Electrical craziness

[InfinityLife]

I noticed a few of the posts below addressing some of my electrical problems: right headlight turns on and off (replace relay circuit under the hood -- I'll give that a try); Bose system totally kaput (guess I'll have to replace the whole in-dash unit if I want to keep the speaker system);... the one I'll add to the list is the antennae that automatically goes up when I turn the ignition over (agains, no stereo working), HOWEVER, the antennae goes down ONLY when I turn the headlights on. If anyone has any suggestions on this isolated problem, or if the whole electrical system is crossing wires, I'd appreciate some insight. Thanks.

[agoodb]

Originally Posted by InfinityLife

I noticed a few of the posts below addressing some of my electrical problems: right headlight turns on and off (replace relay circuit under the hood -- I'll give that a try); Bose system totally kaput (guess I'll have to replace the whole in-dash unit if I want to keep the speaker system);... the one I'll add to the list is the antennae that automatically goes up when I turn the ignition over (agains, no stereo working), HOWEVER, the antennae goes down ONLY when I turn the headlights on. If anyone has any suggestions on this isolated problem, or if the whole electrical system is crossing wires, I'd appreciate some insight. Thanks.

Hi let t me Give it a try
did someone install this stereo lately bc it looks like someone switched by mistake when in stalling the stereo the switched the dimmer on the stereo with the antenna and when the stereo light should turn off and get only power from the dimmer its shutting the antenna what I would suggest you to do is first is this the original car stereo from that year model of the j30? if not or even if yes take the trim around the stereo off its easy and unscrew the stereo and check the harness if its cut? If yes you might need to patients to figure out which wire belongs to which one really if not they just check for crossing wires there it probably the prob there hope its some help
Pm me if any questions

[tiggermarty]

Well, as for the radio I recommend these guys http://www.carstereohelp.com/ They give you a year warranty and he does preventive repairs in addition to fixing what's broke currently.

As for the rest of the electrical, I had the same thing happen with the antenna *until* I had the radio repaired. After that, I still have had problems with the dash lights/radio/clock illumination not coming on when I turn on the headlights. This problem (for me) started long after my radio died (a year ago) and one night they even came back on. It seems as if I once read that this may be a problem with the light switch on the steering column. Hope this helps.

[felixxilef]

Yeah, weird, I've had some bizarre electrical problems like that too over the years. Sometimes mine are bad for a few months and then they suddenly fix themselves! My guess is that the problem is usually not crossed wires or anything big, it is something very minor but nearly impossible to figure out what. Once the dealer told me it was caused by either a loose connection in the trunk (taillite wire?) or maybe moisture on a connection. I tend to go with the moisture idea since I used to see moisture in my taillites, and also maybe that's why it fixed itself....the moisture finally dried out. Just a guess.

[cadiman]

Need help! Ihave a 1993 j30 parking lights will not turn off. Changed taillight relay. Still have same problem. Thanks

[apensity]

Originally Posted by felixxilef

Yeah, weird, I've had some bizarre electrical problems like that too over the years. Sometimes mine are bad for a few months and then they suddenly fix themselves! My guess is that the problem is usually not crossed wires or anything big, it is something very minor but nearly impossible to figure out what. Once the dealer told me it was caused by either a loose connection in the trunk (taillite wire?) or maybe moisture on a connection. I tend to go with the moisture idea since I used to see moisture in my taillites, and also maybe that's why it fixed itself....the moisture finally dried out. Just a guess.

I too have electrical issues as you stated. My analog clock goes out when it's hot, the radio died, the antenna kept going up and down even with the stereo dead, the dash lights were going off and on, the left headlight was out, and my right brake light keeps going out and coming back on for no reason. So here's what I did:
I replaced the in-dash dimmer - fixed the dash light issue
Replaced the headlight relay in the engine bay - fixed the headlight issue
I'm having the radio shipped back to me tomorrow after being fixed - should fix the radio and antenna problems
I still have to figure out the clock and taillight issues though. Anyone have any suggestions for those (since they may all be related somehow, I looked on the wiring diagram and traced most of them to meet at some point, so I wonder if there is a grounding issue?)