No ACC and Cluster Lights Remain On

[IslandBoy]

Alright fellas. Took me a while to muster up the humility to make a post on here asking for help. But in attempt to fix this problem, I'll take the punches to the face. (Just FYI, I've read 5 threads with the same issue, none of the suggestions made a solution for me and I have been reading through the FSM for the past few days). Anywho...


I have a 1997 240SX SE and recently pulled ALL of the connectors from my dashboard/cluster, both blocks from the SMJ and any misc. connections I needed to pull my wire loom from my driver's side wheel well to run it through the engine bay. In the process, I had to repair 2 wires from them being torn up from wheel rub in the factory mounting position.

Everything is pretty much buttoned up, no chafed wires, wrapped in electric tape all around as neatly as possible. ALL of my relays are functional (Did resistance test, as well as 12v test), fuses are good (kick panel and engine bay) and I have run across an issue. (All connectors have been mated back together.)

1.) As soon as I connected the negative back up to the battery, all of my warning lights come on without the key inserted. The "Ignition-1" relay (blue, located in the kick panel, first at the top) picks up, as well as the blue relay next to the fuel pump relay in the same foot area picks up.

2.) I have no HVAC Blower power and my electric fan does not cut on at all (with the ignition in ACC, or ON position).


I have isolated the ignition system and eliminated the possibility of it being defective by disconnecting all of the connections to the steering column. Lights remain illuminated. My alternator ground wire is in good condition and is securely fastened to the alternator.


Please let me know if any of you have run across a similar issue and have fixed it, OR have any advice at all (I'm using the search feature, I promise lol). I would like to make a track day on 4/26/15 so the sooner the issue is fixed, the better. Thank you very much! :kiss:

BTW- If you are in the DC/MD/VA are and think you can help me troubleshoot, I am willing to pay a few bucks if you can fix it/trace out the problem lol

[dbeiler]

Did you remove any relays during your harness repair? You may have mixed up the relays and installed them in the wrong spot. Double check the two relays which are clicking on. They are probably swapped.

[IslandBoy]

Thanks for the reply man. But I didn't remove any relays during the actual work. However just a side note, almost all of the blue relays are interchangeable, with pins 1 and 2 being power/ground (the coil) and pins 3/5 being the throw which is normally open. I'm waiting for the weather to break to quadruple check my SMJ to see if any connectors wiggled loose from the block. I'm getting so frustrated with it lol

[IslandBoy]

Bump. Can anyone chime in on this? I'm really just ready to have this thing buttoned up in time for this upcomming track day :/.

[dbeiler]

If the IGN1 relay is energized, the gauge warning lights should be illuminated, since the lights are powered by that relay.

You need to figure out the origination of the stray voltage which is energizing the relay. In normal operation, the IGN1 relay is energized via a Black/Red wire running from the ignition switch to the driver's footwell fusebox. This same wire splits off and runs to the condenser and engine distributor.

Terminal 3 of the ignition switch sends power to Terminal 4 of the driver's footwell fuse panel which sends power to Terminal 3 on the IGN1 relay.

On the wire that splits off, Terminal 3 of the ignition switch sends power through the M9 SMJ connector, through the M63 passenger footwell chassis interface connector, on to the condenser and distributor.

Somewhere that Black/Red wire is able to pick up enough voltage to energize the IGN1 relay. You've already disconnected the ignition switch connectors and eliminated the possibility of those being the problem. You can disconnect the passenger footwell chassis interface connector to eliminate the possibility of the engine/ecu harness being a problem.

Inspect the M9 SMJ connector. Does it have any bent pins or foreign material in it? Check the backside of the driver's footwell fuse panel as well. The tiniest little sliver of conductive material laying across the pins can allow enough voltage to energize a relay. Are there any bits of wire or random hardware in the connectors?

Do you have any aftermarket electronics, turbo timers, remote starts, or alarm systems tied into the ignition wiring? They might be malfunctioning and sending voltage to the IGN relay.

[IslandBoy]

Man thanks a lot for that detailed description. Reading the FSM is kind of difficult on iPhone using DropBox lol. I will most definitely check everything you said and get back to you.

In regards to after market electronics, oneof the previous owners didn't know shiggity about cars and put together a shabby job of wiring an afternarket radio in and a half ass alarm that wasn't even fully hooked up(not to mention he told me that there was a new nismo clutch in it-- i replaced it and found the disc worn to the rivets :down: along with SO MUCH other crap. Sorry I'm venting lol). I've since removed both of them and patched and nicks and splices from the BS wiring.