Need help solving weird electrical issue

[Falconbuk]

Hello!

So I got a weird electrical issue the other day. Thursday night the truck worked fine, except for the ABS lamp which has been lit for a while (pic. driving 1). Did not drive anything during the weekend and monday morning the issues appeared.

After driving for about a minute the red warning light for the parking brake came on along with a beep from the dashboard (pic. driving 2). I tried engaging/disengaging the parking break a few times but the light was still on. I continued driving and after another minute the picture on the dash showing i was in 2wd completely dissappeared and a few seconds later the little light saying "4wd" came on (I was still in 2wd) (pic. driving 3). I tried to continue driving at low speed and everything seems to work fine but I did not dare take it on the highway in case i got stranded.

Also if I come to a complete stop and apply the handbrake the dashboard continuously makes a beeping sign and the speedometer bounces from 0 to 60 km/h back and forth. If i disengage the handbrake it seems to stop.

My best guess is a bad/corroded grounding somewhere or a bad battery. Has anyone on here had similar symptoms to help me pinpoint where the issue lies?

I will post try to attack a video of me driving it where all the light come on as my text above displays, a video of the speedometer bouncing when standing still and a few pictures in chronological order of the different lights that come on when driving.

Thanks in advance!

// New member from Sweden

 

[Falconbuk]

Oh and I forgot to mention, the truck is a Navara d40 2008, 2.5 diesel

 

[Old.Tony]

It certainly does look like a bad earth point. Try this: attach a black wire from the stereo chassis to one of the dash mounting bolts (one that goes into the metal support underneath the dash).

Our cars (yours is just like mine) have a common issue where the shared earth from the stereo and instruments gets worn/old/corroded and the instruments start doing really odd things. The common fix is to add the wire as described. I guess you could hunt down the actual bad earth point as well, if you were really bored.

 

[Falconbuk]

It certainly does look like a bad earth point. Try this: attach a black wire from the stereo chassis to one of the dash mounting bolts (one that goes into the metal support underneath the dash).

Our cars (yours is just like mine) have a common issue where the shared earth from the stereo and instruments gets worn/old/corroded and the instruments start doing really odd things. The common fix is to add the wire as described. I guess you could hunt down the actual bad earth point as well, if you were really bored.

Thank you for the answer!

Sounds very likely that would solve the issue, especially since it's really just the dash acting up, the vehicle drives just fine other than that.

 

[Falconbuk]

It certainly does look like a bad earth point. Try this: attach a black wire from the stereo chassis to one of the dash mounting bolts (one that goes into the metal support underneath the dash).

Our cars (yours is just like mine) have a common issue where the shared earth from the stereo and instruments gets worn/old/corroded and the instruments start doing really odd things. The common fix is to add the wire as described. I guess you could hunt down the actual bad earth point as well, if you were really bored.J

It certainly does look like a bad earth point. Try this: attach a black wire from the stereo chassis to one of the dash mounting bolts (one that goes into the metal support underneath the dash).

Our cars (yours is just like mine) have a common issue where the shared earth from the stereo and instruments gets worn/old/corroded and the instruments start doing really odd things. The common fix is to add the wire as described. I guess you could hunt down the actual bad earth point as well, if you were really bored.

So I removed alot of plastic on the dash, just want to make sure I understood how you suggested I run the extra grounding wire.

Picture wiring 1 shows how I plan to run a wire between the dash and stereo. Did I understand you correctly?

Also, do you think it would be wise to run a second wire from the stereo chassis to one of the bolts near the parking break to give it a second connection to the chassis of my truck? I figured I might as well do so since the plastic is removed. See image 2 showing the bolts I'm speaking of.

 

[Old.Tony]

Your solution will ensure that the stereo itself and the instrument cluster's mounting frame are earthed properly. It should be sufficient - there is a small chance that your particular problem is something like a cold/cracked solder joint on the board inside the instrument cluster (has happened before, not common though).

This at least doesn't cost a lot and ticks off one common source of problems.

 

[Falconbuk]

Your solution will ensure that the stereo itself and the instrument cluster's mounting frame are earthed properly. It should be sufficient - there is a small chance that your particular problem is something like a cold/cracked solder joint on the board inside the instrument cluster (has happened before, not common though).

This at least doesn't cost a lot and ticks off one common source of problems.

I tried running one wire as these two images show. The problem did not go away sadly.

Also, you said the instrument clusters mounting frame should be earthed properly, as far as I can tell the cluster is mounted directly to plastic (plastic ear on the cluster mounted to plastic of the dash), should I still try to run a wire from the stereo chassis to one of the screws holding the instrument cluster (like the image in my previous post) or is the wire I actually mounted (seen in this post) enough?

 

[Old.Tony]

The instrument cluster is supposed to have an earth supplied through its loom, but that's supposed to connect to the earth for the stereo which is sometimes compromised. I've heard of the radio antenna having corrosion issues which causes the stereo to lose its earth and the instrument cluster to start doing odd things, and this was the basis for my initial suggestion.

However, there might be some damage to the loom behind your instrument cluster, or it's getting odd information from the ECU which would be the next thing I'd check. Do you have access to any tool that can take data directly from the ECU, like a bluetooth OBD adapter with an OBD application like Torque for Android?

 

[Falconbuk]

The instrument cluster is supposed to have an earth supplied through its loom, but that's supposed to connect to the earth for the stereo which is sometimes compromised. I've heard of the radio antenna having corrosion issues which causes the stereo to lose its earth and the instrument cluster to start doing odd things, and this was the basis for my initial suggestion.

However, there might be some damage to the loom behind your instrument cluster, or it's getting odd information from the ECU which would be the next thing I'd check. Do you have access to any tool that can take data directly from the ECU, like a bluetooth OBD adapter with an OBD application like Torque for Android?

I have tried reading codes with my friends bluetooth OBD, shows nothing. Though my friend says his OBD only read drive train codes, I am not sure if I need to use another OBD reader which reads more codes...

Still at a loss with this issue. Saw on youtube that you can reset the ECU, maybe I should give that a try next.

 

[BarneyB]

You said your ABS light has been on for a while...
And you're getting 4x4 pictogram weirdness...
And the Speedo is getting unreliable input....

Might be worth checking your wheel speed sensors and connections at each corner?

(I'm assuming your Nav would be pre-stability control)

 

[Falconbuk]

You said your ABS light has been on for a while...
And you're getting 4x4 pictogram weirdness...
And the Speedo is getting unreliable input....

Might be worth checking your wheel speed sensors and connections at each corner?

(I'm assuming your Nav would be pre-stability control)

Yes, been getting all of those issues at once, all of a sudden.

Wheel speed sensors is the same as what people call "ABS sensors" right?

I did measure resistance of all the ABS sensors when I had the ABS unit contact disconnected. The readings are as follows:

Front driver: 593 ohm
Front passenger: 588 ohm
Rear driver: 598 ohm
Rear passanger: 200-300 ohm

I did also notice that two of the readings, cannot remember if it was the front or rear, did give really different values when switching poles on my resistance measuring device. Cannot remember the exact number but the change was major and it was the same for both sensors on the same wheel axle. I do not know if this is normal or not.

Also I am not sure if testing it for resistance with the truck parked and power off would show anything even if this was the source of my problem, perhaps the issue could occur due to vibrations or slight rotation of the wheel.

Do you suggest looking for visible physical damage to the wiring/connections at each ABS sensor? Or do you suggest another way of diagnosis for this?

Any advice is appreciated!