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Steering column/Ignition wire problems


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So I parked my 1987 Pathy in the garage because it was extremely loud due to the exhaust. It sat all winter and now it won't start I let it sit on one of those small chargers for a day or two and all my lights are coming the battery gauge and my dash is at 12v I'm just not getting anything when I turn the key, I noticed a fuse on the fusible link in my ignition wire was blown I tried to bypass it by just touching the wires but that did not seem to help, can anyone tell me if that fusible link on the ignition wire has to be there? FYI I can tell my steering column had been tampered with just not sure what do make of it, if anyone has any idea that would be great.

 

Also sometimes when I would start I would just stick my hand in the jumble of wires in the column and wiggle until it would start, dosent seem to to work that way anymore.

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The starter wire is black with a yellow stripe. I would follow that wire and see if it's been messed with. It's what the factory alarm cuts off, and probably what aftermarket alarms would cut off as well. You could also just jumper + to it and see if the engine cranks.

 

The only fusible links I'm aware of are the ones hanging off the battery. Any wire out of place under the clamshell I would assume was a previous owner's bodge. Somebody had done something like this to my '95. There was a section of wire crimped in, then apparently it went around something it shouldn't have so they cut it, stripped the ends, tied a square knot with the bare ends to bridge them, and then wrapped the lot in tape. :lol:

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Lol sounds a lot like what I'm going through, it's definitely jumbled up in there, you said I should just run that yellow/black wire right to the battery and see if turns?

Also there is an alarm system under the dash that's a pretty big mess as well, is there anyway I could just remove all that while making sure I don't sabotage more.

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Yep, the yellow/black is supposed to get + when the key is turned to the start position. I'll bet even jumpering it to one of the other contacts on the ignition switch would do the trick if the key's in the run position.

 

As for the alarm, kind of depends on what all it's been tied into. Chances are it's interrupting the starter like the original dealer-installed junk, but if whoever installed it was feeling ambitious it could be interrupting other stuff too (fuel pump maybe). It's probably tied into the dome light circuit and the power locks as well. I would figure out all the wires going to it, figure out which ones are interrupted (two wires of the same color going to it probably went together originally) and keep at that until there's nothing going to the alarm anymore.

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  • 4 months later...

Looking to make some progress on this soon I know my pathy wrenching is far and few between but I did end up going to the garage and getting it starting by giving that black/yellow wire a firm connection but it did get really hott, I'm hoping this is just from the last owner outing in a high gauge wire and it not supporting it, does anything think the hot wire can be a symptom of something else?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yep, the yellow/black is supposed to get + when the key is turned to the start position. I'll bet even jumpering it to one of the other contacts on the ignition switch would do the trick if the key's in the run position.

 

As for the alarm, kind of depends on what all it's been tied into. Chances are it's interrupting the starter like the original dealer-installed junk, but if whoever installed it was feeling ambitious it could be interrupting other stuff too (fuel pump maybe). It's probably tied into the dome light circuit and the power locks as well. I would figure out all the wires going to it, figure out which ones are interrupted (two wires of the same color going to it probably went together originally) and keep at that until there's nothing going to the alarm anymore.

 

Been going through electrical issues as well.

 

http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/topic/42579-electrical-system-shut-down/

 

Though I didn't definitively see anything that was the source of my electrical problems, the problem (at least for now) seems to have gone away when I disconnected the valet function, and cut the wire that was tapped (not spliced between) the alarm and ignition wire. I left the alarm's battery wire (that was tapped into the Pathfinder's battery wire) intact.

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