ok driving down South Rd in Brighton Vic tonight and i tapped brakes and all of a sudden my electrics just shot themselves. The ABS light came on, stereo kept switching on and off, headlights blew, brake lights didn't work etc etc. Managed to limp it to a car park where it idled ok for a few minutes then revs became very very rough fluctuating between 500-1500 even when i blipped throttle to stop from stalling. is this the PTU? ive done a few searches and found similar types of incidents but just wanted to check... i have 89 NA 2+2 JSpec thats done about 120 000kms so it fits the criteria for a failed one. if it is PTU where is best place to get a replacement from? keeping in mind i need car on road asap... best place for good price? ive found UAS supplies them for 500 or so, how long to ship to melb you guys reckon? thanks heaps. BTW, why is it bad shit like this happens when ever you are with your g/f. worst possible timing because she hates my car as it is because of all the money ive spent on it, didn't need this lol. me and my car have a love hate relationship where it keeps breaking shit to see if i actually care n fix it grrr. rant/
could be the ptu.... but a dud ptu should not affect your headlights or brake lights or any of the incabin electrics.... maybe you've got a short somewhere which has blown a fuse?? Cheers
bit of a elect short Sounds like you have a bit of an electrical short. Have you checked you fuses? Possibly worth checking the ones in the engine bay and the drivers side kick pannel.
could be fuse? dunno you are right it could be a fuse. i will test that tmo when i go down n see if shes ok. if starts = PTU, if not then i spose it would have to be fuse because fuses dont cool down lol. i notice that my fog lights didn't blow, and i think my brake lights were working, whether that be because im pressng brake pedal or because lights were on i didn't check. one thing i just realised is that i was using an abnormal amount of headlight globes. my car used to chew its way through heaps, ive only had car for about year and a half and i swear ive gone through about 3 pairs of globes, could this be part of the prob? ALSO, the lights for the speedo were significantly dimmer than usual i just remembered. and when i tried to increase brightness, nothing happened
Check the Engine Continuity Fuse located in the fuse box behind the passenger side headlight. There are a few other fuses there that control headlights, etc as well.
Put a multimeter on the battery... ...when running. Should show around 13volts. Sounds like an alternator problem. Not PTU, could be a fuse ot bad wiring too. Good luck, Egg
i hear ya mate. i've got the same car, '89 2+2 Jap import NA and gf hates it when I spend money on it. she has no idea how much i'd put into it if i could. lucky she's in Canberra though so she doesn't get sick of the exhaust and me talking about it. I'm almost at 140k's but haven't come across your problem yet. Fingers crossed...
2ndd on alternator... Check your voltage. Unusual electrical activity can be caused by excessive voltage caused by faulty voltage regulator often caused by power steering fluid leaking from above alt...
my alternator = hitler replica *UPDATE*. ok went down and checked on car this afternoon. thank god it hadn't been vandalised/torched. although i did get a parking ticket, those kents! (if anyone knows greenpoint lookout you'll know its totally stupid to fine me for leaving it there overnight). didn't get a wink of sleep with thoughts like that going through my head! started the engine and things seemed fine. had multimeter handy, checked voltage and it was reading 11.8 or so! WTF?! then after about a minute or two the voltage started to dive dramatically down into 10's 9's and stalled somewhere in 8 territory. wouldn't turn over again after that. went off and borrow battery from a mate and managed to drive it about 15 mins without any dramas. This battery was reading 12.10 (steady, not chargine) at idle and about 12.40 with engine off. so definitely sounds like the alternator is playing silly buggers with me... so gonna have to get down and dirty with her tmo night after uni. how long does alternator rebuild usually take? and what voltage should it be reading? around 13.8 i thought? thanks for help everyone... cheers, owen
alternator out for those of you who actually read my posts (haha), which do you want first? the good news or the bad news? good news is that i got my alternator out without any probs whatsover. the bad news is that i seem to be pissing oil out. well its not too bad, im guessing its fairly gradual but i just haven't noticed it as from looking at engine bay above it seems minimal but from below its quite bad. the alternator was totally covered in grease and oil so im guessing therein lies my prob! so thats getting rebuilt for me tmo. now the next and more important Q. how do i repair the cam seals? because it appears they are the culprits. well only really one, if looking towards car, standing in front of it, the left seal is the main offender... i remember reading somewhere that they used some kind of liquid sealant instead of a gasket? whats best and easiest way to fix? cheers
Are you sure that the oil all over the alternator isn't coming from the power steering pump above it?
yup not power steering yeh positive. i replaced that high pressure hose when she came off the boat as it was pissing oil back then as well. definitely the cam seals as i can see a tiny leak at the top of the cover.
Do you mean cam covers or the actual cam seals? I'm guessing you mean the covers, in which case it is a plenum off job, and the inlet cam cover has a rubber gasket, while the exhaust cam cover uses hi-temp silicon gasket.
