My FJ45 Lives!! then dies.. (1 Viewer)

[Kon]

Im amazed, i actually got it running!!
So stoked!


Iv spent ages clearing out crazy wiring and then trying to re-wire the whole starting system. FINALLY got that sorted out,
had power to the dash, turned the key, GRRINNNDD. The starter wouldnt engage.
So after a hot wire start, it ran for about 30 secs!! While i was jumping for joy, it sputtered and died. Dash and all electrics were dead.


So i cleaned up all the "quick" wiring i'd done, cleaned all the connections, grounds and everything else i could think of. Still nothing.
Took off -ve lead and left it alone for a 2hours.


Came back, hooked up -ve lead, turned the key and she started perfectly!! It could rev thru the range, no stalling, sputtering or anything!
Turned it off - (i know, how stupid!!) Now theres no power again!! No dash no spark nothing.
Went back thru all the wiring etc and tried again and again, nothing.


What is going on? Im lost, confused and slightly thirsty. Any help would be awesome!!


Sorry for the huge post, i just figured the more i tell you guys the better the help i get!



Cheers

 

[tucker74]

Loose wire somewhere, most likely a ground. I had this problem once in an FJ55, turned out the engine wasn't grounded to the frame. It was actually using the metal choke cable housing for a ground, I didn't know what was going on until I accidentally grabbed it playing with the carb and burned my hand. It showed the same intermittent starting you describe ...

Tucker

 

[chajazz]

could it be the voltage regulator.

 

[tlcruiser66]

Probably a ground issue, might be a body ground. I've had a lot of problems in the past with this.

Kevin

 

[IDave]

Bad ignition switch

 

[Kon]

hey all thanks heaps for the help!!

Probably a ground issue, might be a body ground. I've had a lot of problems in the past with this.

iv gone thru and checked all the grounds i could find, cleaned up the contacts etc.. added 2 new grounds, -ve to body and -ve to engine block, plus new cable on the -ve to frame.


nothing, nada, zip. no change.

could it be the voltage regulator.

Bad ignition switch

how would i check these two?


thanks heaps and keep the ideas comin!!

Kon

\m/

 

[IDave]

Ignition Switch

Haven't you watched the mcGyver type shows where the guy reaches under the dash, rips out a bunch of wires and touches two of them together, and the car starts?

Well, that's what you do, sorta.

Assuming your truck isn't wired upside down, because of where you live on the bottom side of the world, you should be able to approximate this: There is a hot wire, probably black, coming from a fusable link off of your battery. This goes to the ignition switch. There's another wire going back over to the starter from the ignition switch. It is usually Black with a White stripe. You could disconnect these two wires from the ignition switch and touch them together and that should make the starter motor turn over (have the transmission in neutral, right?). You could also just pull the BW wire off from the starter and connect a heavy gauge wire with alligator clips to the BW terminal on the starter and touch the other end to the positive post of the battery, and it also should turn the engine over.

Both of these methods bypass the ignition switch, and if successful, would point to that as an issue.

The other thing to be aware of is that if the problem is your ignition switch your headlights should still function, since they are not switched through the ignition. If they also do not work, then either your battery is dead, the battery posts and cable terminals need cleaning, your body/engine ground is screwy, or the fusable links are blown.

 

[IDave]

Voltage regulator

You're gonna have trouble checking this if the truck isn't running, because it regulates the power coming off the alternator, which isn't anything unless the engine's rotating the alternator.

You could place a voltmeter across the battery terminals. If the battery is charged you'll see it sitting about 13.8 volts on a 12 volt system. It shouldn't go over 14.8 volts with the engine running if the voltage regulator is working.

 

[Kon]

hmm thanks IDave!!

well i've checked the battery, fully charged.
checked the output when it was turning over, ~13.7V ish.

i havent tried the "mcgyver" start since iv had the wiring finished, i'm going to try that when i get home.


the problem is after the last time it ran (and was started by the key), iv lost ALL power to the dash/iginition. Turning the key does absolutely nothing.

all comments ideas and abuse welcome!!

 

[IDave]

the problem is after the last time it ran (and was started by the key), iv lost ALL power to the dash/iginition. Turning the key does absolutely nothing.

Once again, first thing to do is to bypass the ignition switch, I think!