In this video I have a look at a ladies 2017 Toyota Rav4 that she says stalls out when ever she turns on the wipers. It was easier than you might think once we follow the clues.
-Enjoy!
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I'm gonna go out check out this. uh Toyota here. put the door closed. uh Toyota RAV4 Oh here it is.
It's a newer one that's all-wheel drive. What year is this saying? 2017 customer complaint is stalls Once you turn around the windshield wipers unless you drove by the other day and I'll keep picked if he wasn't lying I fired it up I Got to see back here. a little bit old lever and uh sure is sure as heck installed when I turn on the wipers. where's our speedometer here? let's see if it does it required to drive.
Oh there it goes. She's stalled just like that brown wipers and it dies. For my support She'll stay right. let's see squirrel.
Nothing happens. We flick them up. motor shuts off awesome right? I Don't think it's as hard as what we might think it is I Took her for a little trip around the block the other day and I think I figured it out. Let me show you because I popped the hood.
This thing's got a little Force cylinder and it doesn't look like anybody's touched it out there under the hood and I wiggled on the wiper arms and stuff and wiggled on the harness going up in there I'm like man, there shouldn't be anything that can do it. However, it's not the act of turning an appointment to see in drive. I Can turn on the wipers but if I give them a little flick the engine stalls. Wow now it's making a liar out of me.
Sometimes you got cold I don't know why but like this I guess what? I'm getting man, there she goes. Now she's stopped so it's not the act of turning on the wipers. What's happening when we're flicking this up while we're wiggling the column covers with what's happening? Watch sure now it's gonna Collier out of me. Oh there it goes.
So all I'm doing I'm reaching underneath giving her one of leafies. don't wiggle there we go. Just stalled the car out and all I was doing is simply grabbing the column button right. makes it so quicker.
Let's see. watch. So all I'm doing is wiggling this column. There we go.
Car stalled. So what's that mean? Well let me share you with you a little something something here. I've picked the name tag off the keys so you guys don't freak out God forbid you see somebody's name. The answer is right here folks and it's not Williams Toyota It's not it.
Let's play the support of the Dvnf. it's not the key. I'll give you one more clue, it's Best Buy We don't know if it's Best Buy or not, but what I do know is this car has a remote start. What else I do know it's probably a freaking Rat's Nest under here.
So when we give her one of those and wiggle wiggle and it stalls the engine out, It's probably because whatever Ding Dong put in a remote start has it all freaked up. So let's go see if we can't fix it. Sorry, it's not really any more climatic climactic. I can't speak? um sorry.
it's not even more exciting than that, but it was one of this. Let's see what it really is. something in this column I Bet it has to do with some Scotch blocks and some black tape. It's all the way back. I Don't really want to go moving around the comb? I Don't think we're having any choice. Let's just see. so I see some wires hanging down right here by the tilt lever. Okay and then oh yeah, I see the massive Rat's Nest down below.
So let's try to get some of these panels off, see what kind of mess they made under here. So I ended up speaking with this lady and she told me that I told her what I thought my findings were and I guess it wasn't best try. it was the dealership. she said that put in the factory remote start.
um I sure it was not a factor, it won't start, it was an aftermarket and the uh, if it's anything like these dealerships close by to us, they just have some company shows up. A guy pulls up in the minivan. he's armed with a pocket full of Scott flocks and some wire strippers and a test light and 15 minutes later you got yourself a remote start. He's out 35 scotch locks and half roll black tape but he got her done.
So I got the column lower column. cover slipped out. just had to. It was just being a little miserable around where the uh, we're a lot killing their goats.
so a lot of wires here in the column. However, the only things I'm seeing tapped into are down here below the best: I can tell unless something is chafed through which. immediate initial inspection I Don't see, but down here there's some Scotch rocks I just want to fiddle with them and see if I can't get it to act up, but it doesn't seem to be acting up Currently you wiggle these wires up here in the column. Oh there we go.
So there. I'm wiggling here All right. Well guess what? let me move you guys down here so let's have a look-see here folks. get light set up here.
he's on. Okay, there it goes. So every time it beeps is when we're having this issue, let's make sure see if we can make sure we're wiggling isolated harnesses that that's screwing up right here. just wiggling right there.
it's dead. Okay, so where is this harness this is? This just goes into the wiper harness. Yeah, so we're good there. Dead right there.
and that's all. I'm wiggling. Let me just make sure I'm gonna wiggle it down here. Let it get back alive here.
Yeah, even if I wiggle I'm just wiggling this here. All right I need to stick my head down here. I'm gonna see if I can't isolate exactly what wire it's doing this. So these two unplugged.
See here. it's still going dead. Okay, so wiggling the steering stock or the turn signal stock is still causing the issue. That's really bizarre.
Okay, so it's nothing to do with these two. I'm gonna unplug. Come on plug. Wait a minute here.
Unplug this. Wait for everything. Come refrigerator. Okay.
I gotta not touch the wires. Wait for it to come back on here. Everything's good there. Still, it's just bringing up a lot of Errors right now. that's all the beeping that you hear. Okay, just touching this harness like this made it all happen. Let me let it come back alive here. Okay, yep, there's a little bit of a left, right.
wiggle right there. made this happen. What in the Thunder is going on here? Yep, right there. So wiggling it like this kills it.
Second here. Wait for it. I Want to turn back on. Yeah, so just going like that.
It has to be something right here. What in the heck? man. I See this tape hanging? Okay, just a second here. Okay, is there something is something taped under? Okay.
I'm gonna shut the key off here because we know. what do we know? We know approximately. let me turn this light down so we're not all getting blinded here. We know approximately where this problem is.
It appears to be right here. I'm wondering I'm thinking this is not Factory tape right here. Okay, the best try guy might he might be back on the hook. Let's open this up because this feels suspect right here.
and I got an arrow gone where I'm just barely touching this and it doesn't like it. And please, for the love of everything holy, do Not send me sewing seam rippers please I appreciate the gesture I understand that they work well for you big Grace Blade guy myself: okay oops I'm a little razor blade safety device here. feels like a wire. oh boy.
I think we're coming across the factory installed wiring issue here. wanting that fire was that? oh it's just same time I cut that some snow slit off the roof Here we go baby. Okay so we got two wires that have been tied into right here and then we have some. Let me turn up my light here.
I Think they might have been playing poking. Hope you know that game. the old poke and hope game because they got some extra tape down here. That means they got GM full of holes.
Oh no, they got the wiring stripped right back. Okay, awesome job! The thing I always appreciate about remote cert installer guys is that they cut the harness as close to the plug as they can get and that one there is also stripped back. Okay so let's turn key on. Let's fiddle with these two wires and see if we get the same symptom.
I'll wait for it to quit beeping there. No. I Gotta wait for all the lane departure. She's got a lot of errors in it.
Let me, uh, plug the wiper switch back in. Let's see here. Okay, I think all of our safety warnings are gone. Of course.
now that we've tug that just a little bit, we may have restored a connection. I Bet you pay you 50 bucks We did. Oh, there it goes. Wait for it to quit beeping.
It's just going through its malfunctions again here. and clear out that screen. Foreign, wrong dang wires. Because you know what? Yep, we are.
We're on the wrong ways boys. We gotta find out where the how deep this hackery goes because I'll let it clear up here. Yep, it's right here. If I touch this right here, let's wait a second. Okay, we're all good. Yep. I touched it right here. I'm just barely put my finger on this thing.
Let me let this clear up again. Okay, you're right. I'm just gonna barely touch it right there. stalls.
Yep, so it's something right here. Wait for it. We get on the clear screen. now.
it's not gonna do it. Oh you pissed by? Okay right there. Okay, right around here. Is this okay? Let's shut this off.
Gosh, this is kind of annoying because we gotta find out what's Factory and what's not Now this has this appears to be Factory I Can see how much hackery they did I'm guessing quite a bit, but this I just can't fathom an aftermarket guy taking these Factory zip ties out and then reusing them. that's not their Style Typically they'll do the biggest hack job they can and just use a style of the path and zip ties and tape so it has nothing to do with these wires right here. Just see if when they were chopping through here with the razor blade, did they chop up some other stuff but this appears Factory Let's see. Well I'll tell you what folks, let me pause the camera.
I'm gonna let this down a little bit. I might dig a Little Deeper see how far the sin goes. side thrower up and stand to stern the only wires I see that they hack up through here for the for the data Network I Believe this pink and white uh twisted pair runs up to uh you know the clock spring so it's gonna be all the data bus for all the buttons on the steering column and everything. um other than that I mean they they put all new tape through here so I opened up I took all their Cape off and I looked at every wire individually I don't see anything I just plugged everything back in.
But one thing I observed and I should have made a note of this: I unplugged this connector up here. so uh I don't know if you guys can see it. this this one right here for the ignition and when I unplugged it, it popped out like super easy. like I just reached up, my finger, pushed it, pulled it out like that and that was you know, some off-camera stuff I was doing as I was doing some some checks and then I popped up and I clicked it in.
Okay and then I'm going through and I mean I'm wiggling every single wire and I cannot get this sucker to act up again. Um, you know, doing try to keep this crap out of your way. but hey, I got the flip past it you know I'm I'm giving her all all she's got here and I cannot get this thing to so much as glitch. So that's why I decided to unplug every single connector and that's when I got to this connection.
I cannot unplug it with just my fingers I sat here and filled with this thing. Wow. Like why in the heck can I get this thing unplugged? It unplugs very difficult the first time I unplug it I just reached up Boop popped it out I believe in my heart that this connector was not plugged in all the way I think it was sitting in there just like it is because if I leave it like that I can wiggle the harness and I'll get the dash to cut out. Well now it's just flicking some relays on and off. but I do believe I believe that may have been our problem I wish I would have. maybe when we look back on the video I don't know if I can see this connector. maybe early on we can see the difference between it being all the way in which sits in past the flush edge of this housing. boy I don't want to plug in.
always pain to get undone because I got to take this back up and I gotta put the zip ties back on it. but that's all I See folks I don't see anything else like I said where this zip tie was was right here I take my own taped probably a half inch past it. Um and and these wires are all tiny. They're all like you know, 24 gauge and I don't see where they played the Hokey Pokey game with their test light.
Where anything is you know touching itself you know, metal to metal like I say. other than the fact that you know they tied in here which we proved even though it's really you know, poorly done, it's not the problem, it's a problem. But it's not the problem. you know this is all Scotch blocks and butt connectors and all that crap under the dash here.
um I'm thinking in my heart that this connection was loose, which is plausible which will make it still. I'll cut out the dash even though now that I've unplugged it I cannot duplicate it exactly I'm going with it I'm getting some tape I'm gonna put this hard piece back in here that keeps this harness stiff up through here. I'm gonna double check all these wires again. be a triple check at that point because I already double check them and uh, we'll tape it up and we'll move on with our life I Sure hope I can see that connect room some earlier footage, but at this angle I don't know if we'll be able to decipher or determine whether or not that was sticking out.
It'd be really awesome if we could 've got tape put back re-zip tied I included the hackery harness into the tape so I could put the little stiffy piece on there and zip tie it at least to try to keep that from ripping itself apart in the future because this is a telescoping wheel where we were having all of our issues before and I am I am very certain I'd like to think I'm very certain and if that had unplugged nice and easy the second time, I may have not have caught what was happening, but I unplugged it with such ease the first time I should have gave it a second look then, however, I didn't Well, I guess that's all we can do folks. I did ask Lee if you want me to just take the thing out and throw it in your trash, but if she wants a remote start so we'll we will leave it in uh typically I Just throw those things right in the garbage. probably clean up all the hack wiring and then you know, move on with life. But I think in this case I think in this case we're done. I Don't know if these were originally taped from the factory or not. Hard to say we'll put the calm covers on. these were hanging down in front of this lever pretty close to it. You can see them through the column cover.
I May take a little zip tie and at least zip tie them back to this harness just future keep them from rubbing on. You know our little uh little Ding Dong are there a little lever for the Tilt and telescoping wheel. We'll give her the old black tape special right here. Watch this.
The only top difference. If it's me or the other guy, we'll give her a little wrap up with some Super 66. Boom! Lots of clearance now lady. Well folks goes over.
So try to get this lady go back to the dealer because this car is still our manufacturer warranty. I Think he said she had extended warranty but she said no way she going back to that dealer. She's already had it there. a bunch of times.
I Guess trying to fix this issue. apparently they couldn't duplicate the problem. but I mean when she brought it to me I don't know. maybe it was just more persistent, but it acted up, you know I didn't make a parking lot and you know, a couple minutes later I determined and they got nothing to do with wipers.
That's got everything to do with moving this steering column around. She's gonna have to put that back where she had it I guess I Guess that's it folks. Uh, put the format back in it and that's all we can do. Uh I don't know what you can do other than heading into that comment section.
Go around there, Leave me your tail of whoa. A Remote Start Systems If you're a mechanic, work in a shop, let me know what you think about remote starters here and everybody. I Know that works in the shop. except for the guy that installs remote starts hates them.
They're nuisance in our business. They make every job difficult. Uh, for example, if we had pulled sharing column. now it's a big pain because you've got all this rat nests of wire.
You do anything under a dash. you know you got this rat Nest wire now I know in other people's defense, they're going to say well if I put it in you never know it's there. Uh, that's BS you might put it in cleaner. Yes I know that you've solder and heat shrink every joint connector.
It's still a pain I got put Here chord in this thing I can't pull the I can't pull the instrument panel out aka the dashboard assembly because it's a rat nest of wires that are all soldered and heat shrink nicely. It's it's still a paint no matter what. Um, so I'll leave it at that three years frustrating and in this case you know it could have been a simple oversight by the installer to not have that connector in all the way and just took a few while how long she's had the car the rear its ugly head. maybe it was loose from the factory I don't know I don't know and I don't care I'm gonna get paid either way and we're moving on so you guys keep on keeping on. I think I already said this about the comment section. You know what to do I can do it. You can do it. Thanks for watching.
Maybe Mrs O needs a seam ripper. 😂😂
A great find, sometimes these intermittent faults are a nightmare.
And that lady’s and gents is why you use a plug and play remote start with factory plugs and not hack it…
Nice fix Mr O, these aftermarket quacks sometimes do mess up things. I believe Toyota's running quite a risk selling aftermarket crap as genuine accessories. Also, nothing wrong with your speech, even I as a foreigner conditioned to UK English can clearly understand you, to me its just the usual Mr O way of speaking.
As soon as Eric determined that it was something in the steering column, I thought, "I wonder if this thing has an aftermarket remote starter." Yup. And there you have it.
For 2016 and up, Toyota is supposed to have their own plug & play remote starter. There's supposed to be no cutting. I once installed a Toyota plug & play cruise control in a 2003 Echo. It lasted past 2019 when I sold the car.
I hate aftermarket remote starts and alarms
My dad (Mechanic) did many aftermarket remote starters with no problem. He did it properly, soldered heat-shrunk connections and properly taped up and zip-tied. He also used only quality remote starters and offered a lifetime warranty on the install. I think he had maybe 2 remote starter module failures but it didn't cause any driveability issues. It's sad that more people don't take the time to do it properly, or remote starter kits don't have an option to buy the factory male/female adapters to make it a splice-free install sort of thing.
What do you think about aftermarket remote start that is harness based? No cutting of wires, no mess, really, just a clean harness install, clip in and done.
Another thing is Don`t have 40 keys and fobs and trinkets hanging off the lock cylinder. It will ruin the tumbler pins and wear your key out and a lot of cars have a chip in them and are pricey to replace and the key will stick and wont turn on or off. It will take a while to kill it. I just had to replace the one in my brother in laws 2014 Kia Rio. Just a little public service message for you all.
Santa pulls back in to the mechanics work shop says " There's a red light up on the dash board "
Mechanic walks over to the sleigh " Ahhhh " says the mechanic
" There's your problem …. "
" You've Installed Rudolph the wrong way around again "
Just requesting more rusty part videos! Id love to learn and see about driveshafts, u-joints and suspension work. Love me a good break video on a car Ive never had apart aswell. CHEERS
Im sure hes said it before but does anyone know the part number for the tool he slide into the harness tape to protect the harness from being cut?
100% agree about the aftermarket remotes. The hack installations are a real hazard. Some of the aftermarket stuff can be connected with plug in harnesses, but I've never been able to get them for my vehicles.
😂😂 At first I had glanced away for a moment and thought Eric O. had a bad had problem after maybe eating some spicy foods! Then I looked and saw that it was the steering wheel being turned that caused that noise 😂. And then what do you know! Eric O. have the steering column a classic reach around to jiggle the column cover. 😂. JK Eric O ! Love the videos! Have a great one!
Makes a good case against adding remote start. Don't let hacks go into your car's electrical system…unless you don't mind sending your car to mechanic or dealership shops to go back and Fix everything that got messed up. Great video again, Mr O.
I struggled with "anticlimactic" too, lol, in the video I'm trying to "unmess" now…
Absolutely love your channel Eric!
Your persistence pays off….
Persistence wins the prize, you are the best.
Another fantastic video. Keep em coming. Everyone is another learning experience.
What I don't like is the auto start/stop option.
Only one car I ever owned with remote start was a 2007 Mercury Grand Marquis with facfory installed system tell tale sign was it was on the dealer invoice and it had the large antenna just under the mirror worked fine but I'll pass on having remote start again
I have the same car…Mrs. "O"
As others have pointed out, you can clearly see the plug wasn't plugged in all the way earlier in the video. Also, sorry that people don't pay attention enough to your videos when you explain why you're currently talking the way you are. Must be a bit annoying to get people calling you at work even though in their minds they're only looking out for you.
Looking back on the video you CAN see that the plug was not all the way in. Good call.
I install remote starts at a professional shop and we use T-harnesses whenever we can. They plug in and unplug just like a factory harness so you can just unplug everything when you service the car. And you don’t have to play hokey pokey
Back when I bought my Honda I told sales I wanted a factory remote start. When I picked up the car I snapped because they handed me the keys with two cheap remotes. I said this isn’t factory as It would be on my factory key, they tried to lie and say it was. I finally got them to admit a contractor put an aftermarket in it. I told them I could have had a ten times better system installed for the money they charged and told them I want it out and to give me the factory unit and I’ll put it in, they wound up giving me a full refund I kept the remote start they installed and wrote that I will be covered from any issues it may cause for as long as I own it.
OMG the story of my life as a mechanic. Crazy wires!
Love your videos man! You are the top of your field and it's always awesome to see the quality of your work in your videos!
Don't throw out the remote start! ❄️🧤
Hope your palate feels better soon! Good job on the wiring diag.
On April 1 we should all send Eric sewing seem rippers.
This is a comment.
Tale of Woe… 🙂
Hey man, I run a shop in Platteville, Wi, and I absolutely hate the hack and wack remote start systems. The only system I'll use are the units from Flashlogic. They come with T- harnesses. As with you, I've seen way too many butcher jobs. Keep up the excellent work!!
Here's a tip: Don't go to the dealer for anything…including your first oil change. Find a trusted local mechanic and let them work on your car. Sure…if your transmission implodes while under warranty take it back to the dealer. Other than that stay with a real mechanic you can trust. You might get lucky and his name is Eric. Those guys usually know their stuff.
Complete garbage, the OEM ignition system no longer worked, would only start using the remote
On or off camera, good find!
After hearing that just wiggling some wires in the steering column, it became apparent to me that grounding the RUN wire from the key to the ECM (through the remote start) would replicate the problem.
I'm gonna hear that beeping in my dreams tonight
🤠👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍My regards to E & O
I don’t blame her. The Toyota techs in my town are all hacks. One is an EMT working on the lube rack. Another tech was a shopping cart retriever who worked the lube rack and now works on cars under the “supervision” of the shop manager. One kid graduated from tech school and works by the hour and not flat rate ticket. The whole place went down the crapper.
My 2000 Sunfire that I sold in 2011 had a remote starter. Worked fine… for 6 months. Then it would fail to start but also keep trying to start. Probably wouldn't have been a difficult fix but I found an on/off switch for it. Switched to off. Problem resolved!
I hate remote starts. The guys that install them are usually hacks from the word go. When I was at a dealer they gave us more headaches. Great video.
i new right from the start…main harness wasnt pushed in all the way
Yes, frustrating that intermittent tic's cannot be discovered by a dealer. But not frustrating that you are working on your bite, but you might have to bite harder to get people from tormenting you.
harness is loose
I know how she feels about the local dealership. My local Toyota dealership touched my car once and I've never been back. The one I bought it from is an hour away and that is where I'll take it unless for some reason I have no choice.
I love my remote start. Factory remote start.
Old Chevy had an aftermarket remote start. Had to pull it out. But my Explorer? Love it. And it won't interfere with your maintenance – cuz it's factree.
Just another example of how lazy and soft we have gotten that we can't walk out and start our vehicle, hell that's how you wake up in the morning! Now you can't even open a trunk or a hatch manually, you have to stand in the rain or cold and wait 2 minutes for the motor to open and close it when could have done it manually in 15 seconds. And these clueless fools pay big money for these unnecessary options!
The plug was sticking out I looked at the video
Great job of detective work finding the problem. I'm planning on getting a new Toyota in 2023, please give me your views of having the dealer install a hidden Kill Switch. Is it worth the trouble, and would it create problems in the car's electronics?
had a saturn ion with exact problem after new switch recall. they didn't snap the plug on switch.
Hackery…Hokey Pokey… Eric sure has his way with words
These clowns have replaced the old phone line and cable installers for half assing things.
IT'S SAD TO SAY BUT THERE AREN'T GOOD MECHANICS WHERE I LIVE. JERSEY CITY, NJ DOESN'T HAVE MECHANICS THAT ARE HONEST KNOWLEDGEABLE, HONORABLE AND JUST PLAIN KNOW WHAT THE $#%& THEY'RE DOING. SAD. I WISH I WAS AROUND OR CLOSE TO YOUR SHOP.
Once again someone paid a so-called expert good hard earned money to install this and all they got was a problem they didn't ask for!
It aint the remote starter, it's how it's installed. if it's professionally installed it's no problem. Sadly the installers are not allowed enough time to do a professional job because they get paid by the job not by the hour and the amount per job is pretty low.
Love ur channel.
Had years ago a brand new Honda Prelude with an added Cruise control.
idiot aftermarket installer left a firewall grommet loose because he had one wire on the outside of the grommet.
I also found a wire wrapped around a fuse pin and jammed in to the fuse block leaving the internal connection popped off the fuse
connector INSIDE the main fuse block.
Also operation of the cruise control required engaging the cruise control and operating a knob on a stalk attached to the dash to get the desired speed.
Dealer had me speak with the "installer".
Good thing this was a phone call as this guy was a total idiot ***hole and physical means would have been required to make my points.
The fuse block required opening by melting holding pegs and disassembling layers of copper bars and plastic moldings to repair
the damaged connector. I reassembled it successfully and no smoke was released.
I removed the aftermarket junk, got a full refund and bought a Heathkit cruise which worked perfectly for years.
If you don't know what an Heathkit is you're too young to be reading this comment.
Hacks will always be with us but I won in the end…………
Another great video of real world problems. Great work Mr. O. I found a similar problem on a 1990s Jaguar that would stall at random times. I did some wiggle tests and just as I was going try another approach, sort slammed the passenger door and it stalled immediately. Right inside that door in the glove compartment was the ecm. A check of the connectors revealed one side was hooked into the socket normally but the other side was just inside the socket. I pushed both sides to connect properly. Problem solved
Looked back at the video and you can see the plug move. Good find that an inexperienced mechanic might not have noticed it. Just wondering what that plug went to. Ignition?? You didn’t mention it. 👏👏
That's why I never mess around with these aftermarket electronics. I have a RAV4, and I simply cannot find a good enough excuse to pay a handsome sum to have some random dude cut into my brand new perfectly working factory wire harness and tap into power supply wherever he darn well pleases, and then it's somebody else's problem (mine) when it comes time to pay the piper for his actions. Seen too much crap like this. At the end of the day, no one treats my car like I treat my car.
sherlock holmes in a past life 😋
I kinda like them i installed one on my 66 olds 455 .. with all relays instead of the loads goin thru the start module . Put elect pump on and elect choke ran mint…
You sure are working on a lot of Toyota's lately. I have a '22 4runner, this is making me nervous. That Scotty is full of $#!%.
I never could see a reason for a remote starter other than a status symbol. It did help me one time though. My wife told me that the autostart on our Buick wasn't working. When I went to verify it, I noticed the check engine light did not go off when I manually started the car. I asked her when the check engine light came on, she said shortly before the autostart didn't work anymore. GRRRR were you ever going to tell me about the check engine light? Why are you driving it with a CEL? GRRRRR.
I detest and won't use schlock's, strip and solder and do it right.
Seen this in our shop several times end up being ground wire on left front under hood behind headlight if wrecked and ground not secured properly can cause all types of electrical nightmares
Oh I know that sound. That old medieval upper palate torture device trick. I knew it. Been there, done that. Adjusting everyday with an allen key. I hated it. Make sure you floss a lot. You sound fine.
Hiya Eric
If I had a dime for every aftermarket alarm and or remote start system I've removed from customers vehicles to correct strange issues to flat out no starts…I'd be a rich man by now.
We bought a used vehicle for my son a few years back. The previous owner, it turns out, had removed all of the interior light bulbs from the car because the car door sense wasn't working properly. A couple of nights after we got the car home the factory alarm started going off for no reason.
I spent three weeks of my free time chasing through the interior/dash wiring harness until I found it: someone had put in a remote starter and then botched the job of removing it. There was bare wire where poorly applied electrical tape had peeled back in the steering column. It was the last place I thought to look because the car didn't come to me with a remote starter installed.
Aftermarket remote starters are bad news. If you get one that was factory designed for the car, it typically comes with a specialty harness that plugs into existing connectors under the dash/steering column so no wire carnage is involved.
I did go back and look at the footage, and it looked to me like the connector was a little loose earlier in the video.
Im impressed you found that
sorry i don't like them stupid…
dealer wanted a trade in
It is Best Buy!! I know this from personal experience. My dash also knows from personal experience by all the screw driver pry marks BB left behind.
Always fun going behind somebody’s mess – as you state it makes it tough to work on other peoples problems. Especially when you have to troubleshoot wiring problems. Great find though your persistence always amazes me.
I have a 1977 Ford F-150. It would die on me randomly. I finally narrowed it down to the ignition switch wiring. A previous owner sliced, diced, and twisted all the wires together and then wrapped it with electrical tape. Very frustrating to find and a piss poor repair.
Found an intermittent short under dash on 2001 Sebring. Two connector positions were swapped causing ignition on wire to short and blow the fuse. I was lucky to find it.
"When she brought it to me maybe the issue was more persistent". No, you actually put the time in and found the factory defect. The dealer wrote it as NPF and billed the OEM for their "effort".
Solid troubleshooting. Systematic and deliberate.
You are the best auto troubleshooter I have ever seen. I wish I had a shop near me with half your ability.
Great job Mr. O
Great job, I am pretty confident 99% it was that harness plug wasn’t all the way in. The culprit for electrical issues always is finding them once you do than it’s simple!
You are smart good and patient mechanic. love to watch your repairs.
You were right! If you zoom in on the video you can see the connector moving. Wiggle wiggle wiggle, just a little bittle.
Thanks Eric. I found loose connections are the most mysterious. They're on again-off again.
You are fantastic at diagnosis! Great job!
In my early twenties I bought a soldering gun no more scotch locks
I should probably add I was born in 61
I remember getting turned on to scotch locks back in the early 80s we created a hell of a lot of nightmares with those things I'm sure most of them for ourselves
mine was an easy install,plug & play install
My 71 Monte Carlo never had that problem
That's a feature so you don't drive in the rain … 🤪
Scotch locks are the bane to any Real mechanic Seen them destroy a Kenworth before!!
Rule 1 in our old Shop Was If You use scotch lock you are terminated immediately!! needless to say we fired 5 guys in 3 weeks!
Reminds me of those juat rolled in clips where thecwiper control or turn signal triggers the horn
Throw them away
Wiring issue caused by mistake on re connecting factory plugs
Sorry, but I have to start pinning this until I learn how to speak clearly again. I am not having a stroke nor do I have bell’s palsy, a brain tumor or MS. I do not have ALS or a migraine. Please stop calling my shop to notify me or Mrs.O that I can not speak clearly. I am very aware of my inability to "pronunciate" words like I use to and she is also aware of my slurred speech. We live together and work together and I even talk to her. I have an upper palate expander in my mouth. It interferes with my tongue. Shcrews up my shpeech . Thank you for your concerns.
-Eric O.