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October 10, 2011 at 11:00 am #444339
Car:
1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse GSX
Problem:
Amp, Radio and CD Changer all pulling power when car is off. AC won’t turn on. They all converge off the same fusible link under the hood. I will tell you the route they all go.
Radio from fusible link 2 to fuse 11 under the hood
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October 11, 2011 at 11:00 am #444342
Sounds like a grounding issue from the amp. Make sure it’s good metal to metal contact where ever the amp is grounded.
October 11, 2011 at 11:00 am #444343Thanks for the link. Im on page 248 and 249 right now and its making my eyes sleepy. Im wishing the HVAC controls with wiring schems were all on one page along with the stereo system. If i have chance, ill look on Alldata for this vehicle as for me the electrical diagrams are alot easier to follow.
Im looking at the AC switch right now. There should be 12v on the W-B wire going to the AC switch from the Blower Switch according to the wiring diagram. The ground for the switch is L-B wire.
Do you have power going from the blower switch to the AC switch?
For the AMP, im using page 280. There should be 12v on pin 2 and 10. Pin 1 and 9 being the grounds.
Im wondering if the AMP has not shorted internally causing a constant draw. The only time i have ever seen this was when i was servicing a plow truck with an amber beacon. It has shorted internally. This was back in 08.
You could possibly disconnect the D.I.N from the AMP and Stereo (if possible) and see if the draw goes away.
Let me know what you find as well as if im looking at the right pages. Its been a long day man, sorry…
October 11, 2011 at 11:00 am #444344The DIN disconnect does not make the draw go away, plus I swapped in the known working amp from my 98 GST and had the same problem, the amp is no longer getting any power since I accidentally crossed the ground and power, that is when the AC switch stopped receiving power as well.
October 11, 2011 at 11:00 am #444345A parasitic draw test is where we need to start, that way you can isolate the affected circuit. You will need a DVOM with settings for amp readings. I hope to make a video on this but here are a couple of links to videos to give you something to start with.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho5oEwSPWCA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFCT-YZb … re=related
October 11, 2011 at 11:00 am #444346Quoted From EricTheCarGuy:
A parasitic draw test is where we need to start, that way you can isolate the affected circuit. You will need a DVOM with settings for amp readings. I hope to make a video on this but here are a couple of links to videos to give you something to start with.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho5oEwSPWCA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFCT-YZb … re=related
I did do that I know the only fuse that kills the parasitic draw outside the amp is number 11 on the engine bay fuse box which controls a multitude of circuits. If you plug that fuse back in, and start pulling fuses in the car, it doesn’t kill that draw (except for the amp).
Let me try to simplify this.
Total parasitic draw on the car is 2100 mA to be approximate.
Car specifications say draw should be 20 to 50 mA. If I pull the amp fuse under the dash I eliminate about 1500 mA of that draw, bringing me to about 600 mA. If I pull any other fuse in the car, the draw does not decrease more. If I go to under the hood and pull fuse 11, it kills all draw brings is down to 0 mA of draw, so I know it is on that circuitry.
So I began pulling components from there. When I pulled the CD changer plug I lost about 350 to 400 mA of draw. When I pulled the radio plug I lost about 200 or so mA of draw, which brought me down to 27 mA of draw, well with-in factory specification. Battery also hasn’t died since.
I know the AC switch was not causing the draw, because up until I crossed the amp power and ground (which killed power only to the AC switch and amp, everything else still works) it was still plugged in on the 27 mA draw test.
I know that the AC switch and the amp run directly from fusible link 2 the AC switch harness (a 1 wire harness dedicated for the switch) and to fuse 1 under the dash which controls only the amp.
I know the radio and CD changer run from fusible link 2 to fuse 11 under the hood and then into the main body harness where they split into the dash harness and the rear car harness. So fusible link is the only constant for all 4 systems.
Let me know if you need any other clarification, I will do my best.
October 11, 2011 at 11:00 am #444347I know this isn’t good, but I did my best to give a simplified harness based on the FSM.
October 11, 2011 at 11:00 am #444348The radio does go to the CD changer by way of a second DIN style adapter, and the radio is suppose to control power to it, but I doubt there is a problem in that line since draw at CD changer exists with that second DIN unplugged.
October 11, 2011 at 11:00 am #444340Do you have any wiring diagrams you can post for us to aid in the diagnosis?
Im going to assume the draw goes away once you unplug the radio and amp right?
Have you tried to jumper the AC clutch to see if it engages?
October 11, 2011 at 11:00 am #444341Yes it goes away with everything unplugged. The AC clutch does engage, it’s just a problem at the electrical switch.
http://www.dsmtech.org/documents/2GBFSMElectrical.pdf
That’s the entire factory service manual for electrical on the car.
October 13, 2011 at 11:00 am #444349You might consider looking into a “Fox and Hound” set up. There are many companies that make this type of tool that is designed to find electrical shorts with an audio clue.
October 13, 2011 at 11:00 am #444350I was looking at that one and the Extech one, but I can’t afford them right now. 🙁
October 19, 2011 at 11:00 am #444351Okay, the power is never being turned off to the amp. We checked every other wire, every other component , every connection, there is no problem. I have no idea why the power will not turn off. So, it’s time to just tell Mitsubishi to go die and just fix the problem the only way I know how, go around it. Here is what I did:
– Cut the connector off the amplifier harness, then cut all the wires down so no copper is showing. Wrapped what was left in electrical tape, pulled the fuse for the last time and then tucked the remainder of the harness away under the rug and into the chassis out of sight forever.
– Removed the amp.
– Grabbed a universal harness, the amp integration harness I had and an old harness from my 98 GST (all for the radio), pieced together a bypass harness and run the speakers off the head unit amp.
The results? All systems functional, no parasitic draw. I lost the use of my tweeters. However, considering the factory amp was 22w x 4 and the head unit has a 50w x 4, it sounds 10x better without the amp and you can’t even tell the tweeters are gone, because of the sound improvement from just the internal head unit amplifier.
Done. Tomorrow I finish up the wiring for the power windows and seats and I am done restoring the interior. Do my wheel hubs and move on to some actual modifications finally.
October 19, 2011 at 11:00 am #444352Depending on your setup the amp should power itself down when the head unit does. If it doesn’t power down then I would suspect either you didn’t wire it to the head unit correctly. It shouldn’t have been staying on without power to the head unit.
October 19, 2011 at 11:00 am #444353That was an interesting find for sure, thanks for keeping us up to date on this.
October 19, 2011 at 11:00 am #444354Quoted From djdevon3:
Depending on your setup the amp should power itself down when the head unit does. If it doesn’t power down then I would suspect either you didn’t wire it to the head unit correctly. It shouldn’t have been staying on without power to the head unit.
We checked the remote wire, it was signaling the amp to turn on and off as suppose to with a good connection. The problem most likely lies in the ETACS computer on the junction box, which is what is the brain for the interior “luxuries.” Not worth replacing.
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