Electrical Gremlin on EGI relay

[holemilk00]

Ok, so I recently redtop SR swapped a S13 two tone I had sitting around for a few months, it was an auto car so I five speed swapped it as well. Cars a base model, engine and wiring harness came from a running car with no issues. The only thing I had to change on the harness was the Dash plug and the 5spd swap wire jumping to make the reverse lights work and the shift lock to release (which I've done on multiple cars).

I used the write ups on here and that other nissan owners club site for the 5spd swap.


The car is done and runs fine, drives like a champ and starts every time (when battery is charged), all the electrics work, ie brake lights, reverse lights, gauge cluster, everything.

Here is the issue:
Turn the car off, and there is about a 3 second delay before the shift lock releases and gives me the key back, then the battery and seat belt dummy lights stay on for another second or two and then go off. I really didn't think anything of it at first, but then noticed that my battery was dead if the car sat for longer then a few hours. I poked around in the relay box on the passenger side and found that the EGI relay was hot to the touch, I pulled it and put it back in and heard it click (with the key out of the car). So I pulled the small black ground coming out of the harness near the igniter and heard the relay click back open, touch the wire back to ground and I can hear the relay click back closed.

Here is what I've done so far to try to find the problem and none of this makes a difference:
1. Replaced the EGI relay, EGI pump relay, and the shift lock relay (the one on the driver side floor behind the kick panel and fuse box) with new OEM ones from nissan.
2. Unwired the entire 5spd swap wiring one wire at a time.
3. Unplugged the dash plug from above the ECU.
4. Checked and cleaned ALL the grounds in the engine bay and any I could find under the dash.
5. Double checked the wires on the alternator (I had read in a search on here that this was the culprit for someone else)
6. Unplugged the fuel pump in the trunk.
7. Drank beer and cursed at the car all night.

I have tested the poles on the relay board and here are the results

Pole 1/ 0v with key out of ignition
Pole 2/ 0v with key out of ignition

both as expected

Pole 3/ 12v with key out of ignition
Pole 5/ 12v with key out of ignition

Which is obviously the problem

now with key in the on position

Pole 1/ .03v
Pole 2/ .023v

both as expected since they are the signal

Pole 3/ 12v
Pole 5/ 12v



I'm pulling my hair out on this one and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Shane :Ownedd:

[gottdeskrieges]

What about the relays ground. If I'm not mistaken I had to ground my EGI relay for my swap. I could be wrong but worth a shot. Ill look and see which pin i grounded for mine to work.

[holemilk00]

What about the relays ground. If I'm not mistaken I had to ground my EGI relay for my swap. I could be wrong but worth a shot. Ill look and see which pin i grounded for mine to work.
Check that out and let me know, I just searched grounding the EGI and got nothing of merit. Let me know what you come up with.

Thanks.

[Magical Trevor]

Make sure the fuse box is grounded bwahhaaha

[holemilk00]

Make sure the fuse box is grounded bwahhaaha
haha that was your car there buddy, I still can't believe that shit, I mean really who pulls the fuse box ground and runs it to the battery?

[holemilk00]

Ok still haven't figured this one out yet.

Here is some more information to help solve this one.


Today:
Took a working DOHC converted HUD cluster (converted by swapping tachs) out of my gf's car, put it in my car thinking since I was getting dummy lights that maybe something in my cluster was causing my problems. This is where the things got weird. The digital speedo is blank with the headlights off, then lights up to bright when you turn the lights on for about a second then dims to the "lights on" setting. The tach works, and the speedo actually works if I leave the lights on so I can read it. But here is another weird thing, when I rev the car up to like 4-5k rpms sitting still, the temperature gauge drops down to "C" and then returns to normal as the rpms drop back to idle. All this is happening while the driver door is closed. If I open the driver door the clock shuts off, and the speedo won't light up at all, even with the headlights on.


WTFFF?????!!!!!11!!!!!

[holemilk00]

Ok so the clock cutting on and off with the door was because I had somehow blown the "room light" fuse again, which seems to be another side effect of this gremlin. So I have the cluster in the car and working fine now when the car is running.

Here is something else I noticed today, now the car is starting to almost try to stay running when I turn the key off, like it wants to stay running, it only last for a second, but it doesn't cut right off like any other car I own. Maybe I'm going crazy....

[pete240]

Did you ever figure out this problem? I've been having this problem for awhile and 2 days ago I was fiddling with the relays and I pulled out the EGI relay and I noticed I could turn the key on and off and everything would shut off normal. Just for kicks I tried starting the car with that relay off and to my surprise it ran and drove perfectly fine. I've had the SR in there since last december and it had worked fine with the relay prior to May when I rubbed through my fender harness. I patched and tucked the harness and the problem did not go away untill i took the egi relay off.

The confusion came when I found out the that relay powered the ecu. If that relay is off how can it be working lol.