Electrical Issues

[Joshw34]

Hi all,

new to the group.I have an R51 pathfinder (2008 yd25 diesel) and I have been recently having electrical issues.

I have read the threads extensively andnoticed this comes up a bit.

Basically in summary the following occurs:

- I start the car and drive off and then I will notice dash illumination and realise my headlights are on. No matter what I do they won’t then off. I have to physically turn the car off and on again to get them to turn off.

- when that happens, I lose cruise control function, my indicators on the instrument cluster don’t work, but the blinkers externally still work.

- when this happens also, my high beams won’t function at all.

Now, funny thing is, I put an OBD2 on, zero codes.

on the drivers side I have two cig plug sockets. (I’ve only had the car about 3 months) As I went to plug the obd tool in with the car running, I bumped a cable hanging down and it arc on a piece of metal.
I shut the car down and upon inspection realised it was the connection that was meant to be in the back of the cig plug.
It blew the fuse and I have a dash cam hard wired into that fuse line. Naturally I replaced it.

I left the car for a few hours, came back and went to start the car…. NOTHING. No tic, no turn over, nothing. Dead as a door nail. All the instrument cluster would light up, but zero attempt to turn it over.

I jumped under the dash, unplugged the cig plug connections again, BANG, it started, zero issues.

mom the way to get dinner, I lost indicators, couldn’t turn low beams off when they came on etc. only option is to shut down.

It’s driving me crazy and I don’t know what to do or where to start…

please help!

 

[Wayno]

Hi all,

new to the group.I have an R51 pathfinder (2008 yd25 diesel) and I have been recently having electrical issues.

I have read the threads extensively andnoticed this comes up a bit.

Basically in summary the following occurs:

- I start the car and drive off and then I will notice dash illumination and realise my headlights are on. No matter what I do they won’t then off. I have to physically turn the car off and on again to get them to turn off.

- when that happens, I lose cruise control function, my indicators on the instrument cluster don’t work, but the blinkers externally still work.

- when this happens also, my high beams won’t function at all.

Now, funny thing is, I put an OBD2 on, zero codes.

on the drivers side I have two cig plug sockets. (I’ve only had the car about 3 months) As I went to plug the obd tool in with the car running, I bumped a cable hanging down and it arc on a piece of metal.
I shut the car down and upon inspection realised it was the connection that was meant to be in the back of the cig plug.
It blew the fuse and I have a dash cam hard wired into that fuse line. Naturally I replaced it.

I left the car for a few hours, came back and went to start the car…. NOTHING. No tic, no turn over, nothing. Dead as a door nail. All the instrument cluster would light up, but zero attempt to turn it over.

I jumped under the dash, unplugged the cig plug connections again, BANG, it started, zero issues.

mom the way to get dinner, I lost indicators, couldn’t turn low beams off when they came on etc. only option is to shut down.

It’s driving me crazy and I don’t know what to do or where to start…

please help!

Not on my Navara but had crazy shit happing on my VE, turned out had the alternator changed and the earth wire was not connected tightly, tightened it all my electrical issues went away. Suggest checking earth connections maybe

 

[Joshw34]

Not on my Navara but had crazy shit happing on my VE, turned out had the alternator changed and the earth wire was not connected tightly, tightened it all my electrical issues went away. Suggest checking earth connections maybe

I recently had the alternator pulley and belts done!
I’ll check this out.
cheers

 

[Old.Tony]

The other thing to check is the earth point for the stereo, which is shared by the instrument cluster. Test operation by simply adding a black wire from one of the dash mounting bolts and connecting it to the stereo's chassis.

 

[Joshw34]

The other thing to check is the earth point for the stereo, which is shared by the instrument cluster. Test operation by simply adding a black wire from one of the dash mounting bolts and connecting it to the stereo's chassis.

I checked this morning when the fault happened again. Basically I lose my front wipers, but not the rear window wiper. The water spray still works.
It’s so weird.

I have had a fair few things done over the past 2 months. A new head unit being one of them. Android touch screen setup. Bloke installing it was dodgy as shit. I almost pulled out.

so I’ve looked behind the unit and there a black wire coming out of the harness labelled GND. I’m assuming that’s an acronym for ground.

I am going to have a look today and see if I can ground the wire and see if that helps.

 

[Joshw34]

I’m still going. The problem has got worse the more I try to fix it.
I now of the 4wd, airbag, vdc, traction control, ABS light all coming on. My Speedo no longer works and it’s not tracking kms or showing speed.
My fuel gauge, rpm gauge and temp gauge work ok.
I’ve tried about every single god damn thing I can.

I am reading in other places that Power Control Module where the fuses sit for the headlight beams can be faulty. I’ve replaced that, no change.

I have tried unplugging and plugging in BCM. No joy. Disconnecting battery, resetting etc.

I’ve tried pulling off the front ABS sensor connections, cleaning them and reconnecting. No change.

I have pulled out all leds, I’ve removed the stereo system completely, disconnected any and all accessories, putting it back to factory.

the problem has just got worse as stated above.

I am at my wits end with this. I’ve only had the car 3 months.

I will have to bite the bullet and just drop massive cash on an Auto Electrician to diagnose and repair the issue.

my next step was to replace the instrument cluster, indicator and light stalk and the BCM, requiring the car to be reprogrammed so I can still use the same keys.

Unlike many other contributors on the threads I’ve read, I’ll be sure to let everyone know what the issue was and how it was fixed.

cheers.

 

[Phunk]

OBD scan doesn't come up with anything? (if you don't have one, I strongly recommend everyone has a $10 OBD scanner and the Torque app for $10, will make life so much simpler for you all)

I know this sounds trivial, but it could be a bad earth. Check the main earth to the chassis for any corrosion and give it a bit of a clean-up.

Otherwise my next bet would be the BCM..

 

[Joshw34]

I’ve had an Auto Eletrician look at it. So far it’s been 9hrs of labour over 2 days, all the earths have been checked. The battery earth to chassis line replaced, the alternator replaced and the issue is still occurring.

he doesn’t believe it’s the BCM as he can control everything through his computer to the BCM.
All the signals are good. All computers communicate.

He believes the issue is the CAN network. Somehow it’s being interrupted when the vehicle is put under load.

we have ruled out the alternator, an earthing issue and so on. The BCM has been ruled out (for now).

the focus is now on the ABS system.

He will be coming back on Monday to continue the diagnostic. I’m already down $1100 trying to locate the issue.

Hopefully it doesn’t take to much longer to workout.

he seems super switched on and is very methodical. I can tell he is starting to get frustrated with the issue as well!

Basically we have got it back to not showing any codes at all. But the lights still come on (low beam) and I lose all cluster functions, window wipers, indicators, and interruptions to my speed and rpm taco meters.

Fingers crossed that he can work it out.

keep you all posted.
Might have to set up a go fund me page

 

[[email protected]]

if you have a wire that when connected to cig lighter causes a problem try tracing it back to where its conected,if its not factory fit and been spliced in, try removing it and check that connection is not short circuiting, also try removing dash cam connection or any other add ons
caution note on my manual do not ground accessories directly to the batter terminal, doing so will bypass the variable control system and interfere with charging

 

[Joshw34]

Great news! He found the fault and its been repaired.

The story:
So when we have attempted to locate the issue, due to the unknown problem, shorting out, flickering, cluster playing up, codes being thrown and so on... It was hard to trace the problem.

I don't doubt the GROUND was a problem regardless, the previous owner may have never had an issue.

During the investigation, i have had the Alternator replaced, the IPDM replaced, all my ground wires checked in a new ground terminal and ground wires run from the main battery.

It was evident to the Auto Electrician at this point the CAN line was the issue. In your wiring loom its basically the pink and bluey/green wires twisted together. Runs all around the vehicle connecting and communicating to all the computers.

At this point, the car wasn't throwing faults anymore, but I would turn the key and NOTHING. The car would not even attempt to start. The lights would trigger to come on (headlights) and the radiator fan would start. I'm told this is a failsafe mode. It's the vehicle telling you it cant communicate to the computers correctly and something is wrong. The fault code it was throwing was a U1000 CAN communication error. One of the CAN line cables was Earthing out on something. We could not find it!!!! Its a hell of a job!!!

Basically, the diagnostic process was testing the can line and trying to isolate what direction the fault was, and trying to follow it and narrow it down. We traced it to the driver's side loom inside the vehicle. Initially, we thought it was somewhere between the loom running to the rear of the vehicle and the instrument cluster. We were wrong. Followed it back out the firewall towards the battery.

We were able to trace the CAN line fault to be earthing out somewhere between the fuse box behind the battery heading towards the engine and down under the vehicle towards the transmission. (PICTURE FOR REFERENCE - RED LINE is harness coming out and going under the engine and around the block area)

The auto elecy inspected the entire harness to under the vehicle. He snipped all the wiring loom Zip ties loosened up the harness and WALLAH - It stopped earthing out.

I could not believe it. FOUND THE ISSUE. The relief was enormous.

Basically, the harness was filled with Sand and mud and whoever had been previously servicing the engine would cut the zip tie where the harness was to get it out of the way. When they finished, they would Zip tie it again, SO TIGHT, it was damaging the wiring. In this instance, the CAN line.

We have run an entirely new can line with better gauge wiring from the fuse box down to the trans. Everything is being cleaned and tidied up and fault proofed for later down the track.


The auto electrician, although it took him about 2 and a bit days of labour, was a LEGEND! He never quit trying to locate the issue for me. He found out through his network that apparently the engine bay harness is HOT property down in VIC and NSW and there are waits for them as this is allegedly a common issue, Instead of doing the work, they just replace the harness. Obvious potential for the issue to reoccur. The wires are not robust enough to be abused.

Ive got a heap of mechanic friends, even my brother in law who is a Mechanic by trade and manages a tyre shop wanted nothing to do with this issue. It's not your standard problem. It was complex and in the end, turned out to be a little tiny wire potentially earthing out in multiple locations along the wiring line.

CRAZY TIMES GUYS. All up it has cost me about $1800 to solve the issue. Would i have needed a new alternator, maybe not right now, but the old one was replaced by the previous owner with a cheap repco one, now ive got a 150amp beauty in there. The ground wires were all checked reworked and rewired where needed.

Ive test driven the vehicle and it is back to 110% as good as new. ZERO faults. Issue solved.

Very very happy (minus my $1800).

Hope this helps someone else with a similar fault and issue.

 

[Phunk]

Thanks for the update mate, great stuff. I'm glad she's back running again and it's something for all of us to now keep an eye on too!