ok what the flip!!???

E

E21BIMMERHEAD

Member
So a while back(years ago) I had to run my car pretty damn low on fuel and I think I created a short because of it. My headlight sockets starting to begin melting shortly after. They have stopped melting themselves for sometime now, but then my alternator went out about 6 months ago(I knew it was going bad because sometimes when I would do something like use a window etc the car would stall for a brief period but keep driving normally cuz I would be moving.....but my gauges would all be dead for a bit them pop back on.) so I replaced my alternator and that wierd stalling issue is gone, now though my headlights are VERY dim but the highbeams work normally except the little blue light doesnt come on. now could this be a short/bad ground? A tech at my work said that mazdas tend to have "ground switching" issues...what does that mean? any help is greatly appreciated!!
 
E21BIMMERHEAD said:
So a while back(years ago) I had to run my car pretty damn low on fuel and I think I created a short because of it. My headlight sockets starting to begin melting shortly after. They have stopped melting themselves for sometime now, but then my alternator went out about 6 months ago(I knew it was going bad because sometimes when I would do something like use a window etc the car would stall for a brief period but keep driving normally cuz I would be moving.....but my gauges would all be dead for a bit them pop back on.) so I replaced my alternator and that wierd stalling issue is gone, now though my headlights are VERY dim but the highbeams work normally except the little blue light doesnt come on. now could this be a short/bad ground? A tech at my work said that mazdas tend to have "ground switching" issues...what does that mean? any help is greatly appreciated!!
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Let me get this straight... you think because you ran your car out of fuel or low on fuel that it caused a short!?!? Did I read that right? If so step away from the car.....(nailbyt)

NO way would that cause a short... shorten the life of the fuel pump maybe but create a short nope not going to happen.

It sounds like you have been running higher wattage bulbs or something to cause the headlight plugs to melt... Have you replaced them? Re-terminated them or anything? or are you just riding dirty and hoping for the best?
 
StealthWyvern said:
Let me get this straight... you think because you ran your car out of fuel or low on fuel that it caused a short!?!? Did I read that right? If so step away from the car.....(nailbyt)

NO way would that cause a short... shorten the life of the fuel pump maybe but create a short nope not going to happen.

It sounds like you have been running higher wattage bulbs or something to cause the headlight plugs to melt... Have you replaced them? Re-terminated them or anything? or are you just riding dirty and hoping for the best?
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Re-terminated them?? whats that? oh and I ran low on fuel in my old bimmer and caused a big ass short and have had a couple freinds with rx7's and preludes have the same thing happen to them(rx7 was because of a bad fuel gauge and prelude was because he saw that seinfeld episode and wanted to see how far he could go before it stopped...) but yeah whats re-terminating mean? never heard of that before. I used to have silverstars in....?
 
E21BIMMERHEAD said:
Re-terminated them?? whats that? oh and I ran low on fuel in my old bimmer and caused a big ass short and have had a couple freinds with rx7's and preludes have the same thing happen to them(rx7 was because of a bad fuel gauge and prelude was because he saw that seinfeld episode and wanted to see how far he could go before it stopped...) but yeah whats re-terminating mean? never heard of that before. I used to have silverstars in....?
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re-do the headlight connections.
 
oh yeah iv re done them many times, trouble is I have re-done them so much and it has been a while since I have tackled this issue that I dont remember whats what.....
 
justanothermp5 said:
spammer, ban please


but i think what you should have done is FILL IT UP WHEN ITS LOW!
if it happened to u in your BMW and a ton of your friends had the same problem, i dont understand why u did it again
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LOL yeah I know I know, I was forced to because I forgot my wallet on my way to work once......:( oh and thanks for catching that spammer!
 
justanothermp5 said:
spammer, ban please


but i think what you should have done is FILL IT UP WHEN ITS LOW!
if it happened to u in your BMW and a ton of your friends had the same problem, i dont understand why u did it again
Click to expand...

I still don't understand why a low fuel tank would short out headlights. Yeah, if the fuel pump wasn't fused and it ran hot, then I suppose it could have melted something further down the line which in turn screwed up the headlight wiring, but come 'on people - we're not dealing with 1920s automotive technology :)
 
Yeah I've gotta call bulls*** on that one. If there's not a short already in the system, I dont know how one would form. I guess the wires could melt if the pump was unfused, but I would think the fuel pump would burn itself out before it affected a COMPLETELY different part of the wiring harness. And if that were the case, the car would still be having weird stalling issues because if the short to the lights was caused by a short in the fuel pump wire, there would be a short in the fuel pump wire and it would not be working properly

If you really think it's a short, your options are to pull the loom off all the wires you can find and check them inch by inch, or take the car to a shop where they will charge you a s*** load of money to do the same thing. But If you don't fix a short, it's going to continue to give you trouble.

Check your wires going from the headlights into the control box, my guess is that if there is a short, it is in the engine bay in the wiring to the lights. That would explain all your problems.
 
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Well I spoke with a tech from my work, he said in his experience with mazdas that they tend to do a lot of ground switching.....? Anyone know what "ground switching" means?
 
I suspect one ground goes to crap and then more circuits have to use less available ground capacity causing voltage buildup and intermittent electrical failures. Those ground loop systems are a good idea but you don't need to buy them just clean up all your grounds, cut old and crimp new connectors, add additional 6ga grounds, get the voltage drop between block and battery (-) less than 250mV.
 
E21BIMMERHEAD said:
Well I spoke with a tech from my work, he said in his experience with mazdas that they tend to do a lot of ground switching.....? Anyone know what "ground switching" means?
Click to expand...



All it means is they use the ground to turn things on and off instead of the power side. Everyone is doing this nowadays. It prolongs the life of contacts inside of switches and relays by from preventing them from arching when the contacts make and break connection
 
awsome this is good to know because my next electrical issue is driving me equally insane! I keep blowing the blower motor resistor for the heater blower. I have heard it could be either a bad A/C control unit(I think thats waht they said) or a bad ground for this system..... I printed to wiring diagram off alldata at work but I cant seem to find where in the car the ground actually is.....?
 
E21BIMMERHEAD said:
awsome this is good to know because my next electrical issue is driving me equally insane! I keep blowing the blower motor resistor for the heater blower. I have heard it could be either a bad A/C control unit(I think thats waht they said) or a bad ground for this system..... I printed to wiring diagram off alldata at work but I cant seem to find where in the car the ground actually is.....?
Click to expand...


I have and ac problem that has actually had a Technical service bullitin out on it but it doesnt blow resistors. I have lost fan pos 2 3 & 4 in ac it just kicks the compressor clutch off when i select any of those fan positions. Thats the only tsb i read about the hcu (heater control unit) and it has to do with improper logic in the module which kicks the clutch off and it is repairable with like a $280 hcu with with new programming.

I would say it would be a short to ground in the blower resistor circuit most likely.

i can go grab another diag from alldata at school today and try to help ya out with this. The pcm probably uses the ground. So what your actually gonna be looking for is the power wire to be shorted out to a ground somewhere. Cause if the ground wire that the hcu uses is shorted to power that would have fried your hcu, because those things on like roughly 5v or so.

Does your blower motor fuse blow at the same time as the resistor?
 
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Thefriar said:
I have and ac problem that has actually had a Technical service bullitin out on it but it doesnt blow resistors. I have lost fan pos 2 3 & 4 in ac it just kicks the compressor clutch off when i select any of those fan positions. Thats the only tsb i read about the hcu (heater control unit) and it has to do with improper logic in the module which kicks the clutch off and it is repairable with like a $280 hcu with with new programming.

I would say it would be a short to ground in the blower resistor circuit most likely.

i can go grab another diag from alldata at school today and try to help ya out with this. The pcm probably uses the ground. So what your actually gonna be looking for is the power wire to be shorted out to a ground somewhere. Cause if the ground wire that the hcu uses is shorted to power that would have fried your hcu, because those things on like roughly 5v or so.

Does your blower motor fuse blow at the same time as the resistor?
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No the fuse never blows... also a new quirk has started.... my left front speaker cuts in and out from time to time and now its just not working.
 
Possibly a bad blower motor overheating then blowing your resistor.

For the speaker, do a wiggle test on the harness that runs to the door.
 
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