I have a nagging (little) problem with my 89 4r. Any time the driver or passenger door is opened, the clock turns off. When the door is closed the clock starts but resets to 12:00.

I'm thinking there is a ground problem on the clock circut. As gen 1 4rs are neg door lock vehicles, when the door is opened, I think the the clock (which is on the same circut as the door pins) finds a ground through the door pins that is a path of least resistance. The result is that power is diverted from the clock until the door is closed and the door pin is once again depressed (removing the ground).

I haven't been too concerned with this but I'm about to install an alarm and this (door pin issue) sounds like it may cause problems with the alarm.

I'm not an electrical wizard so if anyone has had a related experience or an educated view and thoughts on where to begin tracking this problem down...I'm all ears.

 

Just Climb in and out the windows like the Dukes of Hazzard. Sorry, I'm of no help

Bump

 

I had the exact same problem with my truck, turned out to be a VERY poorly installed alarm that was shorting something out. Works now that I took it out.

 

Rob - that's good to know. Unfortunately, this runner has never had alarm that I can see. When I bought it, it had a CB (wired at the battery) with a poorly wired relay (which was acting as a parasitic drain and would run the battery dead) but I removed it all and the parasitic drain disappeared. I can't see any evidence of other "custom" wiring efforts (splices, cut wires or electrical tape) so I am stuck.

Using a volt meter and the FSM wiring diagram is eating me alive. It appears that all interior lighting, the clock and cig lighter all are powered by the Dome and/or Cig fuse but the clock also gets power from the Tail fuse. All fuse power leads either have ~14v or ~8.7v(?). Ground wires from each light (W-B) all seem to have continuity to ground.

I'd like to get this electrical issue resolved before I install the alarm. And I'm waiting to re-install the dash until I get the alarm in. Argh!

Any Electrical Engineers or strong wiring gurus willing to suggest ideas would be much appreciated! Even a trouble shooting procedure would be useful.

 

that's a strange problem

when I bump my wipers to just clear the windsheild (not turning them fully on), my dome light flashes once I have no idea what's up with that, lol

 

at least 75% of the time, odd things happening, electrically speaking, are caused by poor grounds. so start there, checking grounds

 

x2. If it does nothing, the wiring is screwed up. If it goes nuts/unexplainable...gotta be a ground.

 

and when all else fails, just re-wire the damned thing yourself

lmao, under the dash of my Cherokee I owned in HS, it was a spider web of wires, cause one by one everything shorted out on that POS... I had to re-wire the headlights, wipers, power locks and windows, all the interior lights too... I hated that f-n Heep...

 

I suggest welding the doors closed.

x2 for bad ground. Some steel wool and dielectric grease to the grounds should help.

 

Just a thought but you could just rewire the clock?

It's late and my memory is bad as is, but I've wired in a 12V outlet, CB and my stereo... all into the power source in the dash, I forget what fuse its on (yea late bad memory)

Does your buzzer/dome light still go on when you open your door?

 

Thanks Abe (and others)...I was leaning torwards a ground problem initally. Unfortunately, when I jumpered a temp grd wire for the clock, it didn't help.

I'll take a look at the ground points, work them over and post the results.

Just a few more questions...

Has anybody looked at the wiring schematic for the 89 (section 5_1 to 5_3)? It looks like all the interior lights can get power from several different fuse sources (see the horizontal wires that are displayed just below the dome and cig fuse.) You will also see the clock (5_3) has an additional line to the tail fuse. This is confusing to me. Any EE's have an explanation for that?

Also, does the 8.7v wires make sense or could this lower voltage be a symptom of bad ground?

Have I mentioned that I hate electrical problems?

 

Drew. I've disabled the buzzer. The relay is still installed but I've bent the "tab" on the buzzer so it doesn't buzz anymore.

My Dome light is removed right now so I'm not sure if it comes on when I open the door. I'll reinstall to check function. The map light (at the rear view mirror) does not work although the bulbs are good. It's source wire has 8.7v.

 

I've got good news and bad new on this issue...The bad news is that I just got laid off this AM so (good news) I'll have more time to trouble shoot this problem. The other bad news is that there will be no $ going into this runner for a while. sux

 

this happened to me when i put male/female quick disconnects on the door wires to take the doors off..

interested in a solution..

map lights, dome light, door buzzer and door lights dont work.

if any of the buttons are pressed or if any door is open.. the clock resets to 1 o clock..

 

You've got a short in your (missing) dome light.

Okay, I couldn't really know that. But I'm 95% sure it is a short in one of the circuits activated by the door switch. When you open the door, it shorts the circuit to ground, pulling the voltage on the clock circuit just low enough to shut if off. The short isn't a good one (that would blow the fuse), but it pulls enough current through a bad connection that the resistance of the connection causes the voltage drop.

A second possibility is that you don't have a short but a very weak connection upstream (toward the battery) from the clock. Then the normal current draw through the dome light drops enough voltage across that bad connection (high resistance) to stop the clock.

Step one: pull out the clock, and put a voltmeter on the power pin of the connector (not the tail-light circuit; that's used to dim the light when your parking lights are turned on). With the door closed you should get battery voltage (around 12.8v). Open the door; does the voltage drop to, oh, 8v? Do the same at the dome light itself. Last, do it right at the fuse.

If the voltage is dropping at the fuse, you've got a short and will run down the battery soon enough with the door open. If the voltage is dropping at the clock but not at the fuse, then you've got a high-resistance somewhere between the fuse and the clock (and the rest of the dome light circuit).

Good luck - with a voltmeter and FSM you're half-way there!

 

Thanks Scope.

85, we are in the same boat with this problem. Let me know if you find the problem and I'll do the same.

 

Scope,

I've got no voltage drop at the clock with doors open or close (~12v either way). The black with white stripe wire that comes out of the clock and becomes the power wire that goes to the light reminder relay, inspection socket, door lights, map light and dome light gives ~12volts with the door closed and drops to 0.34 volts with the door open. From your diagnosis, what would you say is the problem and what's the next step in tracking in down?

 

Scope,

almost forgot...both the cig and dome fuses give ~12+v with door open and door closed.

 

I'm not looking at the same manual as you are, so this may not be much help. On my '94, the clock has white w/black straight to ground, blue with yellow to full time 12v, Gray with red to switched 12v (the clock goes dark with the key off, but still keeps time), and green to the taillight circuit. I'm assuming you find the voltage drop on the blue with yellow, as that is the one that provides the full-time power.

Blue with yellow comes from the 15A dome light fuse. The dome light (and personal lights and step light) all get 12v from that same fuse, and are grounded with the door switches through a black with white wire. There is no black with white wire to my clock.

You could hook up a fairly big current draw (like a tail light bulb; that should pull about 1 amp) from the clocks blue with yellow to ground. It should light the bulb full brilliance, with no significant voltage drop. IF you get a voltage drop with a 1A draw, then you've got a bad connection between the fuse and the clock, probably toward the fuse from the dome light.

What's the status of your dome light? Is it possible you've got a pair of wires touching in there? That would do it.

 

Did you try disconnecting the door pins yet? Does the clock only turn off with the driver or passenger door (or back doors if you got a 4 door) or the tail gate door?
Sure it's not a loose connection as, in would the clock reset from sudden jarring from driving off road?

Did this just suddenly happen one day?

I am pretty sure it would have been caused by someone who tried to install something. Reminds me of my old rabbit when I tried to install a stereo...Strange things started happening, one day it died in the middle of an intersection and the horn was honking on it's own.