25a Fuse is in a small block just in front of the battery. See atteached pic marked in red

George

With the 02 XL-7, it wasn't in that fuse box, it was in its own little box next to it.  Looks like a relay, but it opens up to reveal the fuse.



At some point during the engine swap, probably when I'd evacuated the refrigerant, my buddies Bud, Boulevard and I had evidentally removed that fuse.  A year later, when I finally got around to getting the system recharged, neither I nor the guy at the shop were able to find it again, so he wired in a new fuse in that fuseblock.  Months later, I happened to take a look, and found......

THIS:


 


The fuse hadn't blown, but had gotten hot enough to melt the plastic off!
 
THEN I sure as hell took the time to find the correct fuse location..

Thats why Electrical problems always scare me.....costly and if not done right Dangerous.....lucky you did not catch fire or something bad...My A/C gremlin too cheap to recharge it......I just put my windows down a drive faster lol

Ok - Problem(s) found.

Found fuse - blown of course. Replaced fuse and had no change in the problem.

Decided to check wiring under the dash and found a nasty surprise - the |removethispart|@#$%^ rodent that filled the heater blower up with debris ALSO chewed the wiring to the evaporator temperature sensor in half. I am assuming that without any feedback from the sensor, the control computer won't activate the system.

Needless to say I am NOT really happy right now. I can feel the ends of the wiring, but other than pulling the entire unit out, I am at a loss to figure out how to splice the wiring back together.

I guess I get to either pony up the $$$ to have it fixed or just give up on A/C.

Thanks everyone for your help.
David

Pulling the entire dash out is actually pretty easy.  Coupla hours going slowly, fix your wires, then put it back.

Just curious,does the secondary cooling fan in front of your radiator work?  I hit a deer, and it damaged the fan just enough not to work which causes everything else not to work.  That reminds me, summers comming and I need a new cooling fan.

Coupla photos regarding the dash removal.  I definitely recommend it.

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2550492/2

I also have a haynes book for trackers vitaras and samurai I would gladly show you as well......

I've read the FSM for removing the dash and it seems fairly straight forward, so I guess its coming out this weekend. What is the secret to avoid tearing your hands to shreds?

David

I've read the FSM for removing the dash and it seems fairly straight forward, so I guess its coming out this weekend. What is the secret to avoid tearing your hands to shreds?

David

Good question.  The secret is....DON'T FOLLOW THE FSM.  Unless you've got some pages mine doesn't have, it's going to tell you how to take it apart while leaving the frame in place.  That is NOT how the assembly was installed at the factory, and it WILL lead to pain.

What you want to do is take the whole thing out, including the frame.  A couple bolts at the base of the windshield, a couple bolts near both front door jambs, a few bolts under the carpet on the transmission hump, a couple bolts holding up the steering column (which you CAN let hang, but propping it up with something is probably a good idea).  Unplug pretty much everything from the junction block in the driver's footwell and the ECM in the passenger footwell.  Also unplug the yellow airbag connectors.  There may have also been a harness heading to the shifter or something, I'm a little foggy on it.  Also, there's a linkage accessable from the driver's footwell that connects the AC controls to the defrost/vent/floor flapper, and another on the passenger side that connects to the heat/cold flapper.

I'm pretty sure you'll also need to borrow/rent/buy a steering wheel puller.   (When reinstalling the steering wheel, pay attention to the instructions for reinstalling the clockspring/airbag/horn switch in the FSM.  Piece of cake, but you don't want to screw it up.)
 
At that point, you'll be ready for a buddy to help you move it around to make sure you unplugged/detatched everything, and out it comes.  It's not heavy, just awkward.

I may have missed something or another there, but if you just take it easy, you won't have any problems.  If you have a digital camera, taking a quick pic everytime you're about to disconnect something will give you a lot of peace of mind when it's going back together.

Here's where I'm at...

Dash came out almost too easy (Why can't more car companies design dashboards this way?) - about 90 minutes to pull it. The FSM I have spelled it out step by step without any fuss. Not worrying about the clockspring - didn't even pop the steering wheel off. Fixing the wiring was not easy, but I'm hoping I got it fixed. The ohm meter says I've got contact with the wiring so all should be good to go. Dash is back in and torqued in and most of the wiring hooked back up.

Here's my only problem... I seem to have an extra wiring connector for the bulkhead connect but no spot to plug it into. All the open slots on the connector are accounted for but haven't got the column back in yet to test everything to be certain. Could it be an orphan connector for options / accessories I don't have?

I'll finish it up tomorrow and give it a shot to see if everything works...

David

Just curious,does the secondary cooling fan in front of your radiator work?  I hit a deer, and it damaged the fan just enough not to work which causes everything else not to work.  That reminds me, summers comming and I need a new cooling fan.

That was one of the first things I checked. I had the fan on my Ram go bad a few summers back and it had the same effect. I hunted for problems on that thing for a couple of weeks before I figured it out.

David

Here's where I'm at...

Dash came out almost too easy (Why can't more car companies design dashboards this way?) - about 90 minutes to pull it. The FSM I have spelled it out step by step without any fuss. Not worrying about the clockspring - didn't even pop the steering wheel off. Fixing the wiring was not easy, but I'm hoping I got it fixed. The ohm meter says I've got contact with the wiring so all should be good to go. Dash is back in and torqued in and most of the wiring hooked back up.

Here's my only problem... I seem to have an extra wiring connector for the bulkhead connect but no spot to plug it into. All the open slots on the connector are accounted for but haven't got the column back in yet to test everything to be certain. Could it be an orphan connector for options / accessories I don't have?

I'll finish it up tomorrow and give it a shot to see if everything works...

David

Ok - everything is back to together, including the mystery connector (finally found where it plugged in) and everything is now working again. The A/C fired right up and is blowing nice and cold again. I'm glad I bit the bullet and pulled the dash. It made getting to the wiring simple and I also had the opportunity to inspect for other damage and clean the rest of the debris out of the blower and heater box.

Thanks everyone for your help - I probably would have wound up taking it to an A/C shop and been reamed. Not including my time (which was spent doing guy things with my son - priceless  ), I'm only out $2 for a package of wire splices. Not the prettiest repair, but no one can see it anyhow.

David
David

I'm glad I bit the bullet and pulled the dash. It made getting to the wiring simple and I also had the opportunity to inspect for other damage and clean the rest of the debris out of the blower and heater box.

Thanks everyone for your help - I probably would have wound up taking it to an A/C shop and been reamed. Not including my time (which was spent doing guy things with my son - priceless  ), I'm only out $2 for a package of wire splices. Not the prettiest repair, but no one can see it anyhow.

David

WooHOO!  Cannot beat that.  Period. 

Well done.



Seriously, this made my morning.