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Craig, as always, you're the man! I appreciate your input! None of the wires seemed frayed or to be missing any actual copper. The reason I cut and re-solder sealed was in order to get some shrink wrap over everything since several wires' insulation had been rubbed through. I always love you guys checking my work and my thoughts so don't ever feel as though I'll take any offense to any suggestions you may make!
This is terrific info - let me see what I can do this weekend and hopefully I can identify a few of them and get them ordered up. I've got so much going on with work and life that I've gotta carve out a little time to give this old girl some more attention!
I remember the door locks never worked properly after the "incident". I honestly didn't have the time to pursue it and didn't check all the protections in place. It doesn't matter now anyway since I trashed the harness and am taking out the power locks.
^^ I have replaced each door lock actuator once in my SC already. First the driver's side went after I bought the car and a couple of years later the passenger side went. I ordered a set of left and right new ones a while back to keep with my spare parts. And the little rod clips that go onto them that tend to break down after 20+ years.
Rudy, I certainly only wished to help with any suggestions just to rule out everything I hope that list of relays helps you! Hopefully the problems that you are experiencing won't be very extensive to repair. Please keep us posted as you get into it!
Craig your input is always welcome here!! Hoping to spend some time in the garage this weekend with a buddy. Sometimes having another person to poke things and give suggestions is so helpful to me. I find myself over focusing on occasion and sometimes someone simply suggesting "hey what about _____" can be a game changer haha.
I appreciate you all as always! The car has fresh tires, fresh fluids (still need to do my diff), and once this is repaired I'll be ready for my track day! It'll be the first one of the year. Usually I make it out to the local road course a few times a year, but with getting married, working, camping, etc etc it just hasn't happened yet this year. It'll feel great to get this thing out and about!
Well... I spent nearly the entire day Saturday trying to track down what happened with the SC. I checked every fuse and relay with a meter, even took out the engine bay fuse box to inspect for damage behind the pins. As I was about to start taking the footwell box out to inspect... My friend had an idea. We jacked the car back up, un-did all the taping on the harness fix I did and re-inspected my work... We didn't find anything. At this point I was so frustrated I could have screamed. However, while in the fender well I was moving wires and my friend noticed lights were flickering on and off, as were the windows, seats, etc etc. After playing with and inspecting the harness for nearly an hour trying to find the culprit we found it! When I hit the bump that took it out of commission the tire must have pulled on the main white power wire that goes into the footwell fuse box. With my head up under the dash I finally saw that the pin for this wire had just barely been pulled out of the connector. I could wiggle it and get everything to work. I reinstalled the pin, reinstalled the underhood fuse box and fuses, and wa-lah!!
Drove it around yesterday and drove it to work today. Everything is working again, the car runs very well, and it just loves this cool fall mountain weather
If you're slammed and haven't moved that harness, my god, just do it! I regret not doing it sooner and it's been quite the trial fixing and tracking down issues with this. However, it's an easy fix and can be done without cutting and extending the harness. Check out the DIY threads - it can either be unplugged and run through the engine bay, OR, as I did, you can also remove all of the plastic mount/cover, wrap it up nicely with nice tape or covering of your liking, and it can be tucked and secured up above the pinch weld which I've done. I also raised the entire car up a half inch to be certain this won't happen again lol.
Happy tinkering guys - feels awesome to be back behind the wheel of this bad boy!
Well... I spent nearly the entire day Saturday trying to track down what happened with the SC. I checked every fuse and relay with a meter, even took out the engine bay fuse box to inspect for damage behind the pins. As I was about to start taking the footwell box out to inspect... My friend had an idea. We jacked the car back up, un-did all the taping on the harness fix I did and re-inspected my work... We didn't find anything. At this point I was so frustrated I could have screamed. However, while in the fender well I was moving wires and my friend noticed lights were flickering on and off, as were the windows, seats, etc etc. After playing with and inspecting the harness for nearly an hour trying to find the culprit we found it! When I hit the bump that took it out of commission the tire must have pulled on the main white power wire that goes into the footwell fuse box. With my head up under the dash I finally saw that the pin for this wire had just barely been pulled out of the connector. I could wiggle it and get everything to work. I reinstalled the pin, reinstalled the underhood fuse box and fuses, and wa-lah!!
Drove it around yesterday and drove it to work today. Everything is working again, the car runs very well, and it just loves this cool fall mountain weather
If you're slammed and haven't moved that harness, my god, just do it! I regret not doing it sooner and it's been quite the trial fixing and tracking down issues with this. However, it's an easy fix and can be done without cutting and extending the harness. Check out the DIY threads - it can either be unplugged and run through the engine bay, OR, as I did, you can also remove all of the plastic mount/cover, wrap it up nicely with nice tape or covering of your liking, and it can be tucked and secured up above the pinch weld which I've done. I also raised the entire car up a half inch to be certain this won't happen again lol.
Happy tinkering guys - feels awesome to be back behind the wheel of this bad boy!
Glad you figured it out!
I pushed my harness above the metal fender lip inside and zip tied it when i did the coilover install haha
Rudy, I bet you can get some good sleep now. i know if I had that same problem I would not have gotten any sleep especially after pulling all my hair out. So glad YOU DID IT.
Good call man - I should have known better and done the same haha.
Thanks Bill! To be honest I found myself in a bad place on Saturday while trying to remove entire fuse boxes from the car... I was about ready to give up and thankfully having a few friends around with fresh perspectives made all the difference.
Whenever I spend time away from this car, get back in it and enjoy it, I remember how truly special and awesome these cars really are.
Rudy, congratulations and great detective work on both your parts! Sometimes it really does take going through everything until you hit a "eureka!" moment when it seems you've tried everything. It's certainly happened to me too when trying to find an electrical culprit!
It may be good to source out a brand new connector for that kick panel fuse box connection since the force on those wires probably snapped the plastic catch that normally holds that wire in place inside the connector. On the other hand with the harness relocation and extension being done it is unlikely you'll have any more issues with that terminal popping out in the future.
I know how you feel about how much more special your SC feels after it's had to sit for a while for maintenance, repairs or just lack of time. Mine has had to sit dormant for over a month while the cluster was worked on but tomorrow I'll finally get to fire it up again!
Now you can get out there and enjoy your SC properly! You've certainly earned it and also future proofed it with the harness relocation!
Thanks for the words of encouragement as always Craig! I'd source a new connector and/or pin, however, it seems as though the wire sits in there nice and snug and holds tight even when pulled on. So thank god for that!
It certainly was trying, and I'm just relieved to have it done!
You'll have to post some photos of your cluster. I'm sure you're itching to get back into that thing!!
Finally got out and hand washed this thing at work today. I rarely hand wash my cars anymore... However, nothing beats a good hand wash on a beautiful day here in Denver.
I was a little sad to raise this thing up - however - I've come to realize that I enjoy driving this car hard, hitting the local road course, and doing some (hoodrat) activities far more than I like cruising it around low.
Rudy, I have to say that now your car looks like it's at a perfect ride height! The suspension actually performs a little better through its travel range when it's raised back up like that. You're definitely lower than my car is by an inch (or two?) and I'll bet you're already noticing how it handles a bit better than before.
Your car looks beautiful after that hand wash! Now you're getting me motivated to pull out my cleaning and waxing kit,
Thank you Craig! It certainly rides better due to exactly what you pointed out - having decent suspension geometry actually works, who would have thought haha. I appreciate the compliments as always! This car photographs so well but is definitely what I like to call a "ten footer" in person haha.
Mine needs a coat too before the winter, but I'll have to handle my wife's mini first lol.
Hey Rudy, thats a beautiful color, bet you get a lotta head turns
You can make your car really shine if you put it in nice background, mountain, lakes, woods. Anywhere other than a parking lot, mall, driveway.
Do your car a favor and let it shine its natural best. Bring out its colors
Just a thought, your car deserves it
Hey Barbary thank you for the nice compliment! I drive this car a lot but unfortunately haven't been able to get it out in the mountains since the leaves started turning. I'll try and get some better backgrounds in the mix next time lol. I have to say, this car is an absolute animal in the canyons here on the Falken tires and with the KAAZ LSD.
Also - small side note... The SC is running great so it was the Tacoma's turn to get a little upgrade. Picked up this used tent and rack from a good friend of mine who upgraded his set up. Next on the list before spring is going to be a suspension refresh, small lift, and slightly bigger tires. I never used to go offroad with this truck, however, thanks to some friends I've done more wheeling and exploring than ever the last two summers which has led to some of the best camping and relaxing that you can find out here in CO.
09-14-21, 08:42 AM
I hope that list of relays helps you! Hopefully the problems that you are experiencing won't be very extensive to repair. Please keep us posted as you get into it!
