Elec gremlin

Okay guys, I have what seems to be an electronic gremlin.

Yesterday I was getting a sober driver to drove my d22 home for me. When the ignition was switched it conked out three times before I got running correctly and then made it home no dramas.

Today I went to flick the ignition. What happens was the odometer was moving between 0-800 approx revs back and fourth and the glow and check engine were sort of flashing really fast. Under the bonnet I could feel the glow relay switching on and off really fast, there was also another electrical switching sound happening but not sure where? Maybe the starter? After about 30 secs of the key just on accessories all the noises stopped and everything which was going crazy was normal and it the engine started fine and didn't die.

I did replace the starter for genuine one from nizzbits about 2 months ago, no issues with starting till now though. It seems like a voltage issue to me? All my engine bay earths are new and tight. I did recently have a command ap500 cruise module installed by a guy locally? Is there something he could have done during that install which could cause this. I have no idea of what was involved in the cruise control install so am unsure here. Any help would be wonderful

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well I think I found the problem. Looks like the 80amp glow fuse has got corrosion on it likely causing a voltage drop. Makes sense cos once the car is warm it glows up fine, only has issues on cold start

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Hmm, starting to think this fuse isnt my problem and the relay may be at fault. Has anyone had this issue described in the original post?

Had a similar problem, was the connection between the battery terminal clamp and the cable, the one circled in red.

Cheers, Ill have a look

When you say the engine and body earths are new and good, is the mating surface on the engine clean too? How about the earth connection for the glow plug relay? Can you remove the glow plug fuse and clean the terminals or did you do that already?

I vaguely remember something similar happening to my d40 a few years back. pretty sure it was the battery dying!

Can't really pick any corrosion in the photo? Unless the corrosion is in the fuse tangs where it plugs in, I can't see it impacting. Can't see that causing the tachometer behaviour either.

If the CC installer needed a chassis earth during the install (almost certainly) he might have piggy backed off a stock one, that could be loose or have crap contact and will cause a lot of weirdness. It'll be under the dash on driver's side at a guess.

Failing that, battery collapse, terminals, then relay. Start with simple.

bods said:

When you say the engine and body earths are new and good, is the mating surface on the engine clean too? How about the earth connection for the glow plug relay? Can you remove the glow plug fuse and clean the terminals or did you do that already?

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Yeah mate I removed the fuse and cleaned I don't think that will be the problem. The glow earth could be a goer that bolts down underneath the relay to the cab. I replaced all the large earths I have one running from block to cab, one from block to neg bat and one from cab to neg bat. Aldo replaced the alt to cab earth as well all with heavier gauge wire.

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Dion said:

Can't really pick any corrosion in the photo? Unless the corrosion is in the fuse tangs where it plugs in, I can't see it impacting. Can't see that causing the tachometer behaviour either.

If the CC installer needed a chassis earth during the install (almost certainly) he might have piggy backed off a stock one, that could be loose or have crap contact and will cause a lot of weirdness. It'll be under the dash on driver's side at a guess.

Failing that, battery collapse, terminals, then relay. Start with simple.

Click to expand...

Yeah I cut the earth the cruise control was wired to, to check and see if it fixed the problem. Made no difference. Battery is only relatively new would only be 6 months old tops

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Ok, how clean are the battery posts and the terminals that connect to them?

Okay so the EGR cooler and the glow solenoid are the two things clicking rapidly. When you unplug the connector to the EGR cooler it stops making noise.

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So if you unplug the egr valve, does the dash act normal? Or do the gauges still flicker like they were?

the egr valve will always tic when you turn the key to ON position thats only normal. if you unplug that get ready for engine light and codes flashing.

I'm talking about the little cooler ticking on an off rapidly, the thing with coolant running through it under the air I take manifold. Pretty durr the tacho still jumps around d with the EGR cooler unplugged.

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Still think it sounds like your ignition switch has a bad earth. I'm not saying it's caused by the CC module, but rather by disturbance of the Nissan harness earths during the install.

Bad earth: enough current to throw the relays, throwing the relays ups the load and drops the voltage to the point where the relays reopen, at which point the load drops and the relays reclose... on and on and on.

http://www.patrol4x4.com/forum/zd30-di-engine-3-litre-71/glow-plug-light-152810/

This guy in patrol forum sounded like he had a similar problem. Not sure where my ECM fuse is though? Tried the FSM but had no luck actually locating it? I have a mate with a patrol ZD30 coming over on the weekend. So far I plan to swap the glow relay and the ECM relay to see if changing them with his will make a difference.

I tried cleaning the glow plug earth today and also the eart which rum pig indicated coming off the negative battery terminal and no difference.

Similar thread here, some people suggested changing the ECM relays. I am having trouble identifying which relay does what inside the cab. There are 4 blue relays above the fuse panel inside the cab. Could the brown relay in the fuse box in the engine compartment be the ECM relay? It says ignition or something on the fuse box

ECM relay thats in the engine bay fuse box.