R34 Electrics/lights - Help?

[comarcus93]

Hi guys,

Have had this issue with my R34 N/A sedan for a little while now.

Probably about 3 months ago, whenever i would flick to high beams, my cd player would turn off and then turn back on.

My speedo backlights would also flicker.

I had my battery tested (which was the same battery which came with it from Japan), and was told it was not performing well,

and purchased another. I believe that my alternator was also tested at this stage, and came up fine.

A few weeks later, I had the same issue.

So, I popped the bonnet and had a look at the battery terminals, just out of curiosity.

The positive terminal appeared very SLIGHTLY loose, so i tightened it, and also cleaned it up a bit.

Problems were gone, and no issues for another 2-3 months.

Until tonight.

Driving home, popped high beams on, and boom, headunit goes off, backlights flicker, and even the A/T light is glowing at me.

I was pretty spooked by the A/T light, as I hadnt had this issue before.

Anyway, I arrived at my home, and the light was off, and my high beams no longer affected any other components in my car. (I had been driving for 30 minutes - discovering the issue again in the meantime)

I have these Ebay LED's in my parkers. And the rest of my headlights are standard Xenons. My headunit was also professionally installed.

Can anybody lend any thoughts? Thanks!

[Charles89]

I think I had similar problems before, but headunit and other stuff restarts or flickers.

Solved my problem by finding all the earth points in the engine bay, clean them all up and sand back the contact point a little.

So try checking all your grounds to make sure they are okay

[enka]

^
definitely bad ground(s)

[comarcus93]

Ah cheers guys!

Do you have any reference pictures for the ground points in the engine bay?

I'm not very clued in with this kind of work, but could easily manage if I know where they are.

Thanks!

[Lolrick]

Ah cheers guys!

Do you have any reference pictures for the ground points in the engine bay?

I'm not very clued in with this kind of work, but could easily manage if I know where they are.

Thanks!

How did you end up going with this? I'm having a similar problem, will need to start checking my grounds too! Did this solve your issue? Mine is that I keep blowing my tail light fuse, so it's either bad grounds or a loose wire somewhere

[comarcus93]

How did you end up going with this?

Hey man.

Funny you ask, because I just fiddled with my electrics yesterday.

Headunit had only flicked off once since my last post, although my headlights still flickered.

Yesterday I sanded back my negative terminal on my battery to give it a better connection (Best I could do without knowing where the chassis earths are), and my headlights don't flicker anymore.

The old man thinks it'd be easier to chuck the R34 on a hoist to find the earths on the chassis and tidy them up, as they look in a hard spot to reach.

[Lolrick]

OK, I was thinking of just doing the bicarb soda and brush approach first, then clean/sand the engine bay earth points. Will let you know how i go with that, as otherwise I'm going to an auto-electrician and hoping for a quick/easy fix!

Have you had any issues with your fuel gauge, btw? Mine keeps setting itself to full (the needle isn't stuck, its just reading incorrectly) and im hoping that fixing the grounding will help this.

[comarcus93]

Nah haven't had any fuel gauge issues, sorry.

Yeah I did the bicarb trick with mine a while back, but it didn't do much for me.

Had to physically sand a layer back.

Do you think you could take a couple of photos of your engine bay with a couple of arrows pointing to the general area of the earth points for me?

I'm keen to do the same thing to mine, but I have no clue where they all are, and how to reach them (crawl under car or whatever)

Would give me something to do this weekend, and would definitely put my electrical issues to bed once and for all!

[Lolrick]

I've searched the entire first page of Google and checked most forums, but have not been able to find any photos of where the grounding points are, and i've peeked at the engine bay myself and couldn't find them - maybe you have to get at them from underneath. All i know is the main one is 'near the alternator'. Will try and ask someone at work tomorrow - sorry I can't be any help mate!

[comarcus93]

Yeah too easy Mick. Cheers for having a look.

Next time my car is on a hoist or above a pit, I'll try and take some snaps for future reference.

Might help someone else who has no idea with this stuff, like myself. Hah

[Lolrick]

Im pretty sure that it's almost directly under the battery, you can sort of see the bolts from above the engine bay when you pop the hood, but i think you need to get underneath the car to access them! Just follow the cable from the battery

[Charles89]

Only just saw this again, but there are a few ground points inside your engine bay.

One noticeably is on the left hand side of the engine (if you are facing the car), on the chassis rail? right of your battery.

Forgot where the other ones are, I can check tonight for you guys if you still haven't solved your problems.

And no, the car doesn't need to be on a hoist to access them lol.

Might be worth adding an extra ground or two around the engine bay, or buy a ground kit.

[skytan12]

I had similar problems with my r34, i got my mechanic to look at it and i think if i remembered right he said that it was because who ever set up the stereo didnt put it on the right power and it was taking power from something else or rather. maybe get ur circuits checked as well?

[Lolrick]

Yeah i think my problem got fixed when i pulled out the stereo and saw that the boost gauge had been spliced into stereo wiring without it being taped up. So basically i covered every bit of exposed wire in electrical tape - all good!

[NHR34]

I had the same dramas with my 34. I cleaned up as many earths as I could find and I also checked the charge at the battery and it was charging at 12.7 volts. I checked it at the alternator and it was 14.5 where It should be. I made a cable to connect the power terminal on the alternator the the positive battery terminal and it has fixed the problem. I used 8mm wire and some large crimp terminals. I'm sure your local auto electrician could make this up for cheap. Hope it helps.