Electrical Issue Pleeez Help!
 

1.) Year, mileage and market of SVX (JDM, USDM, etc)
'92 Teal SVX LS-L Touring @ 130K miles

Market? JDM? USDM? huh?

2.) Upgrades or Modifications that may be related to the issue.
-none

3.) What was happening when the malfunction became evident, and what, if any environmental circumstances accompany the problem(i.e. only happens when raining)
-there are no rhyme or pattern to these issues

A) May 2013 I knew I needed a new CV joint on the front left side, new rotors and brakes. Just waiting on the funds.

B) In June, my automatic seat belt on the drivers side stopped working for a few months. Sometimes it would move forward with no apparent rhyme or reason. Then it stopped altogether for a month. For about 2 weeks, my drivers side window switch started not working periodically only going down, works every time going up tho. As soon as it quit working completely the seat belt suddenly started working every time! Are these 2 issues connected? Seams to me that i either have a belt working or a window. I felt they were tied together, then 1 day they both stopped periodically working and quit altogether.

C) In September, I was driving with the A/C on, radio off, phones plugged into lighter. Suddenly the radio came on all by itself, then it shut off and so did the phones at the same time. a few dash lights came on (been so long I forgot which ones all in all) I know 1 was the ABS and check engine, there was a 3rd as well. for the next mile to my sisters house the 2 sets would alternate radio & phones would come on, when they shut off the dash lights came on. It did this numerous times, 8 or 9. I didn't want to shut the car off for fear that It wouldn't start again. So I ran in real quick to grab the thing at my sisters. I came back out, the car was off apparently it wasn't holding an idle. (or the idiot in the passenger seat turned it off and wouldn't fess up to it) yup sure enough I needed a jump to get going. I headed home and it was fine for some time, a few weeks.

D) I brought it in for diagnostics at X Sports in Everett WA, told them all this. They did a whole car inspection even though I asked them to focus on electrical. They discovered all issues ground at 'E' they couldn't figure out where 'E' was to look at it, the guy even took home the info to explore further. Also said drivers window switch is out, passenger switch fine yet both were acting up.

E) They found my rack n pinion is bad needs replacing. Informed me that the bill was up to $6000. so they stopped looking for the electrical issues and suggested getting a new car....wish they would have finished the electrical! it's not like I'm gonna pay for their labor so far all could be done free by my son, $350 for rack n pinion, 150, cv brakes no biggies (comparatively).

F) Now the car has separated tires, cv so hammered that I can barely go a few blocks. I need to drive 7 blocks to pick up my son at school. I turn the key and nothing, this has happened a few times recently.
I pop the hood set the battery charger on the dry ground,
hook up the terminals, notice an odd sparking occur,
then plug in the charger... it starts buzzing loudly and smoking!
I unplug and disconnect it.
no start on the car.
the battery charger is fried, garbage.
that was my last attempt to drive, fix or diagnose my issues until now.

6.) Level of technical experience - Not much personally, but I can relay info to people that would comprehend.

Re: Electrical Issue Pleeez Help!
 

the No start / dash light issue Sounds like a charging issue, which could be a bad alternator, or a bad crank Pulley (The crank pulley has an inner and outer ring, with a rubber strip between then that goes bad over time, and lets the outer ring start slipping, therefore not turning your accessory belts)

The Seat Belt/Window issue is probably bad wiring, most likely were it goes into the door, as it has to bend there when the door is opened and over time can cause wires to break and short out.

Hope this helps

Re: Electrical Issue Pleeez Help!
 

I agree with Huck369, and the fried charger points to either a bad battery (possibly damaged by a bad alternator) or a dead short. The only thing that I can think of that draws that much power is the starter.

Re: Electrical Issue Pleeez Help!
 

This brings back old memories. If I knew then what I know now, I would probably not have kept my car. Don't get me wrong, I love my SVX and this is the best forum for help.There is another thread on how much we spend on our SVX's, check it out. It is not a cheap car to maintain. Regarding the window controls, it can also be the contacts inside the switch. I have taken mine apart and cleaned them with success. I'm sure more members will post with some useful info, Goodluck and welcome!

Re: Electrical Issue Pleeez Help!
 

!st I thank you all for responding I greatly appreciate the support!

2nd I failed to mention That the Interstate guy has checked my battery twice in the last 16 months & is well within the parameters of a good battery. He did an overload test and the alternator did not ramp up to meet the demand, he recommended that I get a new alternator So I did replace it July of 2012, August of 2012 I discovered the new alternator was motoring, thank goodness for lifetime warranties through O'Reily! I got a new one and that fixed the issues I was having at that time.

I was reading through some other threads and discovered that a common issue when replacing alternators it tightening the cap down too far damaging the inner workings, I mentioned it to my son last night who had installed it, he said he was concerned with that at the time and was careful about it. yet I will have him remove it to get a bench test once again to double check.

I will have my father come over to look at the pulley and door wires & do a voltage test. my gut feeling says there is a ground issue, the only thing we have really messed with is the alternator.

Does anyone know where ground 'E' is?

Also I noticed Ensteele, Earl is fairly close to me. I sent him a message through yahoo, with no response. If anyone knows how to get a hold of him another way, I would greatly appreciate the effort on my behalf. I do have the ability to compensate him for being a Hands on helper.

Re: Electrical Issue Pleeez Help!
 

I don't think I'm giving away something that I shouldn't. I found an email address for him myself in another thread and successfully corresponded with him through it.

Try ensteele at gmail dot com.

Re: Electrical Issue Pleeez Help!
 

ground E is at the right rear of the intake manifold.

Re: Electrical Issue Pleeez Help!
 

Thank you! I have had to put this on the back burner until I had I finally have someone here to work on it, Ground E was clean and good, the ground next to the battery was corroded. however there is a significant power draw, pegging the mili amp meter, it's got a small pull off the alternator which may be within spec, the big draw is still there with the alternator unplugged. Any ideas of locating the draw, we might put an electric switch on the negative terminal for temporary fix would have to relearn every time I turn the car off.


I am wondering if any local has an extra computer that we could check to see if the draw is coming from there, gonna see if I can limp it down to O'reily and see if they can pull codes, don't know if they are capable though.

Thank you for your patcience eith me and your vast helpfulness
~Jewels

Re: Electrical Issue Pleeez Help!
 

Couple issues with that.

1: You'll only get codes for things that will set your check engine light off.
2: You said your SVX is a 92, so it isn't OBD II, so their scanner won't work. To scan your codes if you have any, do a search on the forum for the instructions and the codes. It's very easy to do.

One of the ways I know to check for current draw is with a nifty little part that has the bottom end of a fuse but comes up to 2 open leads. You can replace each fuse one at a time with this tool and test for the current going through every circuit while the car is off. If you see one is quite high, then you know that there is a short in that particular circuit.

There are quite a few other people here that will know more than I and know of any probable causes. Good luck.

Re: Electrical Issue Pleeez Help!
 

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It's possible that have a parasitic draw of current when the car is off. Could be something simple, like a trunk light which doesn't go out anymore.

For information on how to diagnose a parasitic drain on your electrical system, check HERE and HERE




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