Dodgy fuse board? please help!

[robtalbott 0]

After changing an indicator relay today (due t dodgy indicators) my car wouldn't start. We jiggled a few of the relays around and still nothing, so we took the fuse board out of its clips to have a little look around all seemed fine.

 

We then started it again, started fine. Then we put the fuseboard back in its clips, this time it wouldn't start and the horn comes on constantly when you turn the key. Took it out of its clips again and gave the fuseboard a bit of a shake and put it back in, now it starts again fine.

 

Anyone have this happen? I take it it's dodgy connections or something? Car's been stood for 6 months before we started work on it.

[Bruno 4]

After changing an indicator relay today (due t dodgy indicators) my car wouldn't start. We jiggled a few of the relays around and still nothing, so we took the fuse board out of its clips to have a little look around all seemed fine.

 

We then started it again, started fine. Then we put the fuseboard back in its clips, this time it wouldn't start and the horn comes on constantly when you turn the key. Took it out of its clips again and gave the fuseboard a bit of a shake and put it back in, now it starts again fine.

 

Anyone have this happen? I take it it's dodgy connections or something? Car's been stood for 6 months before we started work on it.

1. Get some dielectric silicone grease - available from ebay quite cheap.

2. Grab a large piece of cloth and cover the pedals all the way to the top.

3. Drop the fusebox, take it off its mountings, GENTLY.

4. Pull the release lever on the side to unlock the plugs

5. Unplug one plug at a time, smear some dielectric grease on it, plug it back in, ensuring that all the pins are pushed home (double check). Do the next one until you have finished the lot. DO NOT UNPLUG THE LOT AND THEN PUT THEM BACK ASSUMING YOU WILL REMEMBER.

6. Push the locking lever back and with the box hanging down use a multimeter to check that the ignition switch is doing its job. This is often the culprit. If in doubt check with the Corrado Canada site and look up Dennis' wiring details and tips on debugging the starting.

7. It may be that your immobiliser has been spliced in somewhere near all of this and that as you jiggled the box, the solder/pressure joints in the immobiliser spicing worked loose and now makes intermittent contact. Its not unusual, I had to spend 3 months replacing butchered wiring caused by sloppy immobiliser installers.

8. If this doesnt sort it out, download from Corrado Canada's forum the wiring diagrams for your year.

- Specially check that the mini (typically one pin) plugs are actually sitting in the right point on the rails. Often these fall out and people put them back onto the wrong rail. Logically check that the power to each service is working as you go along.

- This way you end up debugging it. If you focus, you can do this in about 18 hours (much less if you know the car well).

9. When its all logically working, the wiring should be ok. Dont forget to check the relays and make sure that you remove the fuel pump, ECU, relays, check their contacts, etc and that they are actually delivering power when they should.

A pain perhaps. Somewhere along this debugging, you will end up making up for the sloppiness of a fitter who worked on your car in the past.

 

This is a really good map of what to find and where on the fusebox cluster http://www.a2resource.com/electrical/CE2.html. It does vary from model to model, hence it is necessary to check with the wiring diagrams I mentioned earlier.