My radio displays the word "Safe" when the car starts and will not work. I am guessing that the electric system failed at some point and I now have to put a code in the radio to get it to work. My question is: exactly what buttons do I push to do this?
View 1 RepliesI have a 99 Super Cab 4x4, 4.0, XLT. The radio has terrible static and the back lighting of the climate control goes off and comes on at different intervals. Are the two issues related?
View 1 RepliesLast week i took my '04 V10 in for tires/brakes/rotors with a local service shop. The next day they called saying one of the service attendants must have left the keys in the car overnight, because the battery isn't working right.Here is what happens (all within about 15 seconds)
1. Put key in ignition, engine starts normally
2. Multiple error lights immediately start flashing (engine, glow plug,tire pressure, etc, etc...
3. The MFI screen goes black (like the Tony Soprano finale)
4. the center console flashes "safe ..........." for a split second then goes blank as well.
5. the a/c does not run at all during this
6. the engine RPMs will not increase despite pressing on the accelerator.
7. the engine suddenly stops.
8. everything is then dead on the car.
This all takes place over about 10-15 seconds. This entire process can be reproduced by taking the key out and starting over. They are shipping the car out to a dealer for further evaluation, their computer gave them some sort of "battery learning error", but they were unable to reset it. I haven't heard of a dead battery behaving like this. The Touareg never ceases to amaze
Yesterday I ran my batteries down and had to have my 2003 F350 jump started. The truck started find, and the battery is retaining its charge, but after the jump i lost my power windows, instrument panel (speedometer, gauges, odometer), dome lights, radio, and power mirrors. I have checked all the blade fuses and they are all fine. I have noticed in the past that occasionally it takes a few seconds for these things to come on line after I start up, but this was very rare and the functions always came on line shortly. What the problem could be?
View 3 RepliesI have a 2009 F 250 5.4L, couple days ago it acted as if the alternator had gone out and killed the battery. I swapped batteries with a coworker to get the truck home and when I hooked the battery back up, the battery and the alternator both tested fine. I've put the voltmeter on periodically and everything seems to be fine and all electronics are working except for the radio. I did a light test on the fuse and it showed a bad fuse so I tested the fuse and it tested fine and I put a new fuse in and tried the light test again and it failed. What the problem could be?
View 1 RepliesAfter several checks and resets , my Touareg clocks are fast by about 2 min/week. No other electrical problems. Not a known problem with my dealer. Clocks aren't hi-tech ... MFI may have clock module- seems overkill to change it.
View 24 RepliesI have a 2008 Honda Odyssey. I purchased the van used back in February with 34,000 miles on it. About a week after I bought it, the van started having odd electrical problems. My radio controls on the wheel would stop working, my rear wiper would start running even though it is in the off position. My power sliding doors would catch and close at the half way point on both sides at the same time. It is little odd ball stuff, but I am worried that the "brain" is not working properly. I have taken it to the dealer multiple times and of course they can't find the problem. They say to bring it back if it keeps happening, which I do, but every time they say it is fine and send me on my merry little way.
View 2 RepliesMy beloved 1995 Dodge Ram Van has intermittent dash panel electrical issues. The gas gauge an speedometer are intermittent, coupled with lights and radio on off too. It It all started when I had the transition services years ago. It has less than 100k mileage.
View 1 RepliesFirst, the Touareg navigation radio has two AUX inputs, plus a telephone audio input. One AUX input is an AUDIO/VIDEO input. The other is an AUDIO only input. Below is a photo of two Dietz cables connected to the two different AUX inputs:
How to actually connect these cables and what parts are required would be too lengthy a post for this thread. So if you want to know these details, click on the link shown in my signature below.
My car has the original battery and it hasn't given me issue. Even a few weeks back when most of the country was really frozen and the car was parked outside, it started fine.
Last week after a work day in the parking lot, she was dead-dead. No dome light, no cluster, no lock LED. After 5 minutes tethered to a friend's battery via jumpers, it quickly showed interior electricity but the starter strained. 5 minutes more and the car started like nothing happened. Last weekend after a movie, the car was dead-dead again. I opened the door to see if I could hear the starter to determine how dead it was and the dome/cluster lights came back and it started fast.
The car sat for 36 hours or so and started fine, even after pretty substantial temp drops. Got around town for the past 2 days, no issue.
Today the car was dead again. Jumped it off my Mk2 and went on my way. It started fine and got me to Advanced Auto where their battery tester read 400 CCA and their info showed spec was 430 CCA. They didn't want to sell me a battery yet and suggested an overnight trickle charge and to monitor the issue.
If it was just a dead battery requiring a jump, I'd replace it. But the other oddities + the seemingly good test #'s makes me wonder what else I'm seeing.
I was driving my '02 Passat 1.8T home yesterday, and I noticed the steering wheel controls for the sound system weren't working. I thought nothing of it, believing that it was a fuse. I also noticed the my radar detector wasn't on, but was plugged in. So the cig lighter wasn't working either. Hmm. I got home, and pulled into my driveway, and then noticed that the HomeLink garage door opener wasn't functioning either. It was late so I just left the car outside for the night, planning to work on it the next day. Today, I went to go get my friend (I didn't have time to check on the problem), and when I honked for him to come outside, the HORN wouldn't work. At that point, I went home, popped open the fuse box, and checked all the corresponding fuses. And whaddaya know, all the fuses are fine. Yet, still, nothing work.
View 7 Repliesi have a problem with my passat.everything was perfect with my alarm and my doors.
one time i went to my car, start my engine, and then this BEEP BEEP BEEP was the whole time, and first i didn't know what that is. and then i turned on my headlight on and the notice god more and it did BEEEEEEEEEEP. the light inside my car did not turn off. after few minutes looking around, i recognized that my car things that i didn't closed my door, but i did. and my alarm doesn't work too, because it things my door is not closed, and it doesn't want to lock it!! what should i do? My car things that my car is open the whole time.
I'm really puzzled by the electrical issue I'm having with my wife's 2002 Mitsubishi Lancer. It's got a 120,000 miles and we've owned it since new. It has had almost zero problems up until this point.
The other day, my wife calls and says that her A/C isn't working, it's just blowing hot air. When she got home, she turned the car off, removed her key, and noticed that the climate control blower was running. She turned it off and went inside. She had the radio on.
When I came home, I verified that with no key in the ignition, turning on the blower motor switch did turn on the blower motor. I started the car and immediately noticed both the condenser cooling fan and the engine cooling fan both immediately started running. I turned on the A/C, got nothing but hot air, and verified that the compressor was not turning.
I turned the car off and decided to check for fuses. When I pulled the A/C fuse under the hood, I heard a loud CLICK from the A/C compressor area. When I reinserted the fuse, I received another click. I then pulled out the A/C compressor clutch relay, and heard the same click. Since I wasn't sure if it really was the A/C clutch, I asked my sister-in-law to plug in and unplug the relay while I put my hand on the compressor. She did it several times and before I could verify it was the A/C clutch...it stopped. At this point, unplugging the A/C compressor relay would not cause the click. Also, unplugging the A/C fuse would not cause the click.
I then turned on the blower motor (key still off!) and it didn't start running. I started the car, and the A/C worked fine! So I drove 50 miles back and forth to work the next day and figured it was some sort of fluke.
This morning I get a call that her battery is dead. I get home, put the charger on it, and as soon as the voltage came up a little, there was the click from the A/C clutch. Unplugging the A/C clutch relay caused another click. Relay in - click. Relay out - click. Same with the A/C fuse. Then, like before, plugging the relay or fuse back in no longer caused the click.
I do have the service manual and looking at the wiring diagram...the blower relay coil can only get power with the key in ACC or RUN. The A/C clutch is more complicated...it gets power from the SAME source - the ACC or RUN position on the ignition switch. But, ground is through the engine management computer (car is a 5-speed).
The only thing that seems to be common and could explain everything would be a bad ignition switch - the blower and A/C compressor power, plus the engine management computer all seem to be on the same contact on the ignition switch. The service manual ignition switch schematic is very confusing.
I don't want to throw parts at it...but that seems to be the only thing that makes sense?
Have a 91 Honda Accord (automatic) with seems to be an electrical problem.After driving a while the Tac, Speedometer stop working and the radio cuts in and out. The car still runs, just a little rougher; when I turn it off it won't start, acts like the battery is dead. After it sits overnight it starts and then runs fine for a while or until it happens all over again.
View 2 RepliesMy AC clutch will not engage until the engine gets hot enough to call for the radiator cooling fan to switch on, which in moderate weather at highway speeds can be forever. (Single electric cooling fan.) Of course, the AC should override the engine coolant sensors and turn on the fan and engage the clutch. Once the engine is hot, the AC works normally. No one seems to know where to start looking. It's an '03 Grand Marquis with an interceptor engine package.
View 5 RepliesMy wife loves this car except when it won't start, and unfortunately that's happened from time to time recently. The first time was when we were out of town, when we got home, it wouldn't start. No big deal. But since then, it's developed the habit of draining the battery over very short times. We put in an after-market stereo a couple years ago, I thought that must be the problem. Pulled the fuse so it wouldn't play. Overnight the battery ran down. The battery is almost new. I took it back to the seller of the battery and had it checked. It's fine. My nephew told me that when he had a 1998 ES300, it had a similar problem. Obviously some type of battery drain, but I'm at a loss. The Lexus dealer cannot diagnose the problem.
View 9 RepliesI have a 2007 Toyota Sienna LE. Sometimes after starting the car the ABS and tire pressure lights come on and I am not able to shift the car out of park. The dealer ordered a brake switch and in the meantime I would just push the override button on the gear shift to move it out of park. BUT, when I do that I loose most of the power (radio, clock, blinkers, power locks/windows/doors, wipers...but not power steering). The brake switch came in. They replaced that, told me the battery (which was installed in July 2010) was very dead and replaced that too. I drove home happy. Next day, ABS and tire pressure lights are on, car won't shift out of park. I manually override it, loose power in said areas and go straight back to the dealer. They said the power was so silly (my word, not theirs) in the car they couldn't plug it into their computer to do the systems check, so they traced wires by hand, took all the wires out of the "block" and reconnected them. Once everything was back together, car works fine. They said no wires were loose and they don't know what was wrong or why it's suddenly fixed.
View 4 RepliesI have a 2003 Odyssey EX - everything was working fine up up to last year. When summer was almost at an end, the A/C suddenly failed. I pressed the 'Auto' button, I heard the compressor kick in and felt the slight kick/drop in rpm like normal, but after about 3-5 seconds the compressor disengaged and the engine went back to unhindered idle speed. The A/C console was still set at Auto, so i turned it off then back on, but this time there was no compressor kick in at all. At first I thought a fuse blew, but I checked them and they were all fine. I continued on my way and decided I would just turn on the fan/blower, but it didn't work either. It didn't matter if I set the console for auto or manual, heat or cold, when I turned the fan knob to any speed it would not turn on - with the following exception: If I turned it all the way to max and waited about 10 seconds or more, then it wold blow at full speed. Same would happen if I put it on auto and turned the temperature knob to lowest or highest temperature - after 10 seconds it would turn on the fan at max speed (since I figure consoles are programmed to go to max fan at temperature extremes to get to either one faster...)Also of note: When I turned off the vehicle, and turned it back on at a later time, the compressor again wold kick in for 5 seconds then turn off......and by the way the rear fan control works just fine throughout all this.
Since the summer was over, I didn't need the A/C and figure I would fix before the next summer. Every once in the while I would test again, and a couple of months later the A/C decided to work just fine for a whole day, but then it went back to the odd behavior
So now I'm thinking the environment console is busted and I need to replace it, except other things start to behave erratically:First was the break release for the transmission lever. I wold press down on the break but could not hear the 'click' that releases the transmission lever to shift out of park. That first time I just couldn't get it to work, so I used the emergency release on the top of the steering column, but after that I could simply pump the break or release and pump repeatedly until the click happened, usually took 3 tries. The funny thing is that this becomes consistent for about a week, and then months will pass with no problems shifting out of park, only to happen again for a week...
On some rare occasions, the interior lights don't work they way they are supposed to: They'll stay on when with all doors closed even when set to turn on only with open doors, or won't turn on at all with the same setting even with a door open (rarer still, will turn on with one door, but not another). I can always just set them to remain off all the time...
Same kind of issues with the rear windows and cruise control, most times they'll work fine, others they don't.
The only thing I really need to work in this Texas heat is the A/C, but before I go get an expensive A/C console replacement, or have technicians accumulate hours and hours of diagnosis to figure out the problem, I wanted to know if perhaps these are all related as an electrical issue with a buss-bar or a junction box - or a short from stripped wires in the harness, loose terminals, etc.
I replaced both front hubs on my 1999 Jimmy back in April because of a bad bearing. About 5 months later the ABS light came on. I had the code pulled and it was left front speed sensor. I could get the light to go off by messing with the wires that come out of the hub but the light would come back on again after a short drive. Took the hub back and got a new one but the ABS light was still on. Had it scanned again and it said right speed sensor curcuit open. I can get the light to go out if I turn the steering wheel all the way to the left but it comes back on when I go back to the right. The truck needs a front alignment bad. Could the alignment problem be causing the ABS light or is my right hub also bad? Or do I have an electrical problem.
View 1 RepliesMy daughter has a 2005 VW GTI which has had a series of bizarre electrical problems. The latest was with the windshield wipers. Sometimes they work properly. Often, when the weather gets damp, they go on by themselves. (This is not a feature - they don't automatically go on when it rains, it might just be humid.) Sometimes, turning the front wipers off will turn the back wipers on. Turning the back wipers on will turn the front wipers off. The other day, she needed to drive 40 miles to work. It was not raining at the time, but it was threatening.
The only way to turn the front wipers off, was to turn the back wiper on. The only way we could get both wipers off at the same time, was to remove the fuse for the back wiper and turn the back wiper on. In the event of rain, she could then turn the back wiper off to make the front wipers go on. We have brought the car to the dealer several times. They replaced the relay twice. They swear they have checked the entire system and can find nothing wrong. The last time it happened, we showed them that it was impossible to turn the wipers off. They have seen the problem, but they still can't fix it.
After replacing a tail light, my rear hatch quit opening, power windows quit rolling down, interior lights quit working, and also my key will not lock or unlock the doors. My first thought is a blown fuse. How did you solve it?
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