Minor S13 Project (Interior, Wiring, Few Other Small Things)

Hey guys, I'm Alex. I posted my intro a while ago, but I've been really busy and haven't been on here for a while. I live in Milwaukee and drive a maroon '93 Fastback that I've just been doing a few things to. I have big plans for it, but that's gonna have to wait a few years. So yeah, I'll show you some of the things that I'm gonna be working on. I'm on a pretty tight budget at the moment and will be for a while. Any advice and help would be greatly appreciated.

So to start off with my first problem, when I turn on my high beams, all of my lights go out (headlights, taillights, and dash lights). My guess is that I have a short somewhere or someone messed with the wiring and screwed something up. I looked under the dash by the driver side fuse panel and this is what I found...





I downloaded the S13 Factory Service Manual and I'm gonna try to tackle it and see what's all going on there. I have some experience with wiring, but mostly with simple things. I think I'm gonna need some help with this...

Oh yeah, and check out my sweet lift kit, BRO!

yikes...looks like "fun." another cherry red pearl car that makes me miss my old one.

I also constantly had water leaking into my trunk/spare tire area, so I looked around online and saw that someone went to Nissan about it and they said the seal around the rear taillights goes out after about 8 years, and to replace it with some Butyl Film. I ordered some from NAPA yesterday and it should be in tomorrow. So to give you guys an idea of what it looks like


And that's only very minor surface rust by the way










chuck_chizzle: Thanks. And yeah, I know I'm gonna enjoy working on my car, just not sure the wiring will be so "fun" haha.

Looks good. Wiring is easy, you just need to take your time, and have the fsm in front of you.

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/240sx/91-94


There is your FSM bud. You'll want to look under EL, and then HEADLAMP. I would assume someone tried to do some kind of funny sleepy eye mod or something. Could also be some lame aftermarket security system install....I have way too much experience with the S13 body harness and will help however I can.

Sup Alex/Aco shouldn't be too hard of an electrical issue once you start reading stuff more and learning it starts slowly coming to you....sometimes. LMK if ya need a hand.

I would start by checking the ground circuit. That mess may be from an aftermarket alarm that was installed there at one point.

I bet there was a Flux Capacitor in the car, might still be don't go over 88 MPH you might end up back in time.

Wiring is fun, take your time with it and it will get resolved.

600SX wrote:

Looks good. Wiring is easy, you just need to take your time, and have the fsm in front of you.

Thanks for the advice.

Qfabbed wrote:

http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/240sx/91-94

There is your FSM bud. You'll want to look under EL, and then HEADLAMP. I would assume someone tried to do some kind of funny sleepy eye mod or something. Could also be some lame aftermarket security system install....I have way too much experience with the S13 body harness and will help however I can.

Thanks. My school was switching printer systems this week, so I had unlimited prints. Printed Full FSM = WIN!

Flicktitty wrote:

Sup Alex/Aco shouldn't be too hard of an electrical issue once you start reading stuff more and learning it starts slowly coming to you....sometimes. LMK if ya need a hand.

Thanks Nick, I hope it will start coming to me. And thanks, I will let you know if I need a hand.

240sxguy wrote:

I would start by checking the ground circuit. That mess may be from an aftermarket alarm that was installed there at one point.

Thanks for the advice.

s13.240sx wrote:

I bet there was a Flux Capacitor in the car, might still be don't go over 88 MPH you might end up back in time.

Wiring is fun, take your time with it and it will get resolved.

Damn, I must've already traveled back in time about 100 times without even realizing...

I've been up to a few other tasks this week (cleaning and painting stuff) so I'll hopefully get pictures of all that up tonight. Ordered new hatch trunk shocks the other day, the broomstick just won't do anymore. And I think I found a pair of S14 seats

I've also stripped my whole interior and am starting to clean my carpet and get it ready to dye black, as well as my floor mats, rear seat, door and trim panels, and hopefully my S14 seats. Does anybody have an opinion on Duplicolor's Vinyl & Fabric Paint? I was planning on stripping the sound deadening off and painting the whole inside with POR-15, but I decided not to because I plan to stitch-weld the whole car in a year or two, and POR-15 would be a b*tch to get off

And thanks again for all the advice everyone, I'm gonna pull her in the garage tonight and tackle that wiring slowly.

I have a non-hacked up body harness you can have for 30. It will save you a ton of time in the end. Its out of a 92.

And this is the next project that should be started next year.... it's been sitting a while


'76 Mercedes-Benz 450SE, shipped in from Yugoslavia when my dad came to America in the 80's

So on to some progress, slow but steady...


The carpet after I started scrubbing one section


And this is it finished, after all the yellow, brown, black, and gooey crap was out. I think it will be good enough for the dye to bond well. Now I just gotta wait a few days and let it dry outside in the sun. I also washed my trunk carpet, floor mats, and both parts of the rear seat.





And yeah, I know, the shop is a MESS

That carpet turned out really well! What did you use on it and what was your procedure if you dont mind me asking?

Its amazing the difference that a clean carpet makes on the overall feel of the car.

Thanks ujsp! It sure does make a difference, and it won't smell like an old wet dog anymore.

I mixed one bottle of concentrated de-greaser and hot water, and then another bottle of concentrated heavy-duty interior cleaner and hot water. The hot water will make a world of difference when it comes to cleaning your carpet. I then got a small bucket and mixed in some warm water and regular car wash soap.

1) Spray down carpet with de-greaser mix

2) Spray down with HD interior cleaner mix

3) Take a wash mit and soak it in the bucket. Then rub the carpet with the mit, getting a lot of soap and water on the carpet.

4) Grab a pretty stiff carpet brush and start working your way through with longer strokes. It should foam up really good and you'll start to see the dirt lift right out.

5) Once you've gone through the carpet with the brush, doing your strokes in multiple directions, grab a hose and start to spray all of the soap out of the carpet starting at one end and working your way to the other. This will take a few minutes usually. It also works better if you have higher water pressure.

6) Vacuum all of the water out and let the carpet sit out in the sun if possible. It'll take a good day or more for it to really dry.

If the carpet is still in the car and you don't want to soak your interior with a hose, then just skip the hose down and go straight to vacuuming the soap and dirt right out.

Okay guys, I finally found some more time to get some work done on the car. It was all going good until tonight. I'm pretty much all finished with re-freshing the interior pieces, and I also removed the big bundle of wires that was by the driver side foot well. So I go to see if my car will start now, and all I hear is a little tick from the driver side, it will not crank at all. I believe it is a relay that is ticking but I am not sure. My headlights will also not turn on at all now.

Man do I hate it when people hack things up...

I've also ruled out a few things:
- the battery checked out ok
- my battery connection is good

Please, please, please help. I feel really frustrated right now and should just sleep on it, but will keep looking around for a solution all night anyway.

And as "nick z" mentioned earlier about a body harness, would it benefit to replace that and the chassis harness?

Thanks.

Have you checked out all of the fuses in the fuse box near the battery?

I noticed your car is a 5MT, is your clutch interlock stuff wired up right? Is your SMJ connection nice and tight? Should be a 10MM bolt.

Just noticed you are in milwaukee. If you were closer to GB I'd offer to come and help you myself.

It appears that it was an alarm installed previously that you removed. Did you reconnect the starter wire that is often interrupted for "starter kill" with most aftermarket alarms? It will often run to a spdt relay connected to terminals 87a and 30. I believe the wire color is black/white. Just follow it from the ignition switch.

Okay so I've done a few more things the past couple days. I went and bought myself a multimeter and am slowly learning how to use it.

Here are a few pics that I hope can help out...


I don't know what this should plug into. I believe it was always unplugged. But what bothers me is that out of that big bundle of wires I took out, the orange one was plugged into something.


I believe the one with the clear plastic around is for an option my car doesn't have. And the other one I just can't remember what it is for.


Everything seems alright with my SMJ and I even tightened it a bit for good measure.


I'm a little puzzled by this. The little metal clip that the fuse is supposed to go into is missing. Is anybody else's like this?


This is the driver side engine compartment fuse box. When I turn the key, all I hear is a single tick from the relay labeled ACC. Is this supposed to happen? And I'm assuming that the two relays that aren't there is how it's supposed to be.





Fuses are good. And again, is something missing here?



Here is the ignition switch relay by the battery. I tried jumping the relay by connecting two wires from post 3 to 5.

And I tried to test for continuity in the relay. Posts 1 & 2 had continuity, but 3 & 5 did not. But then again, maybe I did it wrong.

I was able to push-start the car today so I know that it's not the starter, and my battery is still holding a good charge.

Thanks everyone for your input so far! I hope this will give you some more clues so I can have this puppy on the road again.

Push starting doesn't use the starter, otherwise you seem to be on track.

THat black/white is the starter wire. It appears to have been interrupted for an alarm. Find the other end and and solder the wire back together. Most likely if you follow the green wire crimped to it you will see that it goes to a relay for a starter kill. Pretty simple to fix. You're going way too far into this. It started before you messed with it correct? And now it doesn't.... it's generally a good idea to look over the area you messed with when things like this happen.

600SX wrote:

Push starting doesn't use the starter, otherwise you seem to be on track.

Thanks, you learn something new every day. haha

zerepdivad wrote:

THat black/white is the starter wire. It appears to have been interrupted for an alarm. Find the other end and and solder the wire back together. Most likely if you follow the green wire crimped to it you will see that it goes to a relay for a starter kill. Pretty simple to fix. You're going way too far into this. It started before you messed with it correct? And now it doesn't.... it's generally a good idea to look over the area you messed with when things like this happen.

Correct, it started fine before I took the bundle out. And now there is just one tick when I turn the key.
And I think you're definitely right, because in the first picture of my last post, the Black/White wire is joined to a green wire like you said, and green wire goes to a black square (I believe it's that relay you're talking about). Could you give me a general idea of where the other end of the Black/White wire could possibly be? I looked around but couldn't find the other end. I'll have to look more when I get home from work tonight.



Thanks again everybody! You're all being very helpful.

That's some work you're putting in! Definately dedicated. I would of just bought some carpet, but you washed it instead. Good job.

The other end will be at that relay as well. If its labeled the two you are looking for are 87a and 30. You will remove those from the relay and hook them together. Id recommend solder.

VNG704 wrote:

That's some work you're putting in! Definately dedicated. I would of just bought some carpet, but you washed it instead. Good job.

Thanks! It turned out pretty good with the black dye, I'll have pictures of it up soon.

zerepdivad wrote:

The other end will be at that relay as well. If its labeled the two you are looking for are 87a and 30. You will remove those from the relay and hook them together. Id recommend solder.

Thank you thank you thank you! It worked!! I can't stop smiling now that my car is running again! I hope I can return the favor to you one day. I just cut off that relay and joined the black and green wires and violla, she turned right over!

Hmmm... now my turn signals don't seem to work. Neither the exterior lamp signals nor my instrument panel signals.... I hope it's something simple like the last issue was