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Nobadays
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# Posted: 29 Jun 2021 18:55
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If you have followed the "Cabin Anxiety" thread.... I unintentionally hijacked it with my own anxiety over my cabin workhorse vehicle. Anyway... to carry on.
Rain quit so I got after it again. I have been leaving the Tracker idling as I use the winch to pull juniper brush. I opened the hood and tugged, pulled and wiggled every harness and wire under there. It never skipped a beat. Dang! I guess now I wait for the diagnostic tools to arrive and for it to short out again. If I have time tomorrow I will try to figure out where the harness goes to the rear of the vehicle and give that a good rattling! I took the radio out and of course it has been changed a time or two so a couple of loose wires in there but no live hots. Most of the harnesses are surprisingly unmolested. Eventually it will stay shorted out until I find the culprit or I'll resort to the 50 amp fuse method.... let the smoke out!
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gcrank1
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# Posted: 29 Jun 2021 19:14
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Iffn ya go the 50a fuse keep 2 or 3 fire ext. handy, not just 1!
Fwiw, btdt.....
Burned up a lawn tractor out front of my garage one day with a dead short and only 1 inadequate fire ext.
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paulz
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# Posted: 29 Jun 2021 23:12 - Edited by: paulz
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I didn't follow all this on the other thread, I'm sure TMT has a handle on it. I did see where you were wondering if it was a heat related component or a short. If you add an ammeter into the circuit at the fuse you might tell if the load is gradually increasing till it blows or going dead short. I have a pile of auto gauges if you need one.
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Brettny
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# Posted: 30 Jun 2021 08:05
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What circuit on what year tracker? Looking at the diagram should narrow it down a bit.
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Nobadays
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# Posted: 30 Jun 2021 08:34
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Quoting: paulz If you add an ammeter into the circuit at the fuse you might tell if the load is gradually increasing till it blows or going dead short.
Another good idea. I have some diagnostic tools coming, a meter Toyota recommended plus a friend has a tone generator. If I can't find a dead short/bare wire then I can look more toward components.
Quoting: Brettny What circuit on what year tracker? Looking at the diagram should narrow it down a bit.
An awful circuit to have an intermittent short in a Tracker. It is the "ign coil - meter" fuse. This circuit is connected to/powers multiple components and lights..... coil, distributor, main relay, fuel pump relay, alternator, idiot lights, and possibly the brake lights. It basically goes everywhere. I have been conversing with folks on the Geo Tracker/Sidekick FB forum and one of those guys who has the complete electrical diagrams sent me a description of where this circuit goes... from where to where. All agreed it is likely the worst circuit on a Tracker to be blowing a fuse on.
Examples of final solutions were, #1 O2 sensor wire burned, then multiple others, usually a bare wire but also components. The sound suppressor shorted inside... which BTW can't be removed as it's integral to the circuit, issues in the distributor, even the 02 sensor itself being bad... could be so many things.
Thanks!
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Brettny
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# Posted: 30 Jun 2021 11:57
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Does the humidity effect it?
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Nobadays
Member
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# Posted: 30 Jun 2021 19:04
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Quoting: Brettny Does the humidity effect it?
Not that I have noticed, but we don't keep too humid here or when we do it is cool and rainy.
Had it out yesterday idling while I ran the winch, probably 3-4 hours running. At one point I needed a bit more cable so I drove the front end right up a cut bank, a 30° - 40° angle and it set there idling for at least 2 hours. Today drove it down to a friend's place and back, no issues. Unfortunately at some point it will fail again. Hard to chase down a problem that isn't there....
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toyota_mdt_tech
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# Posted: 30 Jun 2021 20:50
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Quoting: Nobadays The sound suppressor shorted inside
Ah, I have seen this on several occasions.
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Nobadays
Member
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# Posted: 11 Aug 2021 11:41
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Well... I think I finally found my short... thought so at least one other time but this is pretty certain. Partly my fault partly the mechanics that did work for me this spring... mostly mine!
Never had an issue prior to taking it to a garage to have the timing belt, water pump and radiator replaced, but no wiring involved in any of that. But... they pulled the grill off for better access and therein lies the problem.
When mounting the winch I needed a switched hot for the in/out rocker switch and so I grabbed a hot from the plus side of the coil (yep, one of the first stops on that blk/wht wire that I have been fixated on.) Well I routed the wire along the wiring harness at the firewall, kept it high around behind the battery, down the inside top of the fender well and through the grill to the plate I mounted the rocker switch/receiver for wireless winch control. Note.... there is a sharp seam that runs horizontal midway across the firewall.... I kept my wire above that, but not tied well enough apparently. Also note... my battery tie-down is not 100% secure so the battery can slide a little bit.
Back to the mechanics and the grill.... when they pulled the grill they tugged on that wire to my rocker switch just enough that it became dislodged from where I had layed it so now it draped down behind the battery and across the seam in the firewall.
The fuse always blew going up hill on a rough road.... hence battery sliding back just enough to pinch, and ultimately break the insulation on that hot wire.... shorting out the fuse on the blk/wht wire.
I only found it because once I towed it out of the road to a spot to work on it, this time the short remained. Before tugging any wires I started undoing the various connectors and the short went away with the coil unhooked.
I used the short finder Toyota linked and have opened way too much harness thinking I had found the short. Only problems with the short finder is my lack of knowledge how to use it and the fact that blk/wht wire is in nearly every harness. So as I would get close to a split in the harness the signal would go away... now thinking I have the problem, cut open the harness only to find that the blk/wht wire didn't continue past that split in that particular harness.
It has been frustrating and to find it is my fault for not securely timing up that wire makes it worse!
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ICC
Member
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# Posted: 11 Aug 2021 12:06
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Glad you solved the problem. Electrical troubles are the most frustrating of any.
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jsahara24
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# Posted: 11 Aug 2021 13:03
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Glad to hear it as well...Electrical gremlins suck
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 11 Aug 2021 15:45
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Whew, glad you got it.
Co-incidentally, during fire dept. training last Saturday we got dispatched on a call. I stayed at the firehouse, because I suck on medical calls, and when they returned the lights and siren in the rig had quit working, or were working intermittently. So I started poking around the fuse panels, one behind the kick panel, one in the console, one under the hood, and found the culprit. A fuse tap had been installed (a fuse tap goes in the fuse slot, has it's own fused wire to add accessories) in one of the slots under the hood and the wire coming from it was so tight it had pulled the socket tangs apart, leading to an intermittent connection. What a relief, a lucky, quick find.
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toyota_mdt_tech
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# Posted: 12 Aug 2021 08:17
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Important thing is its fixed. As a dealer tech, factory wiring issues are almost unheard of. 99.99999% of the time we have a wiring issue, especially a shorted wire, its something someone has done, even if it doesn't appear to be related in anyway, it usually is. I'd grab power right from the battery, fuse inline next to power source, then have it switched via a relay. So make your coil wire just turn the relay on, the power for whatever your running is right from the battery. If it failed, it blows fuse and doesnt kill engine. Thats it, no extra load on that circuit for anything else.
Now you can trust it again.
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Nobadays
Member
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# Posted: 12 Aug 2021 09:38
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Quoting: toyota_mdt_tech Now you can trust it again.
Thanks all! Yeah I still am a bit nervous that it is something else but 99% certain my added on wire was the culprit!
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