Electrical issues -- HELP -- I hate electrical crap

1993 240SX hatch non-HUD -- 2 issues to be precise.

1) My battery has been relocated to my hatch. Wires are plenty big. However, if I leave my leads hooked up with the car sitting for more than a day the battery goes flat. I've checked the battery -- it takes and holds a charge just fine. I have no accessories or lights on anywhere and I (of course) take the key out of the ingition. Short of getting a voltmeter and tracing wires everywhere, is there something obvious I might be overlooking that could cause the bleed? If the negative cable's connection to the frame is poor (due to paint or whatever), would that cause this?

2) I have no cluster lights or popups. Before you tell me to search, I have already checked the race in the TCU. The stereo harness is still factory. The fuses are good. The bulbs in the cluster look fine. Wiring to pop-up button is healthy and plug is securely attached at back of bezel. Dimmer switch cosmetically looks fine front and back. Lights on climate control unit WORK FINE, and I have turn signals, headlights, tails and brake lights and backlit clock that dims down when you turn the lights on at the stalk. Is there anything else that might cause this issue?

GRR! Car is so close but these are really annoying issues!

Many thanks in advance for your help.

-Chad

Check the alternator fuse, the big 75A gray one under the hood. When I did my motor swap for some reason the starter was grounding out or something like that and caused the fuse to pop. Half the stuff on the car didn't work and the rest did.

Thanks, man. I'll check that out. Keep the suggestions coming! I'd piss on the sparkplug if I thought it'd help.

So any update on this? you check the fuse?

Hey, thanks for the follow-up. I checked the fuse, and it wasn't burned out. And the reason it wasn't burned out is because it wasn't THERE.

Where the fuse should be, there is a nut jammed in between the terminals.

WTF. Some straight-UP hooptie engineering. Anyway, I'll be getting a fuse, but now I'm wondering if the fuse kept popping and that's why Mr. Brilliant used the nut in the first place.... Which might go back to a pinched wire shorting to ground somewhere, etc etc.

The plot thickens.

thats what was wrong with mine. .
trucky tried putting a bolt in there. . but it wasnt big enough

the reason the guy put the nut is cuz those specific fuses are damn near nonexistent. .

you gotta go to a junkyard .. or dealer or some shit. .

i got lucky and dabs happen to have one ..

You guys are awesome. And thanks for the link, red. Now to wait for it to get here...

You bought it on ebay? Shit man I had one in my house....

I'll hit you up if I need a second one!

ChicagoS14T wrote:

You bought it on ebay? Shit man I had one in my house....

hm, reminds me that i should grab all the fuses from my old fuse boxes that i stuck in a box.

Whenever I go to a junkyard to pick up stuff I usually load up on fuses... I mean shit they junk the cars anyways and those fuses are damn near impossible to find in stores. So I just grab bunches of those big fuses.

ChicagoS14T wrote:

Whenever I go to a junkyard to pick up stuff I usually load up on fuses... I mean shit they junk the cars anyways and those fuses are damn near impossible to find in stores. So I just grab bunches of those big fuses.

+1 havent found any 240sx lately so i dont have any laying around.

You might have a shorted ground/blown fuse but that wouldn't cause your battery to slowly die on you like you described. The biggest reason for the alternator fuse to blow out is because idiots run aftermarket audio/video with a much higher amperage rating then what the factory alternator can handle.

If it's over a period of time it's a parasitic drain. See if you can borrow a DMM and connect the leads to to your negative battery cable and post. If it reads more then .5A (50 miliamps) you have a drain and you'll have to start pulling fuses to figure out which circuit it's coming from. When the meter reading drops you've found your problem. I've seen people use a test light instead of a meter and it worked but it's not a wise way to do it.


In my old hatch the cluster lights didn't work either and I replaced the bulbs and the dimmer rheostat only to find out it was bad connection at the original rheostat. Start with the basics it could be a simple fix that you'd end up paying $100/hr for a 5 minute diagnostic. A wiring diagram is your friend

2 months old