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Hi guys,

Just had my manual conversion done by the guys at Turbo Tune here in Adelaide, they did a great job on it and the changeover was really quick.

However on my drive back home i noticed that my hicas light suddenly came on and my whole dash started flickering? At this point I no longer had power steering but still drove fine.

Got home, turned the car off, went to empty the boot with all the automatic bits n pieces, turned it back on and all is fine, haven't taken it for a drive yet though, just worried as to whats going on?

Ill give them a call back tomorrow and see if they can sort it out but would like to know if anyone has any idea as to why this is happening?

could be your alarm playing around

no alarm.

club lock, 2 dogs, angy wog dad and 60 cousins on speed dial.

na but seriously, its getting the alarm put in on thursday... until then i wanna get this issue sorted.

Stupid question - Was the speedometer working?

yeah the dash cluster itself is fully operational, speedo, tacho etc all work... jsut the back lights flicker on and off randomly, as i slow down and stop, they turn back on like normal but hicas light still stays on.

Edited by SkyHi_33

This is a weird one.

When you refer to the back lights, are you talking about the cluster illumination or the brake/tail lights.

Also if you aren't using an aftermarket ECU, do you know if they swapped to a manual ECU or are you still using the auto ECU.

Stupid question - Was the speedometer working?

ok just took the car for another drive and a big no, the speedometer doesnt work.

could have sworn it was working on the drive home.

Basicaly what is happening, turn the car on, all is fine, take off, speedometer doesnt work but otherwise ok. 2min later i loose power steering, than another minute or so later the hicas light comes on.

There is no more dash illumination lights flickering but i think i have worked it out, i think it might have something to do with the speedo disconnecting itself on the drive home as im almost 100% positive it was working. So in turn im assuming the speedo has something to do with hicas and power steering cut out?

Okay what's happening is that the HICAS is sensing that the speed input is incorrect and will shut down the power and speed sensitive steering.

Fix the speedo and it will return to normal.

I think you might be right, i think i had similar problems when my speedo cable broke.

33's use an electronic pulse sensor, not a cable.

But the same theory is in play, no speed input, no power/speed sensitive steering.

if its the speedo causing issues, itll be on the gearbox end i'd say. My cluster had dry solder joints so my speedo stopped working for a bit, but the hicas never got angry. Obviously thats because the ecu was still seeing a signal, even if the cluster couldnt display it.

did they change the speedo cluster to a manual one. a auto cluster will be out by about 50%(slow). if they did they may not have plugged the wiring in properly and its fallen out. auto ECU will work fine. i had mine in for a couple of years after i done my conversion

Edited by Pal

Still using the auto cluster, thanks for the advice though, will look in to changing it over.

And ive been back to the workshop, it turns out that the conversion i brought did not include the manual gearbox loom for the computer which reads the speedo and other things... So i bought one, dropped it back in and surprise surprise, its not a straight swap over, the plug for the oil pressure sensor, speedo, power steering and reverse lights is different to the automatic one where these are spread out over 3 different plugs.

Been told to come back in on monday and that they will re-wire it all but don't think i can wait till then :huh:

How was your manual plugged in to run properly Eric? do you still remember or have the car?

i bought all the stuff and they fitted it. i never bought the loom and as far as i i know they didn't fit one, not sure what they are talking about. they just terminated some wires and joined some together to close loop them, guessing it would have been the ignition cut off wires for when you try to start it out of park. i was'nt there when the workshop fitted it and maybe they done some wiring that i didn't know about. only other thing i didn't have was the little gear on the end of the speedo cable going into the gearbox as the auto and manual ones are different but they said it wasn't much of a job to fit another one. as i said, the auto speedo cluster will need to be changed to a manual one. i still have the car.

Edited by Pal
i bought all the stuff and they fitted it. i never bought the loom and as far as i i know they didn't fit one, not sure what they are talking about. they just terminated some wires and joined some together to close loop them, guessing it would have been the ignition cut off wires for when you try to start it out of park. i was'nt there when the workshop fitted it and maybe they done some wiring that i didn't know about. only other thing i didn't have was the little gear on the end of the speedo cable going into the gearbox as the auto and manual ones are different but they said it wasn't much of a job to fit another one. as i said, the auto speedo cluster will need to be changed to a manual one. i still have the car.

Ahh ok thanks for all the info!

You wouldn't happen to know which wires were connected from the automatic loom? I'm guessing the connections would have been made at the gearbox end but just in case they did them at the harness where the washer bottle is, are you able to tell me which wires are still connected if you got the time? If its at the gearbox end then don't worry about it, dont want to trouble you. :yes:

I know that the wires needed are: reverse lights, inhibitor switch, speedo, but no one ive talked to knows which wires from the automatic trans loom go to these.

just had a quick look in the fuse box, nothing has been disconnected. inhibit fuse is still connected, and the AT one is connected still as well. the wiring has been hidden up between the floorpan and g/box so cant see it.

cheers for the effort dude! i had a look at that thread before but unfortunately the plugs and wires are different for the r33 :D

ill just have to wait it out till Monday and get the mechanics to sort it out.

Edited by SkyHi_33

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