electrical issues

[Mel-O]

ive only been driving my car for about 4 days now and my electrical system is playing games with me. my alternator holding brakect was loose so my alt was not putting out power, i fixed it but nothing else wanted to work

1)windshield wipers turn on randomly, 2)stereo, clock, HUD wont come on, 3)HUD comes on when the key is turned on, but engine isnt running, windshield wiper lever has to be on and door must be open. i checked a few fuses and they are all good.

[holemilk00]

Grounds. Check them all. Look at the FSM to find them all.

[Mel-O]

Didnt think of that. thanks ill let you know if it works, ill try it early in the morning

[nissan junky]

Yup check grounds

[Mel-O]

so i checked and sanded 5 diff grounds, the battery ground, the one under the drivers seat, the two on the side panel in the backseat, and the one in the trunk.
not much of a difference

I noticed a plug under the seat was unplugged it is ran right next to the pole the ground is on. i plugged it in and nothing different happened.

so far my HUD comes on again but only when you click the key twice, my clock backlight comes on and my climate control lights come on..... so i have hope:)

Lastly my brake lights dont work if my headlights are on, and they dont work as brake lights, they come to the 1st level of bright just like regular night time tailight.... any idea

[Mishkin_707]

take your alternator out, take it to autozone and have it tested, really sounds like it's the alternator going bad, mine did that exact same thing every single thing you described, turned out to be the alternator, these cars are really sensitive when it come to electrical so have that checked, also how old is your battery? did you install any kind of electronics, stereo, alarm, HID's ect...ect....

[Mel-O]

the alt probably is going out, the belt was not tight at all and the car kept dieing so im assuming that can kill an alt

but yea a stereo but that was about 2months ago, then like 2 weeks ago it and my clock stopped working, my neighbor connected the 12v and ignition power wires together from the stereo and it all started working again, till this weekend

[Mishkin_707]

ah ok, maybe one the the wires is touching something it shouldn't if anything pull the stereo out and check back there, make sure nothing came loose, did you do the install of the stereo and what was used for connecting the stereo?

[Mel-O]

yea i took the stereo out at the first sign of trouble. i had actual insulated caps for electrical stuff but i ran out so i used alot of electrical tape for the power wires

[Mishkin_707]

Well just get some insulated caps, that may be the cause.

[Mishkin_707]

Electrical tape is never good to use, especially for the power wires, just ge some inulated caps, I just bought a harness that plugs into the factory harness then I just bought a $10 solder gun and soldered the wiring to the stereo and just plugged it in

[Mel-O]

yea i soldered my wires today,

oh i got all my lights and stuff to work, it was a mix of a bad headlight switch, one of my brake light bulbs had melted its wires and they basically soldered together so negative and positive signals were mixed up..... i puit in a 20amp fuse instead of 15 for all the accesory stuff and it all works now

[Mishkin_707]

cool, i didn't even think about the tail lights, mine did the same thing, that reminds me, i gotta check them again.

[Mel-O]

man as soon as i got that done, i broke 3 lug studs 2 on the front passenger tire, 1 on the rear passenger and snapped the bolts on my caliper trying to get them off... F'IN 240's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!