SupraGuy
Well-Known Member
I've got some weird electrical gremlins that I'd like to know if other people have had.
My temp gauge, and seatbelt warning light on the dashboard will sometimes not work. Most times they're fine. (Well, hard to know with the seatbelt light, but sometimes it's not on when I put the keys in, and sometimes it is. The seatbelt is fastened while I'm driving, so it stays out.) The two seem to be pretty closely linked. If the seatbelt light is out when I get in, the temp gauge probably will remain at full cold for most of the drive, unless I hit the right bump, at which point it will suddenly start working. I worry about the possibility of other warning lamps and so forth not working, and something going wrong.
The climate control sometimes won't light up. When this happens, I cannot change the vent settings, turn on the defrost, or the A/C. The A/C will be off, even if it was on just before the lights go out (Sometimes just goes dark while driving.) I can adjust the fan speed, not sure about the heater control, since it's always at "cold" for the summer. Sometimes hitting the climate control will make it work.
My hope is that it's just a poor connector, and that a little TLC can clear the problem up, and not a wire that's been stressed and gets intermittent contact internally.
The problem is what to do about the contact problem.
If it's the contact pins, then I have to tighten each one to make better contact. Or at least the ones which are the problem. I can trace which pins do the temp gauge and seatbelt light via the service manual, but I don't know which pins would be the problem for the climate control. (Just not the heavy contacts for fan speed control.)
The other possibility is oxidation, which would take a bit of cleaning and some dielectric grease. I suppose that I could do that anyway, but if it's in there, then it's probably also a problem in other places. For all I know it's a the other end of the wiring harness. Not making me really happy in any case.
Well, I've been working on my Supra, and it's about ready to break in the new engine, so I'll probably be driving that for the rest of the summer.
My temp gauge, and seatbelt warning light on the dashboard will sometimes not work. Most times they're fine. (Well, hard to know with the seatbelt light, but sometimes it's not on when I put the keys in, and sometimes it is. The seatbelt is fastened while I'm driving, so it stays out.) The two seem to be pretty closely linked. If the seatbelt light is out when I get in, the temp gauge probably will remain at full cold for most of the drive, unless I hit the right bump, at which point it will suddenly start working. I worry about the possibility of other warning lamps and so forth not working, and something going wrong.
The climate control sometimes won't light up. When this happens, I cannot change the vent settings, turn on the defrost, or the A/C. The A/C will be off, even if it was on just before the lights go out (Sometimes just goes dark while driving.) I can adjust the fan speed, not sure about the heater control, since it's always at "cold" for the summer. Sometimes hitting the climate control will make it work.
My hope is that it's just a poor connector, and that a little TLC can clear the problem up, and not a wire that's been stressed and gets intermittent contact internally.
The problem is what to do about the contact problem.
If it's the contact pins, then I have to tighten each one to make better contact. Or at least the ones which are the problem. I can trace which pins do the temp gauge and seatbelt light via the service manual, but I don't know which pins would be the problem for the climate control. (Just not the heavy contacts for fan speed control.)
The other possibility is oxidation, which would take a bit of cleaning and some dielectric grease. I suppose that I could do that anyway, but if it's in there, then it's probably also a problem in other places. For all I know it's a the other end of the wiring harness. Not making me really happy in any case.
Well, I've been working on my Supra, and it's about ready to break in the new engine, so I'll probably be driving that for the rest of the summer.