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I travelled to Tennessee today (I’m still on my way back to NY) to pick up a second CRZ You might recognize it. It was first owned by Romie and then RealTallShorty. I call him Raubie - a combination of the former owners’ names. He will be my summer car! He is going into storage as soon as I get back to NY.

So I was half right. You are now a Three CR-Z family. Congratulations:smile2:

 

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Doesn't it take a few miles of driving and a few starts for the monitors to be ready? I know my Scan gauge II in its manual says if you clear codes with it you have to drive and start a number of times before it reads ready for an emissions test. :dunno:

CELs were still there. All the same monitors were not ready. One good thing is Flashpro could recognize the ecu and the model of car this time. Before it had a little ! In a yellow triangle, and didn’t know what car it was. So something /was/ wrong with that other ecu, but it wasn’t CELs.

Now we’re going to see if we can put the piggyback back on (and of course return to stock tune), just for the purpose of no CELs and passing inspection. Because Romie told me he had no CELs until he did the Hondata.

The ecu wiring harness is in rough shape from the piggyback being spliced in before (I’m not sure there’s any other way). Could be a short in there, who knows. I suppose I could also get a new harness, but we’ll try this first. I do not know if I have the piggyback harness. I have enough extra parts that came with this car to fill my CRZ AND my dads Ford Fusion. But I don’t know what it looks like. Need to search through boxes.

 

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I pulled out the fuse and sure enough it was broken! Just replaced it (finally) and everything works again! I bought a pack of 5 for $2.50 :sweat_smile: Now I have backups haha

Happy Independence Day tomorrow for the USA! I really didnÂ’t want to be driving with no brake lights tomorrow because thereÂ’s sure to be extra drunkards on the roads

I had a particular fuse in a previous vehicle that kept blowing and I found a plug in circuit breaker that reset itself as a testing tool. I am not sure if they make them in the size our CR-Zs take. It is a handy thing to have in the glove compartment to allow you to get the car home so you can diagnose properly in a lighted and warm place.



In my case on that car it was a dime in the lighter (power) socket that would short it out and that would cause the dash lights and many other circuits to not work.:nerd:


Just something you might want to look for to have in the car since your issue causes all kinds of drivability issues.:surprise:

 

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Kinda crazy that fuse can cause to many systems act up. I was so close getting the Hella Horn too lol

For you two words Relay Circuit!

 

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Yep, I have a bunch of relays sitting around !

Make independent new circuits for the horns with the right gauge wire and sized fuses and relays which gets their triggers from the OEM horn circuits. It truly is the best way to do this and will give you the right amount of power for the horns and will not affect other things in your car. You may also want a switched additional relay circuit to disable the new horns and go back to OEM horns if in an area with noise ordinances. :grin2:

 

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IÂ’ve been to a few grocery store and drug stores over the last few days and could not find any talcum powder. Seems all they use on babies nowadays is cornstarch. I ordered some talcum powder on amazon last night for $7, will arrive in a few days.

I am going to start getting the Mugen CRZ ready for the Eibach Midwest Meet thatÂ’s in just over a week. IÂ’ve never detailed an engine myself before but IÂ’m going to give it a shot today considering I am broke. Ordinarily IÂ’d take it to a detail shop before a big show but I have so much credit card debt right now, mostly because of this car and the Dragon meet, I canÂ’t justify it. - Hey I hope the talcum powder doesnÂ’t make too much of a mess of things! :laughing:

I am also going to get the interior nice - gotta show off the rear seats! And I also need to polish the exhaust tip. It might be blackened again by the time I get to Ohio though lol. This car seems to run rich.

On the downside, I found small cat paw prints on my lower hatch window, like it was jumping down off my car. I only noticed them cause the car is so dirty... I sprinkled cayenne pepper all around the car. I already have an ultrasonic alarm thing to ward off deer who used to use my backyard to get to my grandmas backyard with the bird seed. IÂ’m going to place it near my crzs now. Damn neighborhood cats. Why is my house one of the ONLY on the street without a garage?!!! :rage:

There are temporary garages you can get that will enclose the car and will not cost as much as having a building built. Some can even withstand snow.

 

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Cayenne pepper, and the alarm I already had around. I put it near the hood cause thats the lowest point for a cat to jump on. And I trimmed the plants so they wont be in the way.

I have also seen motion activated sprinklers for use against critters then of course there are havahart traps(Live Animal Traps (5 Different Sizes in Stock) - Havahart®). I have also read that cats hate sticky stuff on their paws so some strategically placed tape with the sticky side up may help too. and repellent http://www.havahart.com/store/animal-repellents/cats

 

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So now my black CRZ has ants crawling all over the outside. I think they are falling out of the big tree that hangs over my driveway. My boyfriend found some in my door jamb today. I just washed my cars yesterday ugh. If itÂ’s not one thing, itÂ’s another... Just had an ant problem in my kitchen recently. Now my car

I had ants inside The Speed Bump but not outside unless you consider the space around the hatch opening inside. I added two ant bait stations one under the hatch strut and one between the door sill and seat bracket a few months ago and I have not seen another ant since. Not sure what to do with ants on the outside. :frown2:

 

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Jeeze, why do people live there?

They don't know any better?:laugh: ( says the guy who went to school in Brockport, NY and lived other places where a light snow is measured in feet!)

 

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The random connection non connection of a loose fuse can cause damage IMHO. Voltage surges is the issue.

So its a nice spring day and I'm checking the fuses on the white CR-Z which has been randomly shutting off since September. I also randomly have no accessories when it decides it doesnt want to run; cant even use my key fob to unlock it. First thing I notice is one fuse is half hanging out. Also one prong is about to fall off. I look on the chart and its for radio, which would explain the no accessories.

I don't have any 7.5 ma fuses so I'm running down to the auto parts store... God if this was it the whole time that would be a fu***ng miracle. Trying to not get my hopes up though...

Edit: Just had a thought/question. If a fuse isn't seated properly could that cause something electrical to fry out? The point of fuses is for them to fry first, right? *not electrically inclined*

 

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Depending on which circuit it might have a secondary fuse-able link to prevent a major overload/fire. Might need to trace both sides of circuit from fuse block etc.

The correct low profile mini fuse 7.5 is in there now but nothing is changed. Something probably shorted out... Will have to refer to the service manual to see what all is connected to it.

Should I hit the big off switch for the IMA in the back or leave it on? I havenÂ’t been able to charge/discharge it since January. Car wonÂ’t start.

 

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Not Physics basic electrical knowledge. > At this point you may need to trace the circuit being how much is on it it might have a secondary protection or a short/ break.



time for some fun with continuity testing with a meter , test light or if you want to get fancy a power probe.



Here is a dumb question in the fuse socket is there any corrosion? Can you float the fuse box and look at the back of that Fuse socket? You may find a wire has melted off. If socket is corroded you can possibly use a pigtail fuse holder and bypass the socket to see if it is the issue.

Thank you, I did horribly in physics in college. More of a chemistry/math gal. Well at least this gives me a clue. All the accessories still donÂ’t work - key fob unlock lock is nonexistent, no alarms, no radio head unit, no interior lights when I open the doors, no dome lights AT ALL. Very fishy. Luckily I have the service manual PDF.

 

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Do you have a battery charger? Install battery and put on charger if you can.

Well, I guess I will leave the 12V battery in for a few days. In the past when it refused to start it would randomly start for me later. Once it took 20 minutes. Another time it took 24 hours. It would be great to be able to charge the IMA by revving.

When the car unlocks/locks with the OEM key fob that has always been a good sign (accessories connected/not shorted out I guess).

 

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You may have to replace the fuse block and find where moisture is coming from.

My boyfriend reminded me to check the back up fuse. I did and it looked corroded so I replaced it. Didnt change anything but at least theres a fresh one in there.

Might as well check them all right now and worry about Hondata later. Might need to get a bigger fuse kit!

Edit: All the fuses I pulled so far look corroded. Moisture? I might as well replace them all! Harbor Freight trip is in order. I just got a 20% off coupon in the mail today heh. ItÂ’s a sign!

 

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The amount of corrosion throughout the fuses and fuse block would be very concerning to me. Not only can it prevent connection but the connections that are working ( at all) might be very high resistance which can cause heat and fire!

 

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It is an absolute mess in the fuse block area. Wires and zip ties oh my. I need to take a picture sometime. I'm not sure I’d be able to pull it out :lol:

:frown2: this is the heavily modified one right? I hope you can clean it up and make it normal. it will be a long project but worth it in the end. Sounds like the electrical gremlins have decided to put a pox on your house. I saw your posting about the switch if you have to replace it look at the one on the other side since that is the more used door. and there have been a lot of postings about the under hood switch too not sure if yours is already disconnected or not.



How is the 3rd CR-Z? Don't you and Rex own 3 between the two of you?

 

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Which one has the messed up fuse box?

It's Ralph--the black one, not heavily modified unless you call red & black accents as heavily modified. Latest suspect is the license plate light LED's that were installed prior to the issues she's having now--otherwise, no problems with black & white.

 

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The white one iirc.

I thought so. I got confused by Litz's Post about Holly's cars since both are having electrical issues of sorts.

 

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Out of curiosity what did the 2 re-manufactured Calipers cost and what was the Core Charge? I agree with your decision to rebuild them yourself and put on the shelf for next time.



How many miles before you needed repair/replacement? The Speed Bump is getting close to 67K miles and I am still on Original brakes all the way around and I am curious when and how much I should budget for the brakes.

Just ordered some NASTRA brand remanufactured rear calipers; both of them. My boyfriend had to replace his rears last winter. One seized up on the way home from Canada, it was really hard for him to source remans. I just had a difficult time too. Was going to buy Autozone ones but I had to wait a few days til I got paid. By the time I had money, they were gone. Those would have been the best deal too...

When we replaced rotors and pads in my CRZ last November my rear pistons were very difficult to push back in and the boot around the piston tore and leaked some fluid. Figure I might as well replace them before the dragon. Last thing I need is for one to get seized up while down there.

I will NOT be turning in my original ones to get the core cost back. I will be keeping them, and either rebuilding them myself or sending them out to have it done. Then I will be all set next time I need some replacements!