totally stumped!

Subaman · Post by **Subaman** » Fri Mar 05, 2010 6:10 am

A good sign of a dud altinator in the Rx is the tacho needle starts jumping.

twilightprotege · Post by **twilightprotege** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 10:15 am

with the mpfi engine, i'm getting very close to 180 all round

the alternator is not jumping that i've noticed, but i'll still swap it over anyway. but today i'm going to take out the headlight switch and see if that was creating my headlight wtf which the more i think of it, the more i think that's the problem - my dash light dimmer isnt working at all.

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 12:02 pm

Mmmm...that is sort of what we like to see in a NA engine, just add turbo for more BANG for your buck. I'd say run the coldest thermostat you can get and maybe hook up thermo fan to boost light switch. Don't let combustion heat kill this baby. Good luck with the light switch.

twilightprotege · Post by **twilightprotege** » Sun Mar 07, 2010 7:40 pm

yeah te compression was great from what i can remember - i might have even posted the numbers on here.

it's just go the stocko thermostat on there at the moment, BUT, the 2 electric fans are on constantly - from the time the ignition is on to the time it's off. better safe than sorry! lol help the engine and waic coolant too

twilightprotege · Post by **twilightprotege** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 10:50 am

and now i have troubles again....different this time.

so i fixed the headlight wtf and finally got the battery to charge. now i have no spark! grrr!!!!

only thing i changed between the car previously working and now is the alternator and coil (the coil was part of my testing - still doesnt work). the alternator is from my ea82t which worked fine, however some time ago. the coil was from the wagon i have and both should work fine, however i have no spark.

i've checked everything that i can think of and nothing is working. i've checked the fuses (inside and out), however i'm really thinking it's a problem with the alternator - that the internal regulator isnt turning on and therefore not giving the coil power. is this possible??? would be strange considering it was perfectly fine previously.

anything else i should check? i just want to drive my car again

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:32 pm

Fusible links ?

The nine hundred and something dollar four spade terminal ignition module in dizzy ? I HOPE not! Coil has to work harder the higher the compresion, can be offset a bit by reducing plug gap

The coil, the coil, I run a Bosch aftermarket with my 3 plug setup MEC717 need to confirm that and did not need to buy a new coil as later my fusible link corroded away to cause me three weks of GGRRIIEEFF burning out a few in dash things and my GPS and all light bulbs..... pulled original coil apart looking for nothing wrong too...

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 9:33 pm

Fusible links ?

The nine hundred and something dollar four spade terminal ignition module in dizzy ? I HOPE not! Coil has to work harder the higher the compresion, can be offset a bit by reducing plug gap

The coil, the coil, I run a Bosch aftermarket with my 3 plug setup MEC717 need to confirm that and did not need to buy a new coil as later my fusible link corroded away to cause me three weeks of GGRRIIEEFF burning out a few in dash things and my GPS and all light bulbs..... pulled original coil apart looking for nothing wrong too...

FL caused shtick coil symptms

twilightprotege · Post by **twilightprotege** » Tue Mar 16, 2010 10:07 pm

i'll double check around the fusable links. they have continuity, but will double check (and tripple check). can also use the other links from my wagon to see how that goes.

oh that's the other thing i did while charging the engine - put in high beam spot lights. required a bit of trick wiring, and have still not worked yet. i was assuming the relay wasnt seeing 12v and thus not opening yet. wonder if that has anything to do with it???

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 10:26 am

SEARCH the driving lights wiring with steptoe in mind. I found my L sedan had about 1.2 volts on high beam circuit when switched on low beam, so highs had a little juice to glow yellow. That small voltage was triggering my std relay on driving lights so turned highs on whenever lows were on. In the trigger wire to 86 I had to add two diodes in series as these soaked up a volt between the two of them dropping the trigger signal to be too weak to set off relay. I encased them in heat shrink. Jaycar staff chose diodes for me based on my diagram I mud mapped for them

discopotato03 · Post by **discopotato03** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 12:20 pm

The std fuel pump has a damper on the end of it , little turret shaped thing which many pumps don't have . You get a bit of pulsing through the supply line without it which generally isn't a problem .

If you get a gurgling sound from the fuel pump try releasing any presure in the tank via its filler cap .

If you can get the EGR system to work it may help with some of you temperature probs . The recirculated exhaust gas is intended to reduce combustion temps at lean part throttle and light load use .
When engines run lean/hot they are more likely to detonate or ping so don't write the EGR system off as garbage .
Lower combustion temps means less heat into your cooling system . EAs also get hot if the oil gets low .

Yes the 3 plug Turbo and NA TPS is different , the NA closes the "full" contacts after 22 deg throttle shaft rotation where the turbo one does at 47 .

9.5:1 static CR with intercooling should work alright particularly if the pump and fan run most of the time . A good airfilter element and a free flowing exhaust would help as well .

Cheers A .

Ahh and alternators , make sure you are getting 14V out of the alternator itself and preferably through the fusible links as well . Grab a few spare links and then tug on the old ones to make sure they are not corroded .
There are several body earths in the engine bay so make sure they have a good contact .
You computers control grounds come back to the inlet manifold and there are two from memory .

L's have a lovely habit of getting water leaks through the windscreen and the computers can get the occasional bath around the three/four plugs .

Fun and games .

twilightprotege · Post by **twilightprotege** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 4:18 pm

car has started. turned out to be the ignition relay. basically i've bypassed it and it's now perfectly fine. gives the coil power when ignition is on, no power when it's off.

so yay for that.

i have the EGR working so no problem there

next thing is getting the separate high and low beams to work together when required. problem is the high beam relay. it's only seeing just over 7v when it gets turned on...ie half of the power. the low beams stay on because they've already seen 14v and the relay thus stays open when i flick to highs.

just need to work out how to get both relays to see over 12v when the high beams are on.

i'm thinking some sort of diode system - maybe even hooking the relays together some how...hmmmm will have a think and post a diagram to see if anyone thinks it'll work :s

twilightprotege · Post by **twilightprotege** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 5:41 pm

ok here goes...

See if that makes sense to you:

As you can see, in the middle of the picture there is a diode. It allows both high and low beams to work when required.

And this is what is happening. Low beam on, flick the headlights on : Low beam is on, high beam is not. Low beam has full voltage going through the relay (ie 13v both sides)

From the above, then flick the high beam on : low beam stays on, high beam does not come on. Low beam has full voltage both sides of the relay, but the high beam relay only has 7v on one side, 1.5v on the other. Eventually the high beam comes on when you jiggle the relay.

Now with the headlights off, but the high beam on, then flicking the headlights on : neither headlights come on. The low beam relay has 13v on 1 side, 7v on the other. The high beam is as above (7v and 1.5v). jiggle the relays and they both eventually come on.

Now, all I can think of is the relay I’m using (3amp one I think) is too beefy – that I need to make it very very small to try and get both relays reading at least something over 12v.

Thoughts???

coxy · Post by **coxy** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 7:53 pm

Haven't had to look at my Suby yet but when improving the lights on my Toyota sprinter a few years back found they are quite tricky to wire up as a lot of Japanese vehicles run a switched earth system,not a switched power system.
If this is the case then you will need to use a totally different approach,I tend to think this may be the case because you show a diode in the system.
Diodes are usually required with switched earth systems to control back feeding of voltage which will result in your symptoms where the system is finding an earth through the other headlight circuit.
A dead giveaway is power available at two of the three headlight connector pins at all times when ignition is on,whereas with a conventional system there will be no power until the lights are turned on by the lighting switch.
Differing voltage readings as you describe also point to this being an incorrectly wired switched earth system,these tend to use a non standard type relay and make wiring spotlights fun also.
Plenty of info on the net regarding switched earth type systems as they have caught many out.

twilightprotege · Post by **twilightprotege** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 9:21 pm

yep it has switched earth

problem is that i need the low beam earth to ALWAYS be there, no matter if the car is on low or high beam. high beam earth is only to be there when the high beam is on.

there's heaps of info on getting better power for h4's, but i cant find anything on doing what i'm trying to do....ie use the h4 for low's only, and run spot lights for the highs while leaving the lows on...

twilightprotege · Post by **twilightprotege** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 10:22 pm

ok i think i worked it out. requires the replacement of the diode with a relay (SPDT).

will report back tomorrow

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 9:49 am

Oh! You are hurting my head.

You are intending to have original high beams not on when you select after market driving lights? An 87 87a relay will do that (i think , in small text). the power (or earth, whatever you connect here) from 30 alternates between 87 and 87a depending on whether you have relay energised or not energised via 85 and 86.

That ignition relay - bypassed? I'd replace it before it causes GRIEF

twilightprotege · Post by **twilightprotege** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 10:06 am

yay i worked it out! after a few attempts it's now great. so this is what i have:

low beam - HID H4 lows only
high beam - HID H4 lows only PLUS nite stalker 170 series driving lights

i can see where i'm going now

(well once i adjust them)

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 1:03 pm

I see your thinking in not wasting power on original high beams if you got night stalkers. Hmmm

twilightprotege · Post by **twilightprotege** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 4:43 pm

absolutely! HID low beams + nite stalker driving lights = daytime

lol

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Thu Mar 18, 2010 10:34 pm

By comparison - having gone from std H4s in my L Sedan to the AutotecnicA Blue max platties I can no longer see yellow lights on road at 7.00am - the blue light gets lost so I can be seen but not see too well at early light. Good reason not to be up at this time. At night I am happy with my $20 mod