2003 100 Series Electrical Mystery - Wires in the fuses

[lc1001000100000]

Hello mates!

I am having a very strange issue that I wanted to see if anyone had any experience with.

2003 Cruiser 270,000 miles, have had for about 2 years - has been remarkably solid. Despite some wobbles at the start (after-market alarm had to be pulled out, some non-start issues, etc.), it's been a picture of health. Baselined heater T's, have redone the timing belt, all the classics.

Much to my surprise, I have been having these phantom electrical issues for the last month. Note: battery is new and in good health.

- It "seems" like if I lock the car with the remote, it drains the battery slightly, needing a jump. But if I use the door button or the key to lock it - its totaly fine - weird. In an attempt to diagnose this, I pulled a bunch of fuses to check with a Multimeter.

NOW THE MYSTERY—When I was pulling the fuses, some blue wire was jammed into what seemed like 4-8 fuses on both the passenger and driver sides, which were then terminated together on each side. I have removed that as it seemed like it was possibly linked to the aftermarket security system that was removed 2 years ago.

Everything seems fine but now some fuses seem to stop working intermittantly i.e. Dash was suddenly not working, removed and repaced fuse (with the same fuse mind you) and it is back, but now wipers are out.

Is it possible that, at some point over its life, some of the fuses were wired together to circumvent some issue? Why would you do this, and how come it still works (mostly)?

IH8MUD BRAINS WHAT AM I MISSING?

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Any signs of water intrusion or corrosion on the fuse boxes or behind them?

 

[lc1001000100000]

Any signs of water intrusion or corrosion on the fuse boxes or behind them?

None, desert climate and clear the sunroof drains often.

 

[Thermosmcjug]

Those blue wires sound incriminating. Especially if one or more of them are providing power to a circuit that might otherwise turn off with the ignition.

If you haven't already pulled said blue wires that were stuffed into the fuse ports, I'd trace them to see where they go, and perhaps remove them.

 

[squidmotion]

You had me at ‘aftermarket alarm had to be pulled out’, and ‘locking the car with the remote makes the battery drain down’… I would look at anything suspect or sketchy, especially the blue wires mentioned.

Those aftermarket alarms were commonly installed by hacks, who had no idea what they were doing, just trying to get a sale out of the stereo shop, and install an alarm in something that never needed one, in my opinion.

I would bet there is a wire, or two, between the remote operation built into the vehicle, and whatever someone did once to make that extra alarm sysem work with the OEM remote.

Battery being drained means something, somewhere is finding a ground.

Look at and test/check any relays in the mix. Try to put eyes on all of the wires you can, and look for any heat shrink, scotch locks, butt connectors with extra wires crammed into them, bare ass wires, etc. Anything that doesn’t look OEM makes the list.

Electrical gremlins are the absolute bane of any wrencher. Made worse by folks jacking around with OEM wiring harnesses.

Good luck with your rig, post up some photos if you can, and be sure to follow up with what you find wrong/broken/missing.

 

[Cruiserlab]

Random one, but maybe check to make sure the fuses contact correctly and the blue wire didn't stretch the connectors.

 

[Unrulykid]

Hello mates!

I am having a very strange issue that I wanted to see if anyone had any experience with.

2003 Cruiser 270,000 miles, have had for about 2 years - has been remarkably solid. Despite some wobbles at the start (after-market alarm had to be pulled out, some non-start issues, etc.), it's been a picture of health. Baselined heater T's, have redone the timing belt, all the classics.

Much to my surprise, I have been having these phantom electrical issues for the last month. Note: battery is new and in good health.

- It "seems" like if I lock the car with the remote, it drains the battery slightly, needing a jump. But if I use the door button or the key to lock it - its totaly fine - weird. In an attempt to diagnose this, I pulled a bunch of fuses to check with a Multimeter.

NOW THE MYSTERY—When I was pulling the fuses, some blue wire was jammed into what seemed like 4-8 fuses on both the passenger and driver sides, which were then terminated together on each side. I have removed that as it seemed like it was possibly linked to the aftermarket security system that was removed 2 years ago.

Everything seems fine but now some fuses seem to stop working intermittantly i.e. Dash was suddenly not working, removed and repaced fuse (with the same fuse mind you) and it is back, but now wipers are out.

Is it possible that, at some point over its life, some of the fuses were wired together to circumvent some issue? Why would you do this, and how come it still works (mostly)?

IH8MUD BRAINS WHAT AM I MISSING?

When did the problem begin? Can you identify any causal factor for this issue? Rain?

Did the problem begin after you removed the blue wires aftermarket system harness? Or before?
Photo of the blue wires installed?
It sounds as though you’re describing blue wires that were installed to parallel several different fuse blocks…??? Were are the blue wires installed so that they created electrical connectivity to the battery side of the fuse block? Or were they installed to bypass the fuse?
I’m trying to figure out why anyone would do what you described.

When you replaced fuses, was there any sign of corrosion on the fuses or in the blades of the fuse block?

As an aside, If you leave the headlight switch in the auto position, the light sensor at the base of the windshield continues to draw power… and it can drain your battery over the course of a week. There’s actually a blurb about it in the owners manual. But it doesn’t sound like this is your current issue.