westslope Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 (edited) The '93 pathfinder has been exhibiting some intermittent electrical issues lately. I believe/desperately hope that I solved the problem by re-establishing the rear driver side parking light connection. Symptoms - The ABS light has intermittently come on while driving. - Cruise control would not _sometimes_ work when the parking lights or full headlights were on. - To my eternal embarrassment, the RCMP gave a 2-week notice to my wife two evenings ago because her rear, driver-side parking light was not working. [in passing, I am super happy that the police pull over people for malfunctioning lights. Auto lights fail readily in this humid, coastal environment.] Fixes to date + I wiped and sanded both the negative and positive battery connections. + Our landlord checked the connection between the negative battery pole and where the ground strap is attached to the chassis and the engine block with a digital meter. Looks fine. + I detached the combo-switch (turning signal/cruise control buttons), removed the plastic cover and the end button, and then cleaned it with an aerosol electrical contact cleaner. That alone did not solve my problem. + I re-seated the rear, left parking light bulb. So far....so good. That appears to have solved my problem. Any thoughts or suggestions? I'll keep the forum posted on progress. Edited September 15, 2011 by westslope Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamzan Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 Is the abs light staying off now that you re seated the bulb? That is one weird issue. I would look at the switch, they are known to fail, do you have the cruise control in the switch as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silverton Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 Is the abs light staying off now that you re seated the bulb? he didn't reseat the abs light bulb. He reseated the tail light bulb. As for the ABS light coming on and off, I bet the speed sensor in the differential housing is starting to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5523Pathfinder Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 (edited) I know with some of our cars(nissan, infiniti) the cruise may not work when a ABS code is present. I cant say I ever encountered both problems at the same time. I would figure out the ABS failure first. This will help... http://www.nissanpathfinders.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=27880 Edited September 14, 2011 by 5523Pathfinder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westslope Posted September 15, 2011 Author Share Posted September 15, 2011 (edited) Is the abs light staying off now that you re seated the bulb? That is one weird issue. I would look at the switch, they are known to fail, do you have the cruise control in the switch as well? Hard to say. The ABS light has not come back on since I cleaned, lightly sanded and tightened the battery terminal connections. Coincidence? I cannot tell. Yes, the combo-switch handles both headlights and the cruise control in addition to the turn signal. Yesterday evening, the rear right-hand side parking light was off and came back on with a slap of the hand. I'll re-seat, clean as necessary that connection this morning. One more piece data: I recently had the pathie rust-proofed. Edited September 15, 2011 by westslope Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westslope Posted September 16, 2011 Author Share Posted September 16, 2011 he didn't reseat the abs light bulb. He reseated the tail light bulb. As for the ABS light coming on and off, I bet the speed sensor in the differential housing is starting to go. I'll keep that in mind silverton. Thanks. Otherwise, the ABS continues to behave well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slartibartfast Posted September 16, 2011 Share Posted September 16, 2011 Sounds like the contacts for the bulb are dodgy. I had a parking light that did this, I just scraped the corrosion from the tabs and bent them inwards so they'd hold tighter against the bulb. Solved the problem. (A little dielectric grease probably wouldn't hurt, especially given your environment.) I'd say if it's stopped acting up, don't worry about it. (Maybe try a few panic stops on gravel to see if it does come on when it should.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tungsten Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 ^ x2 on contact corrosion The cruise control is related to the cancel switch. My theory is if someone mashed the brake pedal too hard then the cancel switch may have been broken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westslope Posted September 19, 2011 Author Share Posted September 19, 2011 Cruise control works just fine, including the brake cancel. All lights and electrical systems are still working just fine. The parking/running lights in the rear displayed zero corrosion. I cleaned and re-seated them all the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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