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Clock and radio flashing

Victor Valentim

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Joined
Oct 31, 2017
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30
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australia
Hi Guys,

My 80 series 1991 is giving me some headaches with electrical issues.

First the dome lights stopped working. After 3 days, I came back from work and all the inside lights were on (The car hasn't been used during this time).
But then, the radio stopped working. Every time I turn the key on, the clock and the radio flashes. Well, this is not all.
I figured that every time I change the dome lights switch to "OFF" or "ON" the radio and the clock goes off. And When I put the switch on "DOOR" it starts flashing again.

Yesterday night, the radio worked as soon as I turned the key on, but when I switch off and on again, it went back to flashing.

I have checked the fuses and replaced them, but nothing has changed. Everything else works fine.

Any ideas?

Thanks guys!
 
Smells like a bad earth somewhere and as a result the affected circuits go searching for tension trough other circuits.
Just my 2 c but I could be totally wrong as well.
 
Smells like a bad earth somewhere and as a result the affected circuits go searching for tension trough other circuits.
Just my 2 c but I could be totally wrong as well.

I have bought the car a month ago, so I still finding some issues here and there, you know.
My electrical knowledge is very short, but I can do some pieces and bits, I will try to find the earths and see if I can see any dodgy connections or something loose.

Usually the earths for radio are inside, aren't day?
 
Probably a bad earth. I think there are some behind the side front footwell panels. have a search thee and up under the dash by removing the glove box and drivers side trim.
 
Probably a bad earth. I think there are some behind the side front footwell panels. have a search thee and up under the dash by removing the glove box and drivers side trim.

I removed the glove box today in the morning and tried to understand which wire comes from where and goes to what. I will try to find the earth cable tomorrow, hopefully it will be a simple job.
I took the car to a electrician when the first problem started and he charged me au$900 for the job, but I think I can do a lot with $900!!

I am lucky that the previous owner gave me this book:

23107418_1757176991020139_995427887_o.jpg


However, cannot understand much! hahahahaha

23113119_1757177004353471_249334987_o.jpg
 
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Any wire/s screwed to the metal body work will be an earth and they will all need to be good condition. Very easy to see one when you know one. You may be lucky and find a loose or corroded one.
 
Hi Victor, is there any sign that water may have got in through the windscreen at all? It can be a problem if the windscreen gets damaged and changed as they can leak if not sealed correctly.
You could also check the fuses for any corrosion, both in the dash just inside the driver's door and under the bonnet. There is a 'Dome' fuse. With the radio and interior light on, wiggle fuses and watch to see if you get any flickering that relates to the movement of the fuses.
 
Hi Victor, is there any sign that water may have got in through the windscreen at all? It can be a problem if the windscreen gets damaged and changed as they can leak if not sealed correctly.
You could also check the fuses for any corrosion, both in the dash just inside the driver's door and under the bonnet. There is a 'Dome' fuse. With the radio and interior light on, wiggle fuses and watch to see if you get any flickering that relates to the movement of the fuses.

Hello!

The windscreen is pretty good, although it is an old car, the seals are still in good condition. I have checked the dome fuse (Actually all of them) and they seemed fine. I changed the Dome one which is a 10AMP fuse.

I will try to check the earth today after work, if not, tomorrow in my day off. Hopefully I can find something.

Thanks for your message
 
Do you have an electrical item that does not work ? e.g. my rear wiper motor packed up and then I had electrical issues on the instrument cluster. I had had heard of "bad earths" so decided to take the harness out of the tailgate to find the earth for the wiper motor. Lucky me......I found a faulty earth connection joint in the harness plug so no need to remove. Soldered that together and cured the problem on the dash and also got the wiper working. So if you have an item not working try and find the earth to it. Or perhaps supply a direct separate earth. That should work but there are cleverer people on here who may like to confirm.
 
That's a good point Frank. Towing sockets can create all sorts of mischief too when water gets in to them or their associated booster relay/beeper. If you've got one, it's worth checking for any sign of corrosion.
It's also easy to take the door switches out and see if the problem continues. The other possibility is if something innthe loom has melted and is causing cross connections somewhere. Look for anything under the dash that's been retrofitted, especially around the radio and rid your world of Scotchloks!! :) It may be thecradio has been tapped into the wrong wire for something.
 
Richard if there is a non working part e.g. a poor window motor causing the fault and it's earth cannot be found could the motor be supplied with an alternative earth thus solving the problem if the poorly earthed motor was in fact the cause ? In this way if the poster has a non working part he could quickly test if it's original earth is the cause by just earthing it.
 
Yes in theory at least that should work. The thing is, it all depends where the earths are connected. If there are several commoned to one point and that point has the poor earth, all sorts of silliness can happen. This is more likely to happen locally, for instance, tail light clusters on Fords use a common bar, usually pressed steel :icon-rolleyes: which then has a connection to the body earth. When (not if) this connection goes bad, the tail lights then have a partial earth and start to flash with the indicator. When braking the whole lot goes out due to the current drawn by the bright brake light bulb. If the connection gives up altogether, the indicator then earths via the brake or tail light bulbs on both sides and lights them up a tiny bit too.
 
Well guys,

Something very interesting happened today. I went to the car and tried to find all the possible earths in the car. Half way through my desire to give up and get a cold beer, I start realizing that some doors were working when the dome light was on "door" and the clock would stay normal (not flashing)
So, I start checking everything! wiper, windows, ar conditioner etc. And I found out that my side mirrors were working (Electric ones). And it was a big surprise, because it has NEVER worked before!
Than, I start playing up with doors and light switches when suddenly! BANG! the radio came back from the dark side and the clock too!

Well, you might be thinking that it is a good news! But it is not! That's because I have done NOTHING! it just came back when I was looking at it. literally did not move! So now, I am afraid that things will stop work suddenly, and as I know myself, it will be when I am 100km from home in the middle of nowhere! :(

I was recording it at that time and I am trying to upload it to post the link here.

What now? help me!

I have checked and shake all the cables and connection trying to create the flashing again and find the problem, but it still holds and everything is ok.

There is just one thing that it is nor working anymore, the Diff locked light in the dashboard. I can hear it working, but the light does not come on anymore.
 
Welcome to my world…:whistle:

Intermittent faults are the hardest to find.

I don't recognise that radio? Is it original? Have you had the radio out to check the wiring behind it?

This looks to me like a poor connection somewhere. Quite possibly a poor earth.
 

The drawing above is wrong Victor. If any of the three passenger doors are opened, there is 12v straight across the right hand of the pair of diodes which would immediately let the smoke out of the wires! It should show with its top common connection (ly) connected to the branch below it that connects to the courtesy lamp switches.

Anyway, your problem is common to the radio and the clock but can you tell me, when the clock flashed,
1, did any of the courtesy lights flash?
2, did the clock lose its memory?
3, is there another diagram in the book that shows the radio connection?
4, can you place a maximum load on your cigarette lighter and see if the fault recurs ?
5, did the radio lose its memory?
6, does your light reminder relay work?

These should help pinpoint it without you tearing the loom apart.
 
That's similar to what happened to me. Intermittent rear wiper but when I found the fault it was very obviously the problem.

Still worth looking as the earth when found will either be loose or corroded.

Or it might be a broken wire. It's worth opening each door and bending the cable that connects the door to the car electrics. It runs through a rubber tube and wires can break inside due to years of flexing. If you can recreate the problem like this you will have found the fault.
 
It seems interior lights, clock and radio all pick their + feed up from comonning connector J3 from the B section of it. J3 looks like this:-
IMG_2794.JPG


I can't work out where it is on a RHD cruiser but it lives up under the dash. It will look like a connector with nothing in it but a cover over the front. Behind that cover flap are linking pins that link all the terminals in that section. This would be prime suspect for a corroded connection for me. It's location is shown as top left on a LHD car. Maybe in behind the instrument cluster. Not sure on RHD but it may also be behind the instrument cluster. Have a search for a thread from me on the speedo intermittently working and it will show you how to take the instrument cluster out. It's not too bad but does involve taking the front off the dash.

Note, the info I've found relates to a 1996 cruiser with later dash. Hopefully it's the same for the 1993.
 
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