[mykp]

not content with the powers that be kicking us in the groin of life with whats been happening with my wife. We now have a double wammy of my Subaru deciding to almost set itself on fire!.

Today its been into an auto electrician and it turns out part of the wiring loom has melted basically as far as they can see without removing the dashboard. To check fully the dash has to come out!!!!

It looks like the central locking relay has gone t1ts up as its melted itself to the wiring loom taking part of the wiper circuit with it and also the alarm. Only amusing bit is if you blip the alarm the wipers come on!

How easy is it to remove the dash?

and does anyone with an S/TB have a part number for the central locking relay as mines unreadable as its melted :shake:

Need to source this, the plug which goes into it and part of the wiring loom but without the part no, i'm stuffed.

The words "Should have let it burn" spring to mind!

Any help greatfull appreciated :Banane35:

mike

 

[Mark CSC]

Let me know where to find the relay and I'll have a look on mine.

 

[Alan MaC]

Evening Mike,

What can I say??

Sorry to hear that.

Don I'm sure will have the PDF's if not let me know I have bits somewhere in my Library, not sure how to paste it on here.

Kind regards


Alan MaC

 

[don1952]

mykp,

Bad news all round.

Can't help with the part nos, but attached pdf should give you some idea how to proceed with dash removal.

As an aside pic below shows the extent of removal in a MY99 impreza.

A chap on SurreyScoobies was chasing a wiring fault to his ECU. :icon_eek:

 

[don1952]

Would think your best source for parts and connectors would be a Breakers.

Where are you based now "penzance in your pants" :shrug:

Here's one
SUBARU FORESTER 2.0 TURBO AUTO EST- BREAKING FOR SPARES on eBay (end time 20-Oct-09 13:21:25 BST)

Another possibility
SUBARU FORESTER TURBO MIRROR SPARES PARTS BREAKING on eBay (end time 24-Oct-09 09:43:23 BST)

 

[mykp]

cheers for the answers guys, feelling a bit downtrodden at the moment, things on the wife front dont look good, my cars on the fritz and the wifes car aint much better!


Mark: The relay is located behind the fuse box and to the right (So I am told) you might be able to see it BUT, again I am told its not easily accessible. Its square and black. If its not instantly visible, thanks for looking.

Don: Cheers for the Info, Penzance is where we where a few weeks ago. Back in Macc now. Profile amended to suit. :icon_redface: Both breakers you listed are close to me so have emailed them and will see how much they want, I just hope they dont want silly prices, otherwise i'll be tapping my brother in law for a part from Japan.


I have menaged to get one of my mates, whos a mechanic to give me a hand to remove the dash, so will keep the cost down a bit.

mike

 

[The Rookie]

Jeez life can suck at times, best of luck with the car Mike, but more importanatly best wishes and fingers crossed for your wife.

Simon

 

[Nich B]

Make use of that digital camera great M8

might help when you stick it all back together

 

[mykp]

right most of the dash is out, apart from the main big piece and it looks like there are a few wire with no plastic covering left. Pictures to come when i've got the rest of the dash out.

 

[mykp]

all the dash is out and I will stick pictures up of the toast later on. Luckily the burning stopped when the wire which has burnt goes from a little skinny one to a big thick one. Looks like most of the smoke is from the plastic pipe which goes to my boost gauge as this is also cremated

 

[Alan MaC]

Is it fixable Mike?

Kind regards


Alan MaC

 

[mykp]

yeah! used the link below to get one out of a 1999 s/tb. Same part no btw.

eBay UK Shop - Allens Spares and Salvage: Category 1, Category 2, Category 3

The other place in stockport wanted twice as much. Will be going back to allens when my motors back on the road as he has two in and ones got lots of bits on it.

Its not the wiper relay its the central locking control unit. I will post up pictures in the next few days of the damage, basically the relay has fused itself and melted the plug to the relay. Its all melted inside. Its then melted the wiring sheilding and then melted a few other wires along the way. One is the Wiper control arm (this is easily fixable) and its also melted one of the wires to the alarm. Hence why when you blipped the alarm it flicked the wipers!!!

I'm going to get it all checked out by an Auto electrician on thursday and he's gonna test everything to make sure its all okay then solder in the new wiring I got today.

Dont do wiring of any kind, its not that I dont trust myself but I want it right cos if it happens again I wont be saving it! (whom I kidding!)

The dash was a piece of p!ss to get out and when i put everything back together at weekend i'll document it all and post it on here.

 

[Mr modnaR]

Any idea what caused the fire Mike? Was it bad wiring, or something else?

 

[mykp]

Any idea what caused the fire Mike? Was it bad wiring, or something else?

looks like the central locking relay, inside is burnt causing one of the wires melt which has shorted our some of the other wires, namely the wiper and alarm. Luckily only a few wires have died.

I'll get it done on Thursday and then use the car friday/saturday with no dash in, then put the dash back on Sunday. That way if it does it again I can see it happening!

 

[Mr modnaR]

good luck! I was just wondering if it might not have been the alarm, being that it's presumably been fitted aftermarket, that caused it, rather than the central locking relay? The only reason I say this is that the place I got mine from wired a rear foglight to the existing wiring for the front foglight switch, but didn't seem to realise that the front foglight switch earths the relay rather than sends power to it so they assumed the 12V 'feed' that appeared when the ignition was switched on was suitable to supply the rear foglight relay with. It basically meant that the front foglights were on permanently as soon as the ignition was switched on. The rear foglight worked fine, which is, I guess, all they were looking at.

Not saying it was the case with yours, but might it be worth checking out before powering up?

 

[mykp]

i'll be having the auto electrician check everything beforehand so hopefully not! the alarm seems fine apart from where its been scorched by the melting wires.

we'll see...

 

[mykp]

Heres a few pics from today. The car is driveable but it feels really funny having no dashboard. Kinda spacey!

 

[Mr modnaR]

Presumably* the poorly spliced bit of wiring near the central locking unit is to do with the alarm? I hate with a passion electrical work done on cars finished off with electrical tape! Horrible horrible horrible! I'd be checking the wiring going back to the alarm for any insulation rubbed off where it can short on bare metal. Hope you get it sorted!


*I think I'm using that word too much

 

[mykp]

just got the car back from the auto electrician and all is well. Its dark so I havent inspected all of the work yet but from what I can see the wires spliced are heat wrapped.

They replaced the central locking mechanism and as soon as the central locking was fired, the fuse blew so they have had to trace another fault.

This was found on the tailgate where the wiring goes through from the car to the tailgate. The wire for the central locking (tailgate) was fried also the wiper wire was damaged. They have replaced these as well. Might be worth checking yours if you have dogs and it gets a lot of use.

Right thats one car running right, time to sort out the other one!

 

[mykp]

write up on how to remove the dash board here.

http://www.subaruforester.org/vbulletin/f77/sf5-dash-removal-62915/#post697261