electrical help please!

[warpig2003]

hello. i posted this over at 240sxforums but no one seemed to know or want to answer so im hoping to get better results over here.

alright, well a year or so ago my horn randomly went out as well as my cruise control. we checked the fuses, replaced the relay, and checked all the wires we could get to for electric. we took the front off the steering wheel, and as we suspected the whole steering wheel has no electricity.

we checked the horns and they are fine so somewhere in my car there is a shortage or something. has anyone ever had this problem before? if so, what the hell did you do? and if you havent had this problem do you have any idea where to continue searching? i had them look at it when i got my exhaust put on and they said its not a fuse so they would have to just dig in and look around at $65 an hour. theres no way someones working on my car for $65 an hour.

i suck at electronics so i dont really know what else to do and i have inspections before the end of this month. im going home this weekend to do emmisions and inspections so i need to take care of this this weekend.

were considering just wiring a switch or button up that bypasses everything. if i did this, would i just wire it uses a fuse such as the radio fuse or something? i would rather not do it this way because cruise control would be nice driving between college and home, but i dont know what else to do.

thanks for any help

[projectRDM]

Buy an FSM. You can then trace the entire schematic in the car.

The ASCD system is too complex to just randomly check fuses.

[warpig2003]

i have an fsm and ive tried to trace the wires... we cant find it for the life of us.

[jb240sx]

First take the steering wheel cover off and see if the wires got disconnected if they are plugged in move on to taking your steering wheel totally off. You'll see 3 or 4 contacts on the back and 3 or 4 rings on the hub thats so you can honk the horn and use cruise control no matter where the wheel is postioned. When I took my wheel off I noticed a bunch of crap built up on both, try cleaning these or see if there not making contact. Thats about all I got, try that and post the results.

John

[idlafie]

Did I miss something here?? What year is your car again??

Althought there may be a big difference in electrical wiring between a S13 and S14, the one thing they all share in common, and all need to complete an electrical circuit, is a Ground point, (that is provided all your fuses are okay & none are blown...you've inspected your fuses right? Both underneath the hood behind the battery & underneath the dash by the driverside kick panel right?).

Look at your electrical diagram in your FSM and try to locate both the Horn Relay and the Cruise Control relays, [there's two of them - a). ASCD Cut Relay & b). ASCD Hold Relay].

Check to see if both the Horn Relay & Cruise Control relays use the same ground wire. If they do, then you might want to check the connection on the ground wire. There may be a short in those ground wires. On an S14 both the Horn Relay & Cruise Control relays can be found on the passenger side floorboard behind the kickpanel. You might have to pull your ECU unit to access the relays. I think the relays are in the same spot for an S13...not sure though.

Usually, if you get no electricity to an item it's either due to a bad fuse, cut wire or no connection to a grounding wire.

Anyhow, hope this helps...
ID
"95 SE

[projectRDM]

Um, no. On an S14 the horn relay is under the hood in the fusebox. The ASCD hold relay is behind the ECU.

[AzNCmB]

yes...please help me on this also... I have the same exact problema and I've been ignoring it...but I would really like to fix this.

[warpig2003]

o yeah... its a 90.

yes, ive def checked the fuses a few times and pulled off the front of the steering wheel. the contacts all look alright and no electricity is getting to them. i will check the ground wires and check the relays. i replaced the horn relay but that did nothing so i would imagine it would have to be one of the other relay or bad connection i dont see how a wire would randomly get cut. i probably knocked a connection loose or something cause my cars a rough ride and my towns streets suck ass.

thanks for all the help. i should probably just start coming here for all my tech questions cause 240sxforums lacks that. if any one has any other ideas that would be awesome as well. the electric systems on cars drive me crazy :loco:

[warpig2003]

and AzNCmB, i attached a wiring layout of the horn so maybe it can help you have a visual. its page el-64

Look at your electrical diagram in your FSM and try to locate both the Horn Relay and the Cruise Control relays, [there's two of them - a). ASCD Cut Relay & b). ASCD Hold Relay].

when im lookin at the fsm it looks like it has to be the horn relay, a fuse, or a bad wire because the horn wouldnt be bad if it was one of those relays. i know the relays, fuses, and horns are good so i guess i just get to go check connections.

[Rennen]

I saw your car turning onto Providence today. :wavey:

I am not usually much help when it comes to electrical stuff, but if you need a hand tracking it down sometime, I can help. We could swap your horn relay for mine and see if that fixes it? Also, if you need to use a garage or tools, let me know.

-Matt

[warpig2003]

how the hell did you know it was me?

[Rennen]

haha, I recognized your username from my very short time on 204sxforums last year, and I remebered you went to Mizzou.

-Matt