My missus phoned me last night and she has a problem with her 93TR V6.

The problem was that she seemed to have a flat battery, so she removed it and had it charged at her local battery retailler.

Upon re-installing it back to the vehicle she noticed the headlights were on....... BUT The headlight switch was turned off and the keys removed from the ignition.


Upon checking the relays under the bonnet, one was fried (visibly melted) so she removed it, the headlights stayed on. After removing the headlight fuse, the headlights went off, and she intended to get it to the autoelec today, however he was busy and cant fit her in until tomorrow :O

This afternoon she couldnt start the car again, so she had another battery installed temporarily, and noticed immediately that the charge light was on on the dash after starting the engine.
The fanbelt is intact, so are the wires to it, fuses etc.

Im curious as to what this problem is, but Im away from home at the moment so I cant check it myself and she is taking it to the auto elec tomorrow.

He indicated that it may be the alternator or the relay which is faulty and allowing power to get back to the ECU meaning that everything will be confused and stay powered up, and that some things may actually think that they are also turned on.

Does anyone have any ideas on what it could be?

Thanks in advance.
G.M.

Problem solvered!

It seems that at some stage of the vehicles life until we bought it, someone has fitted globes of the wrong voltage (24V) which has caused the headlight wires and relay to overheat.

The taillight globes installed were also 24V and it was noticable as they were more dim than the 12V same wattage globes.



When the wiring heated up from the headlights it also cooked the relay that controls them, which in turn allowed the wires to fuse, and melt to other wires in the fusebox, which in turn, allowed power to stay on to the ECU and then things that are normally turned off suddenly stay turned on (headlights, dash lights, demister, thermofans etc etc etc).

The result was a trip to the autoelec because I was away from home, $420 later, a new alternator, relay, and some wires replaced, and the problem no longer exists.

Thanks to all who thought about a reply, and it is something to watch out for as it is very costly! :D