6G Celicas Forums

Hey 6gers,

So my dashboard battery light came on last night. Got my car home and am a little concerned. I've had a bunch of electrical issues over the last year or so and I'll outline what's happened so far:

Car cut out while driving about a year ago. Driving along, noticed my radio shut off, interior lights started dimming, then engine died. No electrical power to anything. Jumped it and limped home.

Replaced the alternator and battery. Drove it a bit, then it died again. Same thing, full electrical. I figured it was a loose connection. Had my mechanic silicone the wiring into place on the alternator. Ran fine for a while.

That was about a year ago.

Drove to work yesterday, noticed my dash light came on. I'm thinking it's just a loose connection. Made it back from work and am going to take a look right now.

Any ideas on what it could be? Bad alternator? Battery? (Both are about a year old, shouldn't be the issue?) Another issue?

It's an old 96 GT, 2.2.

Thanks,
Eddy

Hey 6gers,

Trying to figure out what's going on with my steering. Have never worked on suspension or steering, so I'm not real sure where to start.

Have a pretty bad creaking sound coming from the steering. Creaks when I turn the wheel at low speeds. She just sounds sold. Any ideas?

Hey guys,

Installed a new alternator, thought that would solve the problem.

Nope.

Started the car, drove it around the block, and it died pretty much in the same exact place.

Thinking about having it towed to my mechanic's place.

Any other thoughts on what it could be?

Hey guys,

Well, my car died. I believe it's an electrical problem, but would love to hear your opinions on what it could be.

So I had an issue starting my car the other day. Cold morning in Socal (40's or so), turned my key in the ignition, nothing happened with the starter. Lights came on, radio, etc. But the starter doesn't turn. I turn my key to off, try again and it starts up fine. I figure it's a fluke.

This morning, cold again (40's or so), turn my key in the ignition, same thing. Lights on, radio, etc, and this time, the starter doesn't come on at all. Try it a bunch of times, nothing.

I get my girlfriend's car and jump the battery. I figure it's a weak battery, maybe it's not getting enough charge or whatnot.

Start driving to work, and notice electrical problems. Panel is flickering, my lights dim when I hit the turn signals, my lights start to dim, and while coasting to a stop at a stoplight, my engine shuts off and electrical power dies. No headlights, no panel lights, radio dead. Even my emergency lights don't come on when I try them.

Get my gf to come out and jump my car, we drive halfway back home, car dies again. Same thing, slowing to turn, hit my signal lights and car shuts off, electrical dies.

We jump the car again and make it home. I'm going to have it towed to my mechanic for service.

Now, here's a few things that I've done recently:
1. New radio installed. I threw in a nice Sony headunit to replace my factory unit, probably sucking up more juice than before.
2. New indiglo gauges. I installed indiglo face gauges in the last month. Again, probably sucking up more juice. I've noticed some issues with this too, the gauges would flicker out occasionally, I initially chalked this up to a bad ground, but having fixed the ground issue, this was still happening. Maybe it's not getting enough voltage to run.
3. Recently moved. I have a very short commute to work now. 10 minutes and I'm there. My car isn't getting much time on long stretches of highway anymore, maybe putting 10 miles of driving a day. My battery may not be charging fully.
4. The battery is new. Date of installation of my battery is 1/11. I was initially hoping it was just a battery issue, but I just changed it out. It's possible it is a defective battery from the factory, but who knows.

My thought is that I have a bad alternator, I don't remember when it was last serviced. Either that, or the factory alternator is not powerful enough to charge the battery fully with the short commute times and higher electrical needs.

Any thoughts guys?

Thanks.

Need a little help with an indiglo gauge installation/repair.

Bought an ebay indiglo gauge face kit about five years ago. Came with white faced gauges, inverter, dimmer and switch. Looked like this kit:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/94-95-96-97...=item415e1760cc

The dimmer and switch combination allowed for the gauges to dim and toggle between green and blue.

Now, I don't remember how I did this, but I had it wired up to my gauge cluster. It worked for a few months and then did not light. Have not tried to fix it until recently. Can't remember what I did exactly, but here's what I found.

I had the gauges wired to a green wire running into my instrument cluster. Ground wire ran to the chassis. It was a T-splice: had stripped this instrument panel wire and wrapped the gauge wire to it. I don't know what it controlled.

I assume the green wire on the stalk ran to my side marker light as it went out after the install (I think.)

I'm trying to rewire the set and get it fixed.

Here are the issues:
Cannot get the gauges to light. Have a good ground, but don't know what the green wire on the instrument cluster controlled (or if it's live).
The dimmer and color toggle switch on the gauges are damaged, tried to replace it, but failing. There are six wires attached to the switch, I don't know how it is wired.

Does anybody have this kind of kit and have the instructions / wiring diagram?
Does anybody know what the green wire on the gauge cluster does?
Anybody know a good place to wire the gauges to?

I'll try to take pics and post soon to make this easier to understand.

Thanks,
Eddy

Ok guys, I did the install and here's the summary.

My vehicle has the JBL system. Best buy sells a harness for that type, it's a direct plug-in, but you need to make sure your head unit has the RCA component inputs. You do NOT need to bypass the factory amp. With that harness, it's just a matter of attaching the wires to the harness and plugging your unit in.

Moral of the story?

Make sure you have the right harness, it makes life a helluva lot easier.

Also, I had to take the damn dash apart to get to the wires for the amp, was a major PITA. Turns out that I didn't need to.

The head unit is awesome.

Hey guys,

Well, I tried to install a head unit today. Failed miserably. Could use some help.

Bought this unit:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Sony+-+Xplod+5...p;cp=1&lp=1

Sony Xplod 4x52W unit.

Tried to follow the instructions on the recommended threads:
http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=22434
http://www.6gc.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=60939

Ran into some issues.

First, my car is a '96 GT. It has an amplifier. I have purchased a wiring harness from Best Buy.
According to the instructions, I have to pull the wires to the amp out to connect to the radio. The problem is that I cannot figure out which wires go where.

I removed the OEM stereo. There was a set of wires leading from the stereo to the amplifier. From the amp, there were two sets of wires leading to the vehicle/speakers. One set fit the harness, the other, I have no idea what it does.

I've spliced the wires from the stereo to the harness and attached the harness to the wires coming from the car. Unfortunately, it's not enough. There are wires that lead to the amp that aren't connected to anything and the second plastic wire harness in the kit isn't attached to anything.

So, I need help. How the hell do I get this stereo wired up?

njccmd2002 - Don't want to do the work of a swap or major overhaul. Don't have the tools nor the time for it. It's a daily driver, needs to start every morning to get me to work. Maybe a better idea to sell the damn thing.

neon - Good idea. Let me go to home depot and get a couple cans of spray paint and go to town. =)

jimmykay - I'm thinking about a truck, mainly for the same reasons (space). It's hard to justify selling this car to get a measly 1k or 1.5k, but I don't have room in my driveway. I guess that's the issue, letting go of a functioning vehicle for under 2k is difficult.

Any other thoughts? I'm hearing a lot of "sell it as is".

Thanks,
Eddy

Ok 6gc'ers, I need a little advice/wisdom here, hope you can help.

I've got a teal green 96' celica gt hatchback. Manual transmission. Has 170k miles. Daily driver, I've put over 100k miles on this thing in the last seven years. Clearcoat is peeling, leather driver's seat is torn, antenna is broken, dings in the side, a broken radio, and all the usual issues of a 15 year old car. New clutch and tires. Some smog issues, probably needs a new cat. Idle is a little rough, but no major mechanic issues I'm aware of. She runs and I still drive her.

I'm thinking about selling her, but not sure if it's worth it.

First question:
If I sold my car, what price could be reasonably expected? (In other words, what do you think I'd be able to make on the sale?)
- Edmunds tells me ~$1500, but looking online shows actual prices from 2000-4000.
- I live in Orange County, CA.

Second question:
Should I spend money to fix up this car in order to sell? (Main issue is the paint, teal green isn't exactly popular, but painting is expensive.)
- Paint? New radio? Seat covers?
- If I fix it up, how much should I spend? What will be the cost vs. expected sale price increase? Am willing to do work myself, but am not a mechanic.

Third question:
Maybe I should just fix her up and keep her?
- Upside: I'm emotionally invested. I've had this thing for seven years and it's my first car.
- Downside: I'm emotionally invested. Putting the sale price toward a newer vehicle would probably be a better idea?

I've spent a lot of time on this site over the years and really appreciate and respect the opinion and experience of 6gc'ers. So, I'm open to hearing what you have to say.

Thanks in advance,
Eddy

PM Sent.

Hey 6GC'ers,

Clutch was replaced recently, had some issues with the transmission and now I'm looking for some shifter cables. My mechanic said that special ordering them from Toyota will be around $400 and I'm hoping someone out there has a part car I can get parts from.

Car:

1996 Celica GT, 2.2L
5Spd Manual

Need two, I think. For 1st, 3rd, 5th? I'm not exactly sure what parts my mechanic is talking about, but I'm sure you guys have more expertise than I do.

Any info and questions are appreciated.
Thanks,
Eddy

BTW: I'm listed as a new member here, but I've been here at 6GC under SDragon007 for a while, bought my old clutch on this forum, I wish I had the feedback still, but I don't remember my password and don't have the email address I'm registered at anymore.