Electric problems in Sierra

[gwarness]

G'day all, new here, but have been reading the threads for awhile now, it's a great site, I hope you can help me.

This weekend, my dad and I were going to fix some electrical problems. The temp and fuel guages weren't working, well the temp guage wasn't working at all and the fuel guage was only just off. We pulled the guage cluster out to have a look at the problem. Of coarse, the test light was used and so on. I think one or 2 wires were cut and mended, I'm not too sure since dad did most of the work. Now both these guages don't work at all. The indicators stopped working all of a sudden, but we ended up getting these to work. And now the speedo isn't too crash hot. The speedo takes a few seconds to register, the reading seems to be ok, but the needle is jumpy. The speedo cable seems to be in tight enough but I'm not sure, I need to pull the whole thing apart after work tomorrow and have another look, hopefully I can fix the speedo because it was running nice and smooth before.

Has anyone else had this kind of electrical problem? Can anyone help me with my predicament?

I've owned my Zook for a few months and already hate the peice of crap. Is anyone else's Zook an un-reliable turd like mine? Mine breaks down on me at the worst possible times, lucky dad owns a turbo diesel jackaroo so he usually tows me home. It also gets scary, as the turd nearly broke down right in the middle of the intersection of the Cumberland Highway. Ach, so many headaches.

I'm also in hunt of a good wire diagram, as the ones in the Haynes manual is useless as tits on a bull.

Any comments, resolutions and so on are extremely welcome. Cheers!

Luke

[Podge]

I think you're being a bit harsh on the vehicle for problems that are had. In many cases like what your describing, it is more often than not that somebody that thinks they're an expert has worked on the vehicle previously and may have buggered up the workings of the vehicle. Maybe it has been in a prang and had a dodgey repair job. Having said that, if the Sierra is a 91 model you're talking about a 15 year old vehicle.

Anyway, the actual temperature guages on Sierras are prone to packing it in and so there is a good chance that the guage needs replacing ($30.00 for a new one). In regards to the fuel guage, there is every chance that the problem is either an earthing problem or the sender unit itself. Again it is not uncommon to have to replace the sender unit in the tank ($60.00 for a new one). In regards to the speedo, the problem sounds like it might be related to the actual cable itself. I have a non genuine speedo cable in my Sierra and it is really jumpy. The problem you are having with your speedo won't be electrically related (as speedo is driven by a cable and not electrically). The symptons that you describe sounds not dissimiliar to how the speedo behaves in my Sierra. The non genuine speedo cable is quite a bit cheaper than the genuine cable but isn't quite as good.

The best wiring diagram is got from the genuine workshop manual.

It does sound like you may have had problems outside the ones you have just described, yes or no??

So don't blame your Sierra for the problems you having as they are the best value-for-money vehicles on the planet (taking into account everything from a Niki to a Ferrari). The problems you describe will hopefully be easilly fixed with replacement parts.

[nicbeer]

Upgrade ur earths near the batt first then go for podges ideas. Zooks have the worst earths i have seen.

speedo, try unplug cable and replug. could be kinked in dash or down below.

Breaking down?? mech or electrical.

Manual - http://www.suzukiinfo.com/

Nic

[Dee 4x4]

Check all of your relay fuses as well and even the relays themselves.

I actually had my whole car die on me (while driving), then start back up and die another half hour later.

RACQ came out and it took the guy about 1/2 an hours worth of diagnostics to eventually work out that it was the fuse for the main relay. It hadn't blown, but it was damn corroded such that even just a bump could cause all power to immediately drop from the ECU.

Damn fuses...

[gwarness]

G'day

Cheers for the advice. I'll note it all down.

I think I've fixed the speedo problem, I was just mucking around with it after work. I'm not too sure, but I'll give it another test on my way to work in the morning.

Are those replacement guages you are talking about be for the actually stock dash cluster itself? Would it be an idea to buy a whole dash cluster from the wreckers? On the weekend, we are planning to put some VDOs in the whole in the dash also.

And the car is a dodgy piece of kit. I'm sick of it f**king up at the worse possible times. So far dads had to tow me 4 times. The carbies been out and rebuilt (will be replaced by a vitara one shortly), this stuffed up and made my car have fits of no power. The car goes through heaps of oil, I've filled it up 3 times since I've had it, I only get about 200km to 30Lt, coolant leaks, the heaters just stopped working one day, leaky t-case, the list goes on. I replaced a fairly good fuel filter when I did a minor service when I first got it and a few days later the new filter was caked in mud, even though the first one wasn't. I'm bloody sick of it. I'll be most likely trading it in as soon as I come by some money.

Once again cheers!

[gwarness]

Ohh also, to answer Nicbeer, my breaking downs have both been mechanical and electricl. The first few breakdowns were mechanical, mainly carbie related for memory. And the fuel filter. Then the other day (which got me into heaps of trouble at work because I couldn't get into work on the saturday, why can't bosses understand reason??) was an electrical problem. All it was was a damn wire came loose off the coil. Something so simple that I could of fixed but didn't pick up on. Well what do you expect from a first year diesel mechanic?

[Bad JuJu]

Not your fault, but seems some maintenance is in order here, the previous owner didnt seem to do any.
The good thing is you are going to know lots about your Zook.

[Podge]

G'day

Cheers for the advice. I'll note it all down.

I think I've fixed the speedo problem, I was just mucking around with it after work. I'm not too sure, but I'll give it another test on my way to work in the morning.

Are those replacement guages you are talking about be for the actually stock dash cluster itself? Would it be an idea to buy a whole dash cluster from the wreckers? On the weekend, we are planning to put some VDOs in the whole in the dash also.

And the car is a dodgy piece of kit. I'm sick of it f**king up at the worse possible times. So far dads had to tow me 4 times. The carbies been out and rebuilt (will be replaced by a vitara one shortly), this stuffed up and made my car have fits of no power. The car goes through heaps of oil, I've filled it up 3 times since I've had it, I only get about 200km to 30Lt, coolant leaks, the heaters just stopped working one day, leaky t-case, the list goes on. I replaced a fairly good fuel filter when I did a minor service when I first got it and a few days later the new filter was caked in mud, even though the first one wasn't. I'm bloody sick of it. I'll be most likely trading it in as soon as I come by some money.

Once again cheers!

Just realised that I should have told you to replace the temperature sender switch and not the temp guage. It is located on the inlet manifold. Much cheaper and easier than replacing the guage itself (and is usually the problem). As for carby, they are tempermental and should only be overhauled by somebody that knows their shit. I've found that not just any carby specialist can work on them. The only people I would let touch a 1.3 Sierra carby is Carburettor Services at Burwood.

Again, there is much more than meets the eye with problems that you describe. The vehicle obviously needs some things brought up to scratch. Once that's done you will have a near trouble free vehicle.

[gwarness]

We've already replaced the temperature sender unit, but to no avail, still no reading. Lately the fuel guage has been working. I'd drive to work and it'll be reading, and with a fairly accurate reading, but on the way home it won't be working. Just like the car, it's a tempremental lil bastard. Well, I'll be working on it all weekend so we'll see how things go. Cheers.

[DrCarlo]

My sierra was not well maintained when I got it. I spent some time and money on it and have been lucky to enjoy 25,000km of perfect operation.

Dont be too harsh on the car mate, they are a good truck. I think yours just fell into the hands of someone who didnt know what they where doing.