Dream car, minus a few electrical shorts

zavikan · #1 10-08-2003, 11:37 AM

Bought myself this SVX, and it truely is my dream car. beautiful styling and beautiful performance, a safe car, and reliable(for the most part) and I discovered today thru some inspection inside the hood that its probobly been in a front end collision at some point. both fenders have been repainted, and a few little bars that dont support much in the front were bent up as well....I discovered this while trying to figure out what was wrong with my fog lights..

I Bought the car and both fog lights were burned out, so I just got bulbs for them, and they are shorted out someplace so that no matter wether the ignition is on, or the fog light switch is on, the lights themselves are ALWAYS on. so I pulled the bulbs and I have them sitting there without them right now...I could use direction on how to diagnose the exact location of the problem and how to fix it.

Also my alarm system does not work properly...the driver side door won't set off the alarm if opened while armed. and never turns on the interior lights when its opened, and the little door panel light doesn't either.

PLUS when I actually DO set off the alarm by the other door, or the trunk(rocking the car doesnt seem to set it off). its....like..shorted out or something... is it not susposed to be a constant horn beep..beep..beep..beep..beep? cause what I got now is wierd...it doesnt repeat itself, and its like... beeeeeeep..beep..beeeep..........beep...beeeeep... .beep.....beeeeeeeeeep.beep.beep.beep....pretty pathetic.

All the help I can get will be appreciated.

#2 10-08-2003, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by zavikan
Bought myself this SVX, and it truely is my dream car. beautiful styling and beautiful performance, a safe car, and reliable(for the most part) and I discovered today thru some inspection inside the hood that its probobly been in a front end collision at some point. both fenders have been repainted, and a few little bars that dont support much in the front were bent up as well....I discovered this while trying to figure out what was wrong with my fog lights..

I Bought the car and both fog lights were burned out, so I just got bulbs for them, and they are shorted out someplace so that no matter wether the ignition is on, or the fog light switch is on, the lights themselves are ALWAYS on. so I pulled the bulbs and I have them sitting there without them right now...I could use direction on how to diagnose the exact location of the problem and how to fix it.

Also my alarm system does not work properly...the driver side door won't set off the alarm if opened while armed. and never turns on the interior lights when its opened, and the little door panel light doesn't either.

PLUS when I actually DO set off the alarm by the other door, or the trunk(rocking the car doesnt seem to set it off). its....like..shorted out or something... is it not susposed to be a constant horn beep..beep..beep..beep..beep? cause what I got now is wierd...it doesnt repeat itself, and its like... beeeeeeep..beep..beeeep..........beep...beeeeep... .beep.....beeeeeeeeeep.beep.beep.beep....pretty pathetic.

All the help I can get will be appreciated.

It sounds like someone installed a DTR unit in your car. Was your car ever registered in canada? This would explain the always on of the fog lights.

Additionally, the alarm is supposed to beep in random succession. This is how you can identify it is an svx alarm going off, not some stupid acura or something.

Mike

#3 10-08-2003, 12:10 PM

Sounds like your pin switch for the drivers door is bad or not hooked up (in the event it was wrecked and a new door was put on) This switch being bad would cause both the alarm not to go of as well as the dome light to not come on.

If it looks rusty, replace it.

zavikan · #4 10-08-2003, 02:33 PM

ok great, so the alarm isnt messed up, and I like the random idea, great thinking on subaru...

I'll check out the door in a bit, but the fog lights I didnt explain well.

The fog lights have power running to them 24/7. as in, car is on, or off, key in or out, headlights on or off...so if I actually put the bulb in, it kills my battery pretty quick. so its DEFINANTLY messed up. any ideas?

#5 10-08-2003, 02:36 PM

hey, great to see another NH SVX'er.. are you coming to the tri-state meet on saturday?? look in the meets section for the thread..

-adam

Trevor · #6 10-08-2003, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by zavikan
ok great, so the alarm isnt messed up, and I like the random idea, great thinking on subaru...

I'll check out the door in a bit, but the fog lights I didnt explain well.

The fog lights have power running to them 24/7. as in, car is on, or off, key in or out, headlights on or off...so if I actually put the bulb in, it kills my battery pretty quick. so its DEFINANTLY messed up. any ideas?

The manuals I have which cover RH drive versions does not include the fog light wiring even though my JDM model has them. My wife has the car out ay the moment so can not check anything physically.

I would expect there to be a relay for the fog lights as the head lights have in the main distribution and fuse unit. If you can find it and remove it and the fog lights go out you have a relay which is frozen closed or the switch wiring is faulty. Come back here when you have checked and report the results.

zavikan · #7 10-08-2003, 07:51 PM

You mean take the fog light fuse out and see if the lights still are stuck on? I did that, they are not on, without the fuse.

Trevor · #8 10-09-2003, 12:30 AM

NO I said relay, if there is one. I can not help you further because I do not have exact details of the wiring applicable to your car.

#9 10-09-2003, 09:52 AM

I'm guessing you're not refering to the stock fogs built into the headlamps, but some Auxilary fogs added 'after market'?

If so someone didn't wire them up to the ignition, they just hard wired them to power & an on-off switch... hopefully they at least put a relay in.

Sounds like if they are aftermarket add-ons... you may be doing some re-wiring if you want them to die with the ignition.

zavikan · #10 10-09-2003, 11:21 AM

I am talking about the factory fog lights. and where can I find the relay for them???

Stevebsy · #11 10-09-2003, 12:58 PM

It is under the dash on the driver's side, next to the horn relay and sorta near the AT control unit.

Good luck

zavikan · #12 10-09-2003, 05:00 PM

Couldn't find it. damn its cramped under there.

. still the fog lights remain on 24/7 so still I have no bulbs in there...

for all of your information, I am not a car person... I consider myself not completely mechanically inept, but I am not a car person... I can field strip my antique motorcycle in no time flat though

so bear with me on my ignorant questions and statements...

back on track, where the hell is this relay in this huge mess of wires, I dont know what an at control unit is either. and if I take the relay out, can I test the relay somehow(multimeter?) to see if that is the problem?

To he who knows the location of the fog light relay....describe its locations by looks...(Go under the dash, see the steering column, see the little brown wire connection next to it? go towards the front of the car 4 inchs, see the little blue..., ect ect ect ect) sorry, car work is juuuuuuuuust a bit beyond me, but I am strapped for cash, no soob dealer close at ALL, and Im perfectly willing to learn if your perfectly willing to put up with the shiz

zavikan · #13 10-10-2003, 10:55 AM

Going to go look again in a second, I have some one with me this time a bit more knowledgeable heh.

Are any of the relays interchangeable with the one for the fog lights? that way I can actually tell if thats the problem.

drivemusicnow · #14 10-10-2003, 03:49 PM

if you look at your feet, while in the drivers seat, theres a little carpeted panel next to your left foot... you have to take that out, and then theres a plastic box, with all the fuses and such labeled on it... look for one that says fog lights... to see what i'm talking about, look in the how to folder, for a picture about diagnostic codes(the picture will show other wires for a diagnostic, but it should show the fuse box i'm talking about.)