Celica Forums General Discussion General Problem with the ignition switch - URGENT!

Hi all,

First of all, All my congrats to the website administrators and all members... you make this site rock!!

Now, here's the problem that I am facing and the reason of my post: I was installing a remote car starter during the weekend on my Celica 2000 GT, and managed to finish the installation without any issues, nevertheless, when I was putting the cables together in order to finish and close the install, I realized that the power of the accessories (the radio, etc) and the light bulbs on the gauge cluster where switching on and off very fast as I moved the cables - Obviously a sign of a poor connection made while setting up the remote starter.

I stopped moving the cables, pulled out the key, checked the area and found out that even though I could still turn on the car with the key, but now the accessories and all the panel lights (engine, etc) in the cluster where not coming on, except for the abs light. I continued trying to troubleshoot for the cause and found out that the 2 power cables (the white and black/red ones) still had 12 volts on them and that the fuses in the passenger side and under the hood were ok.

This pretty much made me think that the problem is within the ignition switch, as power is coming in. I continued to verify the voltage output based on the different key positions (ACC - ON - RUN) and realized that the cable providing power to the Accessories (Gray cable in the switch) didn't have any power when the key was in the ACC and ON positions. Ignition and Startup cables seem to be working ok.

At this point I am quite discouraged and ran out of troubleshooting ideas. Does anyone have a possible cause or troubleshooting idea??

Thanks in advance to all,

GS.

I'd put it back together exactly how it was before You started the project to make sure the cars electricals are ok and then reinstall the remote starter to the letter of the instructions. Thats about all You can do.

Hi!

Thanks for the reply...

That was exactly what I did. I disconnected everything and then realized that the ACC cable had no power while the key was in the ACC and ON positions (and it should).

I originally thought it would be a fuse, but then I checked them all and saw that the ignition switch was actually receiving power through the white and black/red cables...

Seems like the problem now is not the starter. I still haven't been able to pinpoint what the problem is... My guess is that it is a relay within the switch... (I'm just hoping it is not, as it would be a bit expensive to replace)

Hi & welcome!

Which part of Canada are you from?

Yah, that's what I'd do, uninstall & get it all working & then either try again or have a pro install it.

Thanks for the replies - I appreciate the support.

At this point I have removed every cable that I had installed before (including the starter kill relay) and the system is back to its original...

I have re-tested all fuses both inside the cabin and under the hood with a DMM as requested.

I also tried to feed the ACC (gray) cable that comes out of the ignition switch with constant (15A controlled) power while keeping the key in the ACC position, hoping that the radio and other accesories would turn on. I didn't succeed.

I finally turned on the car and noticed that, besides of the accesories, everything in the gauge cluster:
the different LEDs -gas low,parking break, engine check, etc- the LCD and the engine tach gauge needle are not working.

I'm still puzzled about this issue. Any ideas??

PS: I'm from Montreal...