skier

yesterday i was working on getting my dash together from my ipod install, i realized that i did not have a plug for the rheostat behind the dashboard. After looking at my haynes manual, I found the two wires that needed to go in there. So when I tapped them together, the gauge lights and such went on when i had my headlights on. OK, so everything is great now. I disconnected my battery, took those wires and joined them with some twisting and electrical tape. Then when I reconnected my battery nothing worked anymore. I get clicking (i think its the relays) in various parts of the car depending on what I'm trying to do. The battery works because my stereo (which is hooked up directly to the battery) works just fine, but my interior light, hazard lights, head lights, and nothing else works.

I checked all the fuses and as far as I can tell they are all fine.

does anyone know what I could have done?

4RUNR

What is it that you twisted and electrical taped together again?

skier

a red/black and a white/black wire. It worked before I disconnected the battery. Now it does not work at all, and i have disconnected it to see if that was the problem too.

4RUNR

That sounds right, just don’t cut the blue wire. That's what they told us in bomb defusing school.

skier

does anyone have any suggestions as to what I could do to hunt the problem down?

Could it be a short? Does anyone think I could have shifted some wires when I moved the battery cables? I really don't know where to start.

Thanks.

4RUNR

I guess my subtle hint didn’t come across that well.
skier, we need more details than that. What rheostat are you talking about? That controls how bright the dash backlighting is? What wires did you tap? I doubt anyone here memorized them all. What happened to the original harness? Did it disappear into thin air? Experience tells me that the chances of that happening are low.

skier

oh, sorry. :pat:

Yes, it is the dashboard brightness rheostat that I am talking about. I'm not sure what happened to the original factory harness. I bought this truck second hand and never have been back there before. They were simply taped together before. Chances are that they were connected before and then the wires came apart. So when I put them back together the dashboard lights worked as they should. Therefore, I am quite confident that those two wires are the correct wires for hooking up to the rheostat.

After I touched them together and confirmed them working, I went to disconnect the battery, both of the terminals, and then went back to the two same wires, taped them together, put the battery terminals back, and when I turned on the head lights all I heard was clicking from behind the speedometer. Same with the hazard lights except that the hazard lights produced a louder clicking. The interior light (in the middle of the cab) produced a very quiet and slow clicking behind the center of the dash. The Hi-beams produced a rather loud and fairly fast paced clicking from what sounds like the back end of the passenger side engine compartment. My stereo works, speakers, custom dc input, and fm modulator all work, but they are spliced from the same wire coming directly from the battery. I can't really test any other components because I am also in the process of changing my timing chain and don't to start the engine.

Thanks for your patience.

4RUNR

Lets start from the beginning. You bought the truck with working headlights and everything else, then you took apart the dash to install the Ipod. So far we are good.

Then what happened?
a. Did the hack-job wiring connection come loose from the brightness controls?
b. And then you weren't able to find the wires that came loose?
c. So you tapped where the manual said the brightness control should connect?

skier

Yes, everything was working. I don't think the hack-wiring job was ever connected. When I found it there was simply electrical tape around the ends. I don't think it was in the rheostat for a while. I'm not sure if it worked when I bought it to be honest. I either checked it, or it didn't occur to me to check the gauge/dash lights when I bought it. When I realized that they didn't work as I was putting that part (the one around the gauges) of the dashboard back on.

I ended up doing a lot of searching on here and found out that either the rheostat controlling the dimness had to be connected, or the wires had to be directly connected to each other for the gauge/dash lights to work.

At first I tried to connect this small plug that was there (there are 3 sets of wires in my truck at that location) because I couldn't find a location for it. That did nothing. That left the two wires taped at the ends with electrical tape. I looked at my Haynes manual and determined that the the taped up wires were the ones I was looking for. I took the tape of and touched the ends together when the headlights were on and voila the gauge and dash lights came one. I did it a couple more times to make sure it wasn't some weird coincidence.

Then I went and disconnected the terminals from the battery, went back around to the driver's side and took some of the insulating rubber off the end of the wires by cutting just deep enough with a pair of scissors. Then I twisted them together, taped around them.

I then went and reconnected the battery, went back to the driver's side and turned the lights on by turning the toggle, and all I hear is the clicking I dsecribed earlier. Then I tried the hazard lights and the interior lights. Then I tried my stereo and it powered on, so I turned it off. Disconnected the battery and checked all the fuses.

When I didn't find any broken fuses I went to my computer and searched here to see if anyone had the same problem. I found a few threads about a single thing not working and making a clicking sound and a few more about clicking sounds behind the dash and such when driving. So when I was convinced that there were no other posts about this, I made a new thread.

I did try again 24 hours later and it still didn't work.

Thanks,
Tommy

4RUNR

Silly question time: did you un-twist the suspect wires? That is - returning to initial state when lights were working.

I'm not going to pretend to know the wiring on a '91, but your best bet is to take the manual and trace the diagram to where all the non-working accessories you mentioned come together. Then work your way from there to the battery. It does sound like something is shorting out.

drkgypsy

According to the FSM, check all of the following: Remove and reset the main circuit breaker, discon the - batt cable,pull the breaker and insert a needle into the reset hole and push it. Check the continuity, and replace the breaker. Or replace it w/ an equal amp. 1.

Check the Integration relay. This relay controls the door courtesy switches,room light switch,key unlock warning swtch,Ign. swtch.light reminder relay,headlight,taillight control relays,light control swtch,guage, radio,dimmer switch.

You said you checked all the fuses, check the headlight,taillight control relays,dimmer switch relay, light control/dimmer switch, and double check ALL the wiring, esp. the ground.

I pulled all this info right from the FSM.(factory shop manual). If you like, I'll try to get the wire colors for you. Hope this helped.
T

skier

Yes, the cables are untwisted and in their original state.

Will try drkgypsy's suggestions tomorrow.

Thanks again,
Tommy

drkgypsy

Skier, if your anywhere near Los Angeles, I'll let you borrow the FSM's.

skier

I did some searching on the forums to try locate the circuit breaker and I couldn't find anything. So, I went to go check the integration relay and the grounds, but before, I decided to test the stereo again. So I went to turn on the stereo... off it goes. Tried again, off again after momentarily coming on. After about 3 more tries, it finally comes on and stays on. It begins playing the first song. The flicking made me think that maybe my battery was dying. So I tried the high beams (by clicking back) and it turned off my stereo. Another test with my normal lights (by twisting) produced the same results. That made me think, so I removed the grounds for the stereo and all accessories. No Change. Then I removed the FM Modulator and all the wiring I put behind the center console. After that, the clicking I heard is now a buzz. It sounds like a buzzer in the same magnitudes and locations as the clicking... except now it buzzes.

Then I decided to check the voltage on the gauge dimmer rheostat wires, and when the lights are turned on about 3.3V comes through them.

Now to go check the integration switch and the wiring.

Thanks,
Tommy

Oh, the factory manuals would have been great.. but I'm no where near LA. I'm out of Alberta.

yotafreakshow

Sounds like your battery is almost dead. You said the timing chain is out, so you can't run the truck and charge her up. I'd throw a charger on that battery. Sounds like a classic low-voltage problem, the alternator on my 89 started working intermittently and turning on the blinker would cut my stereo out if the batt. was getting low. I replaced the alt. and all has been well since.

skier

Trickle charged the battery overnight and there is no change. I'm going to follow up on some of the advice from the factory service manual and see if I can find anything there.