Little help.

[H1TMAN]

Hello,

Just got my celica xx and I wanted to know what the following could mean:
The dash completely cuts out when the headlights are turned on- sometimes it may flicker on
The battery light stays on- I figure its not charging.

Help?

Cheers,

Callum.

[oldcorollas]

earth of the dash lights is no good?

or check voltage with multimeter

[LeeRoy]

I agree with OC, probably a loose ground.

As for charge light the alternator is probably on the way out. Test its output at idle and at 2500rpm with a multimeter.

[CrUZida]

Battery light stays on coz the alternator is designed for a car with a gauge.
If the alternator light turns off, thats when the alternator has failed.

Dash lights turning off is usually a sign of a poor earth, either at the dash or the battery.

I know the MA70 dash's earth is in the group of plugs behind the glovebox (where the ecu is).
If I disconnect that one brown wire, the dash disappears.

[H1TMAN]

Cool I'll have a look today.
Another one- for some reason my lights were turning off randomly last night.
They would just turn to parkers and the high beams wouldn't work either...
Any ideas on that?

[H1TMAN]

Oh and on idle the temp gauge shoots up to boiling point, but when I put my hand on the radiator cap its nowhere near that. (yes it has radiator fluid so I have no idea)

[JustCallMeOrlando]

They're right. The dash earth needs to be looked at. It only started doing it after I stopped driving it all the time but I'd say that's more of a coincidence than anything. I'd say it's at the dash side as that's a more likely position. Check the 4 wires hanging with the blue plug to the right of the dash. These are for the non-functioning dimmer switch and was just something I never got to sort out. I just trimmed them with plans to fix it, but it worked most of the time (and I wasn't driving it) so I didn't bother.

The alternator light is exactly as Peewee described. Currently it's an "Everything is OK" light To fix this, you need to invert it. Peter Hay (82 MK II) described this somewhere on the forums so it may be worth a search.

Hope that helps, any more questions let us know

[JustCallMeOrlando]

Cool I'll have a look today.
Another one- for some reason my lights were turning off randomly last night.
They would just turn to parkers and the high beams wouldn't work either...
Any ideas on that?

They were turning off, or just wouldn't function at all? It's "eaten" relays before, because the previous owner put higher wattage bulbs in. I solved this by dodging in some generic higher rated relays, but when I put it up for sale I sourced some new factory ones. It could've done it again but last time it only happened when I drove with the lights on in really hot weather during the day.

[JustCallMeOrlando]

Oh and on idle the temp gauge shoots up to boiling point, but when I put my hand on the radiator cap its nowhere near that. (yes it has radiator fluid so I have no idea)

How much air is the engine fan moving, a lot? Are you able to plug a laptop in and use the WARI software? The ECU can tell you the exact temperature. This isn't something I've seen but then again it's been a LONG time since I've driven the car regularly.

I've got an undertray I'll give you when I gather up all the random parts I've got kicking around.

[H1TMAN]

would that be why that little round relay was so fucking hot?
The little mofo burnt my fingers!!!
Nah they would switch off while i was driving then all i could do would be pull into a side street and drive around till they turned on

[JustCallMeOrlando]

It shouldn't really but it must be something wrong with them. I'd never really looked into it, because with the other relay I had on there, it caused no visible issues, and I drove it around over a year before that with no obvious symptoms. Are you able to jimmy up the multimeter to see what current it's drawing through the wiring?

[H1TMAN]

yep, just gotta do a few things first.

[JustCallMeOrlando]

Keep us posted. I'm glad someone is giving it the love it deserves, I just didn't have the time nor the motivation to get it to the state I really wanted.

[H1TMAN]

sorted.
The relay had burnt out, we switched the rear/front relays over and i had working lights and a working dash
We are looking into the problem today.

[H1TMAN]

Resistance in the wiring somewhere- could be the little circuit board its on, the bulbs are the correct wattage and the only way the lights will work constantly is if i dodge a relay ( which could burn out wire somewhere else) or put a high amperage wire between two of the connections.
also how do i do a compression test again? only done it once and i need to know if i have fried piston rings.

Cheers,

Callum.