Major electrical problem - super urgent emergency - please help guys
Today, 05:09 PM
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Major electrical problem - super urgent emergency - please help guys
Hi guys, it's been a while since i've posted on here, life has taken me to a pretty rough place the last few years. I'm a single father now, and I've been on disability for the past two years with no sign of that changing any time soon. My kid and me just moved to a newer area of town in a basement suite so we could get out of a really bad situation, and it's left me with basically no money, and now my car broke down. I have an electronic engineering diploma, so I do have quite a solid understanding of electical systems and how to troubleshoot and diagnose as well as repair them, but looking at the wiring diagrams for this car, I just can't understand what's going on with them. they seem like they really aren't giving the full picture at all.
Basically I went to start the car a couple of weeks ago, and it wouldn't start. No crank, but dash lights and dials and such came on. After some troubleshooting, I found that the starter relay was not getting a start signal, and thus the starter wouldn't crank. I followed that back and found that the 60A E/G-B fusible link was blown. I couldn't think of any reason why, as the only work i had done on the car recently was changing the brake pads on the front, and cleaning some mud out from the bottom side of the engine block on the passenger side, as well as putting some sheet metal screws into the fender (checking for wires on the other side first, of course) to hold the wheel well liner in place better as it was flapping inthe wind. I figured maybe I had simply touched something by accident when i was clearing the dried on mud out, so I bypassed the link with a 60A fuse on a wire, just to see what would happen, and this allowed the engine to fire up and I had no issues. I drove it for the next week or so with no issues, and then a couple of days ago on the way home, the car suddenly went into limp mode just as I went to leave a stop light. I limped the rest of the way home (it was only about 2km), and after shutting the car off in the back of the house, it wouldn't fire up and had similar symptoms to the issue a week ago. Opened the hood and sure enough, the 60A E/G-B fusible link was blown again. So I pulled the battery out, and out of curiosity I measured the resistance between the battery terminals, just to see what it would show, and when I bypass the fusible link that is blown, it reads 0.1 ohms, so basically a dead short. Without the bypassed fusible link, it starts at a low resistance and builds up, suggesting that the meter is slowly charging some capacitors, which makes sense I guess?
So far I've followed the wiring diagrams and found that E/G-B supplies power to the #2 Relay and Junction box on the left side of the engine bay (from the drivers seat), but when i pull the various fuses, the resistance stays at 0.1 ohms with the link bypassed. To me, this suggests that the main wire leading from the fusible link to the junction box must somehow have shorted out somewhere?? does this sound accurate? and if so, where the heck is this wire routed??
looking through the diagrams, I can see this wire should be coming in on connector 2D, which is shown on the Fuse Block diagram page for RB/JB #2 on Unit C. But where the hell is connector 2D? And looking at this diagram, it looks like a whole bunch of connectors are missing from it. Looking down from the top, everything that is in the general area of Unit C isn't shown on this diagram. Or is this diagram showing the bottom of the RB/JB #2?
Please help. I'm desperate. I have a super important doctors appointment to get to tomorrow morning, and I haven't been able to get groceries for a few days now, and we're really starting to get into a bad situation. I'm honestly at a loss for what to do. Any help or advice at all would be super appreciated. I am willing to share my phone number privately if anyone thinks they could help me, or if you want to post up here, please do. I would be grateful for any advice at all.
thanks in advance.
Basically I went to start the car a couple of weeks ago, and it wouldn't start. No crank, but dash lights and dials and such came on. After some troubleshooting, I found that the starter relay was not getting a start signal, and thus the starter wouldn't crank. I followed that back and found that the 60A E/G-B fusible link was blown. I couldn't think of any reason why, as the only work i had done on the car recently was changing the brake pads on the front, and cleaning some mud out from the bottom side of the engine block on the passenger side, as well as putting some sheet metal screws into the fender (checking for wires on the other side first, of course) to hold the wheel well liner in place better as it was flapping inthe wind. I figured maybe I had simply touched something by accident when i was clearing the dried on mud out, so I bypassed the link with a 60A fuse on a wire, just to see what would happen, and this allowed the engine to fire up and I had no issues. I drove it for the next week or so with no issues, and then a couple of days ago on the way home, the car suddenly went into limp mode just as I went to leave a stop light. I limped the rest of the way home (it was only about 2km), and after shutting the car off in the back of the house, it wouldn't fire up and had similar symptoms to the issue a week ago. Opened the hood and sure enough, the 60A E/G-B fusible link was blown again. So I pulled the battery out, and out of curiosity I measured the resistance between the battery terminals, just to see what it would show, and when I bypass the fusible link that is blown, it reads 0.1 ohms, so basically a dead short. Without the bypassed fusible link, it starts at a low resistance and builds up, suggesting that the meter is slowly charging some capacitors, which makes sense I guess?
So far I've followed the wiring diagrams and found that E/G-B supplies power to the #2 Relay and Junction box on the left side of the engine bay (from the drivers seat), but when i pull the various fuses, the resistance stays at 0.1 ohms with the link bypassed. To me, this suggests that the main wire leading from the fusible link to the junction box must somehow have shorted out somewhere?? does this sound accurate? and if so, where the heck is this wire routed??
looking through the diagrams, I can see this wire should be coming in on connector 2D, which is shown on the Fuse Block diagram page for RB/JB #2 on Unit C. But where the hell is connector 2D? And looking at this diagram, it looks like a whole bunch of connectors are missing from it. Looking down from the top, everything that is in the general area of Unit C isn't shown on this diagram. Or is this diagram showing the bottom of the RB/JB #2?
Please help. I'm desperate. I have a super important doctors appointment to get to tomorrow morning, and I haven't been able to get groceries for a few days now, and we're really starting to get into a bad situation. I'm honestly at a loss for what to do. Any help or advice at all would be super appreciated. I am willing to share my phone number privately if anyone thinks they could help me, or if you want to post up here, please do. I would be grateful for any advice at all.
thanks in advance.
Today, 06:10 PM
#2
Hi guys, it's been a while since i've posted on here, life has taken me to a pretty rough place the last few years. I'm a single father now, and I've been on disability for the past two years with no sign of that changing any time soon. My kid and me just moved to a newer area of town in a basement suite so we could get out of a really bad situation, and it's left me with basically no money, and now my car broke down. I have an electronic engineering diploma, so I do have quite a solid understanding of electical systems and how to troubleshoot and diagnose as well as repair them, but looking at the wiring diagrams for this car, I just can't understand what's going on with them. they seem like they really aren't giving the full picture at all.
Basically I went to start the car a couple of weeks ago, and it wouldn't start. No crank, but dash lights and dials and such came on. After some troubleshooting, I found that the starter relay was not getting a start signal, and thus the starter wouldn't crank. I followed that back and found that the 60A E/G-B fusible link was blown. I couldn't think of any reason why, as the only work i had done on the car recently was changing the brake pads on the front, and cleaning some mud out from the bottom side of the engine block on the passenger side, as well as putting some sheet metal screws into the fender (checking for wires on the other side first, of course) to hold the wheel well liner in place better as it was flapping inthe wind. I figured maybe I had simply touched something by accident when i was clearing the dried on mud out, so I bypassed the link with a 60A fuse on a wire, just to see what would happen, and this allowed the engine to fire up and I had no issues. I drove it for the next week or so with no issues, and then a couple of days ago on the way home, the car suddenly went into limp mode just as I went to leave a stop light. I limped the rest of the way home (it was only about 2km), and after shutting the car off in the back of the house, it wouldn't fire up and had similar symptoms to the issue a week ago. Opened the hood and sure enough, the 60A E/G-B fusible link was blown again. So I pulled the battery out, and out of curiosity I measured the resistance between the battery terminals, just to see what it would show, and when I bypass the fusible link that is blown, it reads 0.1 ohms, so basically a dead short. Without the bypassed fusible link, it starts at a low resistance and builds up, suggesting that the meter is slowly charging some capacitors, which makes sense I guess?
So far I've followed the wiring diagrams and found that E/G-B supplies power to the #2 Relay and Junction box on the left side of the engine bay (from the drivers seat), but when i pull the various fuses, the resistance stays at 0.1 ohms with the link bypassed. To me, this suggests that the main wire leading from the fusible link to the junction box must somehow have shorted out somewhere?? does this sound accurate? and if so, where the heck is this wire routed??
looking through the diagrams, I can see this wire should be coming in on connector 2D, which is shown on the Fuse Block diagram page for RB/JB #2 on Unit C. But where the hell is connector 2D? And looking at this diagram, it looks like a whole bunch of connectors are missing from it. Looking down from the top, everything that is in the general area of Unit C isn't shown on this diagram. Or is this diagram showing the bottom of the RB/JB #2?
Please help. I'm desperate. I have a super important doctors appointment to get to tomorrow morning, and I haven't been able to get groceries for a few days now, and we're really starting to get into a bad situation. I'm honestly at a loss for what to do. Any help or advice at all would be super appreciated. I am willing to share my phone number privately if anyone thinks they could help me, or if you want to post up here, please do. I would be grateful for any advice at all.
thanks in advance.
Basically I went to start the car a couple of weeks ago, and it wouldn't start. No crank, but dash lights and dials and such came on. After some troubleshooting, I found that the starter relay was not getting a start signal, and thus the starter wouldn't crank. I followed that back and found that the 60A E/G-B fusible link was blown. I couldn't think of any reason why, as the only work i had done on the car recently was changing the brake pads on the front, and cleaning some mud out from the bottom side of the engine block on the passenger side, as well as putting some sheet metal screws into the fender (checking for wires on the other side first, of course) to hold the wheel well liner in place better as it was flapping inthe wind. I figured maybe I had simply touched something by accident when i was clearing the dried on mud out, so I bypassed the link with a 60A fuse on a wire, just to see what would happen, and this allowed the engine to fire up and I had no issues. I drove it for the next week or so with no issues, and then a couple of days ago on the way home, the car suddenly went into limp mode just as I went to leave a stop light. I limped the rest of the way home (it was only about 2km), and after shutting the car off in the back of the house, it wouldn't fire up and had similar symptoms to the issue a week ago. Opened the hood and sure enough, the 60A E/G-B fusible link was blown again. So I pulled the battery out, and out of curiosity I measured the resistance between the battery terminals, just to see what it would show, and when I bypass the fusible link that is blown, it reads 0.1 ohms, so basically a dead short. Without the bypassed fusible link, it starts at a low resistance and builds up, suggesting that the meter is slowly charging some capacitors, which makes sense I guess?
So far I've followed the wiring diagrams and found that E/G-B supplies power to the #2 Relay and Junction box on the left side of the engine bay (from the drivers seat), but when i pull the various fuses, the resistance stays at 0.1 ohms with the link bypassed. To me, this suggests that the main wire leading from the fusible link to the junction box must somehow have shorted out somewhere?? does this sound accurate? and if so, where the heck is this wire routed??
looking through the diagrams, I can see this wire should be coming in on connector 2D, which is shown on the Fuse Block diagram page for RB/JB #2 on Unit C. But where the hell is connector 2D? And looking at this diagram, it looks like a whole bunch of connectors are missing from it. Looking down from the top, everything that is in the general area of Unit C isn't shown on this diagram. Or is this diagram showing the bottom of the RB/JB #2?
Please help. I'm desperate. I have a super important doctors appointment to get to tomorrow morning, and I haven't been able to get groceries for a few days now, and we're really starting to get into a bad situation. I'm honestly at a loss for what to do. Any help or advice at all would be super appreciated. I am willing to share my phone number privately if anyone thinks they could help me, or if you want to post up here, please do. I would be grateful for any advice at all.
thanks in advance.
I'd be suspect of the steering lock system as it's seems to be fed by the 60A fuse. Sounds like you're mostly on the right path as for thinking it's the wire itself after the fuse and something happened to it compromising its integrity.
As for the battery leads, there are so many small paths to ground, I have never measured it, but can imagine it shows low ohms based on the giant spark thrown when connected.
I would place a 12V incandescent test lamp on the downside of the 60A fuse so, one side on +12V, the other the 60A leg gets powered by the bulb. Now start unplugging fuses in the branch below. With all fuses out, that leaves the wire itself.
Last question, the front controller does all outward lighting, has the car ever been wrecked causing significant front end repairs? That would be my next path.
Today, 07:02 PM
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just to clarify what you mean about the test lamp, do you mean i would install the battery as normal, or simply connect up JUST the 12 volt post to one side of the test lamp, and hte other side of the test lamp would go directly to the downstream side of E/G-B fusible link? I'm super overwhelmed with this right now, and when I get stressed out like this my brain basically stops working right (i'm autistic..fun times). What's the purpose of doing this? Is the idea that the light will be on (because of the short) until I either pull out the fuse for the component that has the short, or until I find the short in the wire and disconnect the short from ground? If that's the idea (which makes sense to me right now), then would I not also get the same effect by simply putting a multimeter on the downstream side of the fusible link, and the other side of it to ground, measuring the resistance to ground on that leg only, and then going step by step through each leg that is supplied by this fusible link?
to answer your questions, yes, i do have a power tilt steering column. in fact, now that you mention it, a few weeks ago I did notice that my left side shift paddle stopped working. I wonder if the two things are related now.
and no, the car has never been in a collision. I did notice a connector that leads to nowhere that's dangling inside the bumper down by the drivers fog light. i assume this is for some equipment that is optional and isn't installed on my car - i wonder if it is causing an issue. though i kind of doubt that's it as the wires are small gauge and it didn't look like it was damaged at all.
one thing that i'm not understanding about the diagram you posted is why only some of the components show wires leading away from them, and others do not. for example the steering wheel lock fuse line ends at junction box 2, whereas the front control-b line continues on, I assume to the fuses for the horn and the headlamp based on other diagrams i looked at?
looking at this diagram:
https://charm.li/Lexus/2007/IS%20250...on%20Diagrams/
I feel like it is possible that the wire with the issue is the W-L colored wire leading from the E/G-B fusible link to RB/JB #2, but I don't know where this wire is routed. I guess the only way to know for sure is to literally pull the fuse box out and trace the wire from there, but I guess I was hoping I could find out the route it takes so that I could try to inspect it first.
is my thinking correct when i am thinking if I pull the TEL, ALT-S, ETCS, A/F, STR LOCK, and FR CTRL-B fuses, then I will have fully isolated the wire leading from E/G-B fusible link, and thus if I still have low resistance to ground from the downstream side of the fusible link, I will have isolated my problem to that W-L colored wire?
thanks very much for the help.
to answer your questions, yes, i do have a power tilt steering column. in fact, now that you mention it, a few weeks ago I did notice that my left side shift paddle stopped working. I wonder if the two things are related now.
and no, the car has never been in a collision. I did notice a connector that leads to nowhere that's dangling inside the bumper down by the drivers fog light. i assume this is for some equipment that is optional and isn't installed on my car - i wonder if it is causing an issue. though i kind of doubt that's it as the wires are small gauge and it didn't look like it was damaged at all.
one thing that i'm not understanding about the diagram you posted is why only some of the components show wires leading away from them, and others do not. for example the steering wheel lock fuse line ends at junction box 2, whereas the front control-b line continues on, I assume to the fuses for the horn and the headlamp based on other diagrams i looked at?
looking at this diagram:
https://charm.li/Lexus/2007/IS%20250...on%20Diagrams/
I feel like it is possible that the wire with the issue is the W-L colored wire leading from the E/G-B fusible link to RB/JB #2, but I don't know where this wire is routed. I guess the only way to know for sure is to literally pull the fuse box out and trace the wire from there, but I guess I was hoping I could find out the route it takes so that I could try to inspect it first.
is my thinking correct when i am thinking if I pull the TEL, ALT-S, ETCS, A/F, STR LOCK, and FR CTRL-B fuses, then I will have fully isolated the wire leading from E/G-B fusible link, and thus if I still have low resistance to ground from the downstream side of the fusible link, I will have isolated my problem to that W-L colored wire?
thanks very much for the help.
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