Electrickery gone awol

[chrisc]

In stubborn jealousy of my new motorbike the VX has lost its electricity. all of it. Following the cables from the battery only led me as far as the alternator before I couldnt see where it went anymore. We have power up to that point.

Theres no power going across anything in the fusebox and nothing to the ignition switch. Where should I look next?

Clues :
lots of rain recently, although leaving everything open on the car on a sunny day to try and ensure dryness hasnt cured it.

It might have done it once before overnight, I noticed the clock wasnt set.. but it worked fine that day.

It died all of a sudden - I was backing it out of the driveway (to go to my motorbike test - are we seeing a theme here?) and it lost all the electrics before itd moved 5 metres.

[Charley]

First carefully check the battery conections and especially your ground cables/straps,to body, engine,etc.Most electrical gremlins are caused by bad grounds.

[HFStuart]

Chris,

'lot's of rain recently' NO SH!T ?? I think we Britons had better grow webbed feet and quickly too. (of course in Suffolk some already have but that's a different story...)

There should be a bit fat wire that goes from the alternator to the back on the fusebox. It should go to one of the not ignition controlled circuits like the cigar lighter , hazzard lights etc. There are a number of other connections there that take power to the ignition and other areas.

If you've got juice at the alternator but not at the fuse or ignition I's start with finding that wire. As already commented it's worth checking you've got an earth on the engine and chassis too.

I can't remember if there's a VX wiring diagram on here - I know the older ones are.

Stuart

[Frezer]

Chris,

'lot's of rain recently' NO SH!T ?? I think we Britons had better grow webbed feet and quickly too. (of course in Suffolk some already have but that's a different story...)

There should be a bit fat wire that goes from the alternator to the back on the fusebox. It should go to one of the not ignition controlled circuits like the cigar lighter , hazzard lights etc. There are a number of other connections there that take power to the ignition and other areas.

If you've got juice at the alternator but not at the fuse or ignition I's start with finding that wire. As already commented it's worth checking you've got an earth on the engine and chassis too.

I can't remember if there's a VX wiring diagram on here - I know the older ones are.

Stuart

I believe there are two of such wires, located on the left and right side of the fusebox bottom. At least one should always have power, and the other only with ignition on I believe.

If you can't find a VX wiring diagram, an i.e. will do ok.

[chrisc]

Looked at this again....

Checked the wire from alt - fusebox. Its ok, and power is getting there via both the large single wires at each end of the fusebox. Still not crossing the fuses though. So as has been said, earth problems seem likely - but I cant see any on the firewall or in the vicinity of the fusebox.

Im sure ive asked this before, but where are the earths I need to check. Whats the best way to check them? measure resistance along the wire to it? whats a bad enough value to be worried about?

apologies for the noobie questions again, this area seems to have erased itself from my memory since i did it all on my last vx

[davidb]

This is a long shot but it happened to me once: no electric. After
checking EVERYTHING [grounds, battery, etc.], all seemed well.
By "accident" I pulled on the green ground lead on the battery,
one w/the copper flattened end, hole in it,then the crimp fit
around the wire bundle. IT PULLED RIGHT OUT! Was heavily
corroded [copper sulfate?]: green. The corrosion had insulated
the ground wire. I cleaned everything up, fluxed both items, hit
them w/a torch & fed in elec. string solder. Never an issue again.
Like I said a one-in-a-million fault but what a lucky discovery!

[Jim Keller]

There are two ground terminal spades with wires plugged in below each headlight assembly, then in the trunk, behind and or below the rear carpet section, there are several on the right side and a couple on the left that either bolt/ground to the tail light studs or the trunk/boot floor

There is a ground terminal block located on the steering column assembly at the top right side towards the fire wall, you can access that by removing the gauge pod, right hand drive cars may have slight differences in locations of the boot and steering column grounds, but nothing major that you won't see easily

There is also, as mentioned, the green wire battery grounds, they should run from batt to the bottom of the batt tray then to the transmission, grounding both the chassie and engine assembly

There is a black with white stripe ground wire attached to the engine block near the oil filter block that grounds the alternator

You will also find a few various other grounds for things like the ignition system and such on or around the front strut towers near the ignition componants and cam tower end cover nuts on the engine

Keep us up to date on what you find, we'll get it!......eventually! LOL

But no power at all to anything says to me, like previous mentioned, it's a major ground probably off the battery to chassie

You may have some problem internal in the fuse box, like power leads melted down, but that is very very unlikely

[davidb]

Kuddos to Jim [as always]. Glad he went thru the retinue rather
than me. I'm too lazy ;-)

[chrisc]

Well, we have electrickery again.

I cleaned the headlight earths, and the connections at the starter and alternator. Connected the battery not really expecting it to work before I went after the awkward to reach ones, but it did.

I suppose I should be glad it worked simply, but I cant help thinking this is just staving off the problem and the last few days sunshine is whats dont most of the work.

[1,6 HF]

I cleaned the headlight earths, and the connections at the starter and alternator. Connected the battery not really expecting it to work before I went after the awkward to reach ones, but it did.

I suppose I should be glad it worked simply, but I cant help thinking this is just staving off the problem and the last few days sunshine is whats dont most of the work.

That result doesn't surprise me. As Charley correctly observed a few posts ago, most electrical gremlins are due to bad grounds.

[Jim Keller]

Yup, bad grounds! and I would keep going till I had them all cleaned! don't stop now! ha ha ha

[chrisc]

Typically I didnt clean the rest of the grounds.... and the problem recurred :)

Good voltage going across battery with engine off, 8v with engine on. Rechecked all the engine bay earths and for resistance across the earth straps, no joy.

Finally bit the bullet and set about taking the dash out today to solve this and a few other problems (mystery water ingress that drips onto the n/s right footwell, loose underdash trim on o/s and easier access to refit the clutch spring).

So im now nearly done with removing everything but the earth behind the instrument cluster doesnt look bad to be honest and checking resistances from a few earth wires to it seems ok, right up till you switch on the ignition.

Still, its nice to get stuck into the car again, as you can tell ive not been using it much lately but I had a minor spill on my motorbike to remind me that winters here and I ought to sort out the car.

[chrisc]

Ok, struggling with removing the dashboard and wondering what ive missed.

I've removed the four big uns - the 2 large crosshead bolts, and the nuts behind the instrument cluster and glovebox (took me a while to rediscover the hatch in the glovebox roof mind!). All wiring etc is disconnected

When I try and lift out the dash it comes away a couple of inches but then theres resistance from the centre, seems to be from the fans / heater matrix area. I think its where the vents at the base of the windscreen attach to the rest of the vents in the area but I cant remember how to disconnect it. Cant even remember it being a problem on my old HPE.

So far I've not revealed too many surprises, one bit of 'anti-rattle' newspaper from 1996 - lets hope that wasnt structural, and whilst the windscreen seal looks fine, it appears to be leaking in a fair few places, particularly the lower corners where the soundproofing material in the firewall is sodden :(

[Jim Keller]

One bolt/large phillips screw, (what ever you want to call them), on each end of the dash behind the square plastic covers, two behind the gauge pod, one nut and washer behind the radio, two smaller normal size phillips screws just below the center heater vents, one bolt behnd cover plate inside glove box and one bolt at bottom at or beside the ECU on passenger side back by the fire wall, then wiggle and pull in an upward and back direction to lift it from the heater box and pull off mounting studs to break the sticky build up of it sitting there years in the sun and cold melting into the windshiled sealant followed by smoking gue, road grim and what ever PO's spilled all over it! LOL

It makes it easier if you have the 4 nuts off the steering column and the steering wheel and column laying down on the seat and out of the way some

Hope that helps!

[chrisc]

Cool... lets make that a list :)

One bolt/large phillips screw, (what ever you want to call them), on each end of the dash behind the square plastic covers - check - egads why they didnt just make these normal bolts?? impact driver saved the day

two behind the gauge pod - check - the ones by the steering column

one nut and washer behind the radio - check

two smaller normal size phillips screws just below the center heater vents -check

one bolt behnd cover plate inside glove box and one bolt at bottom at or beside the ECU on passenger side back by the fire wall - check

also undid another one on the firewall directly behind the instrument cluster

, then wiggle and pull in an upward and back direction to lift it from the heater box and pull off mounting studs to break the sticky build up of it sitting there years in the sun and cold melting into the windshiled sealant followed by smoking gue, road grim and what ever PO's spilled all over it! LOL - obviously not done this with enough aggression yet!