuity test on the socket where the junction box plugs into. According to the service manual, pin A6 (which is part of all the door switches) should be OPEN when all the doors are closed. It shorts to GROUND when one of the doors are open which is normal but it reads around 160 ohm or so when it shoud be OPEN when all the doors are closed. I also removed all the door switches and replaces them on by one to test each door. So something on this line is short like we suspected.

Now the question is who else is on this A6 line and where does it come from? I am not a 100% certain that its only the door switches. Looking through the manual suggests that the Theft System ECU is part of this and that it may be sending this A6 signal down to the Intergration Relay. I'm not too sure though, still trying to figure this all out.

BTW, thanks George Jetson for all your help. Having another set of "eyes" always helps. Sometimes you can get too close to something and can't see the trees in the forest.

Will keep looking...

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A6, do you mean pin 6 of the intergration relay? I am using the schematic in Alldata, so some of the terminology may be a little different. I do not see any connection between the theft ecu and the door light circuit. It looks to me that the four door switches provide the grd to the cabin and dash light. Now I see a diode to isolate the signal from the drivers door to the replay. But from what I can tell with the relay out you should see the open. Could you scan you schmatic, it may be different than what you are looking at.

Your welcome, I work with electronics daily, and many times appreciate that second opinion. Right or wrong, I also find that it helps.

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First of all I'm sorry I can't quite figure out how to get a printout of the schematic that I have since its in a pdf format. I'll have to get it to you on Monday when I'm at work.

Anyway if we are looking at the same manual the test I did came from page BE-33 of my manual which has a spreadsheet on how to test the pinouts on the juction box 1 where the integration relay plugs into. It has A6 (pin 6) is where the door courtesy switches should be going into the relay box. But this is where I am getting confused. BE-85 shows that this goes into A4 (pin 4). Then on BE-288 it shows that these switches also go to the Theft Deterrent System ECU.

Hummm, so what the switches on the door are called. Are the Door Courtesy Switches (BE-85) or Door Open Dectection Switches (BE-288).

I might go back and look at A4 (pin 4) and test this. But then again I might just give up and call it a day. As long as someone drives it everyday to charge the battery it should be okay. :(

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courtsylight.pdf

How does this schematic compare to the one you have? This one does not show a connection to the theft ECU (at least not to the dome lights). Until you trak down the root cause of the problem, you might try leaving the intergration relay out. That should reduce the load on the battery (only the dash light being on).

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Attached is one of the pages I mentioned. I think your page is more detailed and all on one page. It does indicate that with the relay removed the Door Open Light should go OFF. I guess the R/Y is shorted to ground somewhere huh?

I guess I could remove the relay. It also has the chime to tell you the key is in the ignition. Useful but not required. The dome light is OFF and the only things that are draining the battery are the ignition key ring (bulb), dash light (bulb) and the outside key hole (LED). But all of this did drain the battery after a week without driving. I might just remove it like you said...

Thanks...

door_switch.pdf

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