My Lights Are Effed Up..

propagandhi420 · Post by **propagandhi420** » September 23rd, 2005, 3:52 pm

alright this is a little problem that has been bothering me for years... when my lights arnt turned on... its like out of nowhere they have a mind of thier own.. they will flicker on and off at random times..somtimes it doesnt do it for a week..somtimes a month... but they just go crazy on thier own..only way to stop it is to turn my lights on all the way.. i think maybe i invested to much money into a POS!!

Grants · Post by **Grants** » September 23rd, 2005, 4:32 pm

What lights are you talking about? We can probably narrow it down if we know exactly which ones turn on. Headlights, dash, tail, etc.

propagandhi420 · Post by **propagandhi420** » September 24th, 2005, 1:37 pm

sorry... its the headlights... just the headlights..and u can hear that little click on and off.. it goes crazy... like its got a mind of its own..

jschrauwen · Post by **jschrauwen** » September 24th, 2005, 1:59 pm

propagandhi420 wrote:when my lights arnt turned on... its like out of nowhere they have a mind of thier own.. they will flicker on and off at random times..somtimes it doesnt do it for a week..somtimes a month... but they just go crazy on thier own..only way to stop it is to turn my lights on all the way

These are the DRL (Daytime Running Lights) that are on (or supposed to be on) but now are flickering when the light switch itself is not turned on. These can be turned off by pulling up on the hand brake which has a small (push/release) switch located under the hand brake lever itself. When your hand brake is all the way down it compresses the switch ensuring that the DRL's are on. By lifting the hand brake lever the switch is "opened" and it turns off the DRL. I'm thinkin' that this little switch has become loose over time and just needs to be tightend down and maybe perhaps the height position adjusted so that the open and close function is occuring exactly when it's supposed to. Normally the switch should be activated when the hand brake is lifted a very small bit from the all the way down position. Once you remove the armrest/hand brake consol it will be become self evident and the adjustment/tightening should be a breeeze. This is just a guess because you should (I think) see the brake warning light come on, on the dash at the same time this flickering occurs since they are related, but you haven't mentioned that part so that's why it's a guess. Grants can back me up on this, I hope. Good luck.
*John*

Grants · Post by **Grants** » September 24th, 2005, 7:10 pm

If its something to do with the DRLs I'm lost. I haven't got a diagram for them so I don't know how they are meant to operate unfortunately.

If its just the headlights and nothing to do with the DRLs, theres a diagram here:

http://www.mx3er.com/Info/1993%20Wiring%20Diagrams.pdf

Figure 9 grid position D33 which shows the headlight circuit.

You can see from that diagram that the ONLY thing that can supply a ground to the headlight relay to make it operate is the headlight switch itself.

So I'd be thinking:
- faulty headlight switch (unlikely as its too intermittant and you'd expect it to get worse over time. But you could try and spray the switch mechanism with WD40 - it won't hurt to try)
- faulty relay (unlikely if you can hear it clicking but you could swap it out with another one pretty easily to prove - you can just use another one from the car to do this. Is the TNS relay identical to the headlight relay (its under the dash too)? It would be a good one to transfer the fault to)
- intermittant short to ground in the BLUE / YELLOW wire between the relay and switch. By moving and shaking all the wires in the column may prove this one.

jschrauwen · Post by **jschrauwen** » September 25th, 2005, 2:32 am

Sorry about that Grant, didn't know AU Spec didn't have DRL's. Then again, I should have known that the J-Spec and AU-Spec are basically the same. "420", never mentuioned where he lives so it was just an assumption on my part that he was NA. The handbrake switch is very similar to the push release type switch used on the doors for the interior lights. This hand brake switch does trigger the TNS relay as well as illuminate the "brake" light indicator on the dash when selected. As per normal ..... ie, AU Spec should give the same dash light indication when the hand brake is selected ...right?

Grants · Post by **Grants** » September 25th, 2005, 2:59 am

Yes the hand brake operates the "brake" light indicator (which is also the same indicator as the brake fluid level) on ours.

Those DRLs seem overly and unnecessarily complicated from what I have seen....

jschrauwen · Post by **jschrauwen** » September 25th, 2005, 3:12 am

Grants wrote:Those DRLs seem overly and unnecessarily complicated from what I have seen....

You can say that again ... a real PITA. It's going to take a bit of work to circumvent them when it's projector time and now I'll have see how everything plays out when I go to install my J-Spec front bumper. I may have to source your wiring schematics for the connections for the J-Spec foggies/turns since on initial inspection it looks like the connectors for the foggies are tied into the connector for the park/turn signals and I don't think the NA spec connections will be the same. Might have to get creative.

reaper of souls · September 25th, 2005, 7:07 pm

unplug your dtr lights for a while and see if the problem happens again the day time running lights control box is right above your battery close to the fender it's a little rusted box (well mine was rusted) you should be able to see a plug going into it just unhook it and they'll be disengaued that should solve the problem. only question for you is do they do this when there on as well if so it's time to rewire your headlight there a short

Grants · Post by **Grants** » September 25th, 2005, 10:51 pm

Ok, I found the diagram for the DRLs. If propagandhi420 can hear the relay clicking, it can't have anything to do with the DRLs. The ONLY thing that controls the headlight relay is the switched ground in the headlight switch (the DRLs use a control unit in the RHS kick panel that doesn't utilise the headlight relay but supplies power in parallel and independently).

The diagram is here, page 14:
http://www.mx3er.com/Info/1995%20Wiring%20Diagrams.pdf

So I'd be going back to my previous post and checking everything in the headlight control circuit (switch, relay or short in what now looks like a RED / BLUE wire (not BLUE / YELLOW as previously suggested from the other diagram)).

propagandhi420 · Post by **propagandhi420** » September 26th, 2005, 1:57 pm

thanks alot everyone.. been real busy lately but when i get a chance to take a look at it i'll let you know how it went... thanks again.. appreciate it!

jschrauwen · Post by **jschrauwen** » September 26th, 2005, 10:09 pm

propagandhi420
Junior Member

Joined: 29 Jun 2004
Posts: 7
Location: cobourg ontario

Your about 30 minutes from me and I might be able to swing by in a few days and have a look.

propagandhi420 · September 27th, 2005, 12:36 pm

if you could do that i'd really appreciate it.. my tranny is fucked so my car is parked in my driveway right now... maybe til next summer..

jschrauwen · Post by **jschrauwen** » September 27th, 2005, 10:09 pm

pm me your address and ph# and I'll try and touch base with you tomorrow.
*John*

jschrauwen · Post by **jschrauwen** » September 28th, 2005, 10:48 am

Just confirmed for my own sake that the hand brake triggers the relay in the right passenger kick panel.

MX-3.com

My Lights Are Effed Up..

My Lights Are Effed Up..

Re: My Lights Are Effed Up..