Seagondollar

I've had this 2002 RL for about a year. The check engine light came on and a scan said one of the O2 sensor heaters had died. $100 for the sensor & 3 hours later I get it in and head for inspection. (note!) I heard the lady honk the horn on the way in and she comes back and says everything's good, but no brake lights.

I took it to a friend mechanic and he spent 2 hours finding a bad connection under the left kick panel. Problem is now nothing electrical works on the steering wheel now. No horn, turn signals, cruise, headlights, audio controls and whatever else. The four way flashers work and the panic button on the key fob work, so the flashers work to an extent, as does the horn.

I'm an electrical engineer with some wiring skills, but my problem is I can't find any wiring diagrams, schematics, etc.

Any help for the newb? I've worked on quite a few cars over the years, but this is my first Japanese OBDII one. HAAALLLPPP!

3.5RLv-tec?

iTrader: (2)

Wait so your horn, headlights, brake lights, audio control, and turn signals arent working? Is your HU and dome light still working? You might want to check the fuse box in the engine compartment.

Ken1997TL

Sounds like a few blown fuses, maybe even a relay thats gone bad. Ouch.

Seagondollar

Let's see... I'm an electrical engineer, and I had my mechanic work on the brake lights for a couple of hours.

Did we check the fuses? YES.

We know the horn works (panic button) and flashers, and brake lights. At this point, I'm suspecting a bad ground since everything related to the steering column is out.

So, again - is there a wiring diagram available?

At this point, I'm planning on chasing down the horn and finding the disconnect on it and hope that's the problem with everything on the steering column.

Oh, and yes, the dome (over the mirror) light works.

3.5RLv-tec?

iTrader: (2)

There is the PDF manual for the RL, it has all the wiring you need lol.
I think it is on PDFtown. I forgot the link.

jerm1386

If you have a bittorrent client, click this link to get the manuals. I just uploaded a zip of the service, bodywork, and electrical troubleshooting manuals. the electrical manual helped me greatly when troubleshooting a problem in my ABS system.

BUT

I also have a paper copy of the manuals. I got them on ebay (about $100 for the set and have saved me at least $1500) and they're much easier to browse than the PDFs (and useful for situations where you don't want to be bringing your laptop). I understand there are more people who want the manuals than there are paper copies of them, but if you plan on having your RL for a while, buy a real paper copy. you will not regret it.

Seagondollar

jerm - I don't see a link. Would very much like to see that.

As for the problem, I had to have a car, so took it back to Dan. I had removed the kick panel below the dash (on the driver's side) and taken the screws out of the steering column surround. But I was tried getting the surround off, but was nervous about the possibility of breaking plastic. There were some clips missing from the panel below and somebody had put a sheet metal screw into the left side into the plastic.

Dan agreed with me that finding the horn problem was probably the easiest and most practical. He's got two professional references on his computer and went back and forth with those. At one point he said he spotted a (about) 20 socket with nothing in it and figured that was some sort of diagnostic plug. But when took the surround off, he sees this 20 pin plug that looks about right and plugs it in. Voila! Horn! Everything else now works too.

I would have found that with some manuals, but he only charged me $40. Maybe because he had to replace his printer and I helped him change the drivers and get it installed. Plug and Play, Microsoft? ... Yeah, sure.

I'm still curious why the brake light connection failed. The lack of brake lights was spotted in inspection, then when we fix that, the plug falls out. Carma?

Anyhow, I will check PDFtown (saw it in my searching) for the manuals. Meanwhile, jerm if you can provide that link, please.

Seagondollar

On PDFTown, I get a: "File not found." So, jerm, you're on.

jerm1386

the link is the "click this link" text. but here it is in a more recognizable form: http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/8199242

or if TPB is down (as it seems to be as I post this), try this one to open the torrent directly in your client: linky link link!

Seagondollar

"click this link" is not a hyperlink for me. I am using Chrome as a browser and tried the URL you sent. I'm a bit frustrated by pages that have 4 different "DOWNLOAD HERE" buttons. I now have a VPN installed that I don't need, and the settings for my home page on Chrome are wierd and I may have to spend a couple of days sorting that out. That's not your fault.

Now, back to sorting things out, and hopefully getting the manual.

Seagondollar

linky link link! is a hyperlink. ???

More as I learn.

jerm1386

you can select text, hit the "insert link" button, and tell it where the link will go.

Also, install the adblock extension in chrome. I know chrome has it because I use it.

as a fellow EE, I invite you to PM me if you have any trouble comprehending the manual

Seagondollar

Apparently I haven't been here long enough to be allowed PMs. So...

My computer had slowed way down, and I think it took the better part of the night to do the bittorrent thing. But this morning, It was at 100.00%, but the torrent viewer was hosed up a bit (not all there). So, after searching, I found the zip file in my download folder and unpacked it to the appropriate place. Looks like what my mechanic has been using, so I should be self-sufficient, if not good, from here on out. And jerm, when I finally get PM capability, I find a way to chat with you about being an EE.

Thanx.