Hi all, well I finally bought an EF! It's a 1991 Teal Si with 142 K and it's immaculate! The car is amazing expect for a couple strange electrical problems. Here are the symptoms:

1) Radio does not save presets. Radio channels have to be reset every time I turn the car on.

2) Strange electrical popping / clicking sound when I turn the key to turn it on and also when I drive over bumps. This sound seems to be coming from inside the dash, behind the glove box, near the top. When I go over bumps or roll over pot holes I hear the weird popping / clicking. Sounds like relays clicking.

3) Seatbelt warning beeper will never turn off. I was dropping my gf off at school and when she got out, she unbuckled the belt and the warning buzzer went off. But it never turned off. I was driving down the road with the buzzer going off and even when I buckled the seatbelt back into the now empty seat it still didnt stop. Only when I turned the car off and on again it went back to normal. When I first got the car, I noticed the previous owner had disconnected the plugs that are found under the seat pan so he must've known about it.

Please help! And thanks!

 

bump

 

the radio isn't getting constant power to keep its memory i assume its incorrectly wired.

the popping / clicking over bumps could very well be the ball joints. I would look into that.

 

#3 is a common problem. It is a bad ground.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by mar778c &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">#3 is a common problem. It is a bad ground. </TD></TR></TABLE>

So the cabin harness goes under the carpet and is inside the dash. So if it's a bad ground then that leads me to believe that one of the old owners messed with the wires, probably trying to hook up some stereo equipment or something. Ug.

 

take your rear view mirror off and unplug the connector thats inside there and it will kill your seatbelt warning chime. You definitely have a short somewhere or something is not wired ight but maybe that will be a ghetto fix for ya. Be carefull taking the plasiccover orr the mirror though the clips break real easy.

 

i have the same problem with the seatbelts....i just tell people if they take off their seat belt i will punch them!

 

The seatbelt problem is most likely the inner latch in the door. if you remove the door panel and disconnect the switch that goes to the latch the noise will stop. The radio not saving presets is because the signal that keeps constant power to the radio has an open circuit. Check the wiring and make sure the harness hasnt rubbed through the conduit and shorted against the metal dash frame. Also (if its an aftermarket radio) the inline fuse isnt blown.

 

Cool, I'll get to work on checking those things out. The radio is the stock OEM tape deck that came in the car.

 

I poked around under the dash, in the engine bay, and in back and its very apparent that everything is where it should be. Nothing has ever been done to this car, heh. Which is cool but it also deepens the mystery. Can someone post up a list or a diagram of where all the grounds are located?

 

So I just realized that the reverse lights stay on the entire time I am driving.

 

hey man...check the fuses under the hood.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Glen Tennis &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So I just realized that the reverse lights stay on the entire time I am driving.</TD></TR></TABLE>
The switch is either stuck on or there is a short ground somewhere.

 

check the 3 main grounds.
one on your valve cover.
one on your tranny
and i can remember wtf i just did a motor swap too.
oh duh the one that comes off your battery down under it.
theres a couple of them under the dash by the pedals. on the far side,