Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Weird problems caused by wiring??

This may jump all over the place and may be a bit long but please bare with me here.

I've had all sorts of weird problems with my car since I got it all fixed up from the previous owner (blew motor). One of which was a weird pinging from the engine, wipers didn't work, and the turn signals didn't work.

The pinging engine scared me as I thought maybe the engine I just put in it was crap (with only 42k on it). After searching around and pure luck I found that the wire that plugs into the ground wire thats bolted to the coil pack was showing bare wire and the insulation was stripped. I fixed the wire and then the pinging was gone, wipers worked and the turn signals worked again. WTF is with that?

I've had another small problem with my car with the windows. Whenever I would push the window switches I would hear a buzzing noise from under the passenger dash. Just recently I noticed that the wires coming from the coil pack were cracking so I pulled the covers off and noticed that the brown/yellow, brown/blue and brown/green wires had the insulation stripped and had wrapped together about 5 inches away from the coil pack. Needless to say I replaced all of the wire for the coil pack connection. Upon finishing this I noticed the car had more power (no suprise), but weird enough the buzzing when I hit the window switches is now gone? This is starting to weird me out. I don't understand how these remote systems could be tied into these wires.

One problem that I haven't been able to solve is that whenever I hit the window switch, the ABS brakes kick in or I'm starting out of first gear the lights dim all over the car even the headlights I can tell dim. I would assume this is a grounding issue but I've checked all of the ground wires I know of and they seem fine.

Well if you've made it through all this I appreciate it. Does anyone have any ideas about this stuff. More specifcally how to solve this dimming situation?

Thanks.

Check this post:

recent post

Yes I see in that post it refers to a few things. It still doesn't explain the random things not working properly, but I guess I never actually checked the voltage at the battery while the car was running so I will do that. Although given the situation I'm thinking somehow somewhere things are grounding to wires that they shouldn't be or are getting power from wires they shouldn't be. I'm just confused at the randomness of everything and how the wires to the coil pack seem to have such a huge impact on things. I'll try checking the voltage tomorrow morning.

EDIT:
I also forgot to mention that when I fixed those coil pack wires my dome light now comes on right away when I open my drivers side door. It used to not come on at all, I would have to hit the door jamb button about 3-4 times before it would finally come on. Hows that for odd.

Originally posted by Rager:

---

Measure voltage drop. => Measure voltage across the battery, then between battery -positive- and (let's say) the trans case -ground-.

---

Well after measuring the voltage drop I can't tell that anything is wrong. Before starting the car the voltage across the battey was 12.11v. When the car was running it was measuring 14.24v so the alternator is working correctly. When the car was shut off the voltage across the battery showed 13.26v and when measuring between the positive terminal to the intake showed 13.26v as well. I also measured from the positive terminal to the brake portioning valve and got a reading of 13.26v again so no abnormal readings there. According to this the circuit is ok.

Also for $hits and giggles I started my brothers early production 98 Contour GL and tested to see if his headlights and interior lights would dim when hitting the power window switches. His lights acted the same as mine. I'm not sure if his headlights dim when his ABS activates, but he does have a huge audio system in his car. He tells me that his headlights dim with the bass everytime his sub hits too so maybe this is a bad comparison.

If anyone else wants to see if there car does this as well... all I am doing is starting the car turning the headlights on and then hitting up on the drivers side window switch. Maybe this is just the way the system acts, but it doesn't seem as if it should do this.

Momentary dim with power window operation is normal, brake lights application may dim a touch. Car voltage is not perfectly regulated. My Dad's 2003 Toyota has a flicker effect in the dome light if the engine is on. I notoced it because it flickered more than my car. The battery charge level will affect load, regulation too, and alternator load is high after starting the car. It is nice to have another Contour handy to compare quirks .

Originally posted by FavoriteMystaque:

---

It is nice to have another Contour handy to compare quirks

---

Tell me about it. I have my brothers early 98 and my dads 98.5, unfortunately they are both non-SVT cars so somethings are not the same. One of which is the fuse box I've noticed.

Alternator? FYI
read on

http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=trouble&Number=1043318&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1

Interesting. My alternator is working as it should. I verified that much with the voltage drop tests.

I'm interested with this wiring fix though. The one mentioned in that post. Did someone ever do a How-To on this? I don't remember seeing it anywhere. I will do it if I end up performing this though.

They mention cutting the red wire and running it to the nut of the thick cable running back to the start/battery. Where does that red wire go to in the harness? Here is what I'm talking about:

1. cut red wire from 3 wire plug from alternator.
2. extend the red wire STILL HANGING from the connector to the main CHARGING wire.
3. the red wire going into the harness is no longer used. TAPE IT UP!!

Heres a Pic of the final wiring. The PINK wire is your new extension.

AGAIN, i cant take credit for this, and yeah i really feel for all of us who have replaced the alternator and did not see any benefit.