Electrical - where to begin

Moosemoon said:

rockola 1971:

The only thing I’m trolling for is how to fix my damn rig!

The only reason I might not be able to perform tasks is my height (I am not tall) and lack of experience. Hence, my asking for help here.

I have ladders for getting into the engine bay. I can easily get under the car.

When you get to 70+ - call yourself whatever you like. You can thank me for giving you the incentive to learn something new today.

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MassHoe04 said:

RESPECT! You got mine! Any female willing to roll the sleeves up and tackle their own repairs is really pretty incredible. Age and ability are not directly related, so to be a female that age bracket and tackle auto repairs on her own... WOW! That is rare.

Electrical issues can be tricky, but there are some real diagnostic wizards on the forum.
If you don't have one already, pick up a volt-ohm multi-meter and I am sure these folks will be able to walk you through what to look for and where.

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Donal said:

I am in my last year as a septuagenarian, next year I will be a octogonsomething. All yall young folks are amusing to me.

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Donal said:

The air bag computer surveys the seat occupancy, seat belt buckle, descrete impact sensors and the circuitry connecting all these components. Normal resistance for the impact circuits has a range. I cannot remember the range, but it is something like 1.8 to 3.8 olhms on a reference voltage of 2.4 volts. Beee extremely causions when touubleshooting this system. Appars like a voltage above the 2.4 reference voltage exposes the air bag with a bang. As you see, I do not have spell checker. Disconnct the negative battery terminal and let all capacitors discharge.

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Donal said:

I am in my last year as a septuagenarian, next year I will be a octogonsomething. All yall young folks are amusing to me.

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rockola1971 said:

Young? Im over a half a century old and been in 2 wars but.....Youve definitely been around longer than I have. My apologies. Someone else here has vouched for you. Hats off to you maam for taking care of stuff yourself. If I may be of any help. Just ask.
We are quite the clown bunch. Its impossible not to laugh at some of the things we have done in the past and spoken about on here.

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OR VietVet said:

Like @Donal said about 3/4 way thru the recommendations. Got to start somewhere and my money is on checking EVERY ground point connection for tight, corrosion and even if is connected at all. I personally would not advance far in to this till that "must know" item is done. That rig was somewhere else for 2 years and almost anything could have happened with the rig while in the hands of MR. SLOW MO! Diagnosing electrical problems, especially if intermittent, can be a nightmare and expensive. Hopefully someone here can supply a diagram of all ground points. If not, you can always pay $60 at ALLDATAdiy.com and get vehicle specific info and diagrams. Good luck.

Post where you are at and maybe a member can help personally or recommend a quality shop in your area. For instance, I know a great guy and shop in my area in the Willamette Valley of Oregon.

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Donal said:

A lot of imagination required here, so resort to basic operation. Check engine oil, coolant levels, adjust if needed, belt tension.
Insert ignition key and rotate to ON position. Note 7 flashes of air bag icon, air bag icon stays on or not. Start engine, noting oil pressure, coolant indicated, fuel level indicated. Check under vehicle for drips/ leaks, etc. All good sofar. Note CEL on or off or flashing. CEL not flashing, operate normally. Note oil pressure, coolant temperture, fluctions on any gauge, etc. Take the vehicle through several short trips to cycle through ignition on/off, engine run, engine off. If the CEL light is on, use your scanner to identify and RECORD error codes on paper.
Apparently you are in a area where dianogistic services are in very high demand and no one has time to assist you. Most all of the members on this forum are willing and able to assist, if your location was known, some near you may be able to do hands-on assist.
Note that the vehicle was neglicted for almost 2 years and sufferes neglected vehicle anxiety. All ground connections tend to corrode and develop resistance. Each connection may have to be cleaned. The computer modules resists reactivation and need several operation cycles to relearn and commuicate with each other.
If the air bags have NOT been deployed, the system is responding to a high resistance test result. The seven flashes are the tests being performed. This april fools day. So, I am responding just in case you dont have a calender.

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