| Message |
I posted last year because my HICAS, BRAKE, and the 'tail light out' warning lights were lit up on my dash, out of the blue. There was no symptom leading up to it, and it would come and go randomly, but mostly they would stay on, all three. Also during this time the A/C compressor clutch would not engage, although everything else in the climate control was fine. Searching this site found the following suggestions: - Alternator going bad: to be safe as I was going on a trip, I replaced my alternator. This did not fix the problem. - Eng Cont fuse: 10A fuse under the hood that provides power to many engine management circuits. If blown, these 3 lights will light, the A/C will not work, and other things will not work, like the AIV, AAC, EGR, etc. My fuse was not blown.
After studying the wiring diagram I determined that I either had a bad connection/broken wire somewhere (as another member that posted did) or a bad bulb check relay. I was hoping for the relay. It is located on the back of the fuse panel inside the car on the drivers side floor. I finally had the time to pull it out and once it was removed, the problem was fixed. I also learned that this relay, when stuck closed, causes all the circuits on the power feed to act really bad. Removing this bad relay fixed:
Idle problem - high idle coming to a stop with a slow settle
A/C - compressor clutch now works normally
Warm start problem - car would start hard if warm and left sitting for more than 1/2 hour. Would start fine cold and if restarted hot within a few moments of shutting down
Safety boost - car was in safety boost (didn't know until I installed a blitz EBC 2 weeks ago) whenever this failure mode was present
HICAS - now working properly I also assume that the EGR and VTC systems were not working either. One symptom was that when the problem was not occurring, the dash bulbs that were supposed to be checked by the bulb check circuit were not lit. The relay was sticking on or off, and switching occasionally. I still need to test the relay - I assume it is bad but realize that a bad connection was causing it to cycle. What I do know is that if this relay is closed when the car is running, all sorts of things stop working. Pulling the drivers fuse panel was not bad - 3 of the connections at the bottom had to be unplugged, but then there was enough play to pull panel out and rotate it to see the back. The relays on the back have names embossed on the panel - this one was labeled L/C Relay.
|
 |
