No 4wd and buzzer going off under dash (BJ73)

[Slideways]

Bugger, so went 4wding at Redrocks this morning and went through a stream then hit a biggish bump then had water splash over windscreen. Then all of a sudden a buzzer went off under the dash.

So stopped and found it was to the left of the steering column. No wording saying what its for but is 24v so must be standard issue since most of my truck has been converted to 12v (due to holden v6 conversion). Checked water and fluid levels and seems fine. But then tried going over Devils Gate and realised that the 4wd was not engaged since the rears where spinning and not the fronts.

Now I bought it with the conversion already done and have been 4wd at Rallywoods where it was fine. But now I have no 4wd and no gauges.

Have checked Fuses and the Relays look to be fitted fine.

Symptoms:
No 4wd light on dash.
No 4wd engaging.
No Gauges working (like fuel or volts, the others arent connected)


Setup:
1986 BJ73 MWB Landcruiser
V6 3800 Holden VN Motor.
Holden auto with adaptor to standard transfer case.
Manual Locking front Hubs.


I've tried searching google for what the buzzer is for but can't find anything.


Can someone give me an idea of what to look for or what the buzzer is for?


Cheers

[Jerry]

mine (LJ71) has a buzzer when you leave the ignition on and don't start it (it goes when I stall it to), some surfs have them as well

[Henry]

Hi

My bj73 had a speed buzzer that came on at approx 100 kmph. It has just died.

[Sadam_Husain]

My Fj75 dosent have any buzzers, maybe its only a diesel (BJ) feature?

It sounds like an electrical problem with the gagues and everything dropping out and co-incidental that it happened at the same time that you were doing 100kph through the creek

The thing might dry out in a day or two and start working again.... if not you might have to go to work with a multimeter and find out whats live or not? I've got a couple of cruiser books here with wireing diagrams if you need to borrow one to trace the loom out?

[madaz068]

My LJ71 has a buzzer when the handbrake is pulled on. Check to see if your handbrake cable is tight


4wd not working is mostly the little vaccums under the bonnet on the firwall in front of driver. Make sure that there is power getting there. Get someone to click the h4 botton in and out. Pull the little vaccum hoses off and see if there is vaccum or air from them

[Jerry]

my LJ71 doesn't have a handbrake buzzer

[Sadam_Husain]

4wd not working is mostly the little vaccums under the bonnet on the firwall in front of driver. Make sure that there is power getting there.

I must be a power/electrical problem with no power getting to the solanoids coz when my vaccum stuff packed up and wouldnt engague 4wd the 4wd light still came on in the dash?

[Slideways]

Hmm guess the buzzer could be a 100kph warning, my speedo is a bit slow so haven't had it over 100kph.

I went to park it in the sun with bonnet and all doors open, pulled the fuse cover off the drivers kick panel and noticed water dripping from behind the panel. COULD be my problem.

Hope the ms's doesn't miss her hairdryer

HOpe its a quick fix...i hate wiring

Thanks for the help guys, will keep you posted.

[Disco-Blue]

Did you get any check engine lights or dash lights come up as you went through the water. My truck would do a similar thing when fording rivers/streams when the water was quite high up. Would be the buzzer the sounds when you leave glow plugs warming to long.

[Bubba]

4wd not working is mostly the little vaccums under the bonnet on the firwall in front of driver. Make sure that there is power getting there. Get someone to click the h4 botton in and out. Pull the little vaccum hoses off and see if there is vaccum or air from them

I had the same issue around Redrocks when I suddenly lost 4WD, no 4WD light, turned out to a vacum hose that fell off, but that dosen't explain the buzzer

[skid]

4wd not working is mostly the little vaccums under the bonnet on the firwall in front of driver. Make sure that there is power getting there. Get someone to click the h4 botton in and out. Pull the little vaccum hoses off and see if there is vaccum or air from them

I had the same issue around Redrocks when I suddenly lost 4WD, no 4WD light, turned out to a vacum hose that fell off, but that dosen't explain the buzzer

truck looked shiny and clean today bubba

[Slideways]

Had a quick look at vacuum hoses on firewall and look ok. Was getting dark though so will have another look with garage light.

Also stole the missus hairdryer to see if the fuse box was wet then chuck the dehumidifier inside for 4 or 5hrs but didn't suck up much moisture.

Will let it dry out a bit more and see how it goes.

[madaz068]

Had a quick look at vacuum hoses on firewall and look ok. Was getting dark though so will have another look with garage light.

Also stole the missus hairdryer to see if the fuse box was wet then chuck the dehumidifier inside for 4 or 5hrs but didn't suck up much moisture.

Will let it dry out a bit more and see how it goes.

See if the like vaccum motors are working by clicking the H4 buttom.

[Slideways]

Had a quick look at vacuum hoses on firewall and look ok. Was getting dark though so will have another look with garage light.

Also stole the missus hairdryer to see if the fuse box was wet then chuck the dehumidifier inside for 4 or 5hrs but didn't suck up much moisture.

Will let it dry out a bit more and see how it goes.

See if the like vaccum motors are working by clicking the H4 buttom.

What should I be looking for, what/where do I need to test?

[madaz068]

Had a quick look at vacuum hoses on firewall and look ok. Was getting dark though so will have another look with garage light.

Also stole the missus hairdryer to see if the fuse box was wet then chuck the dehumidifier inside for 4 or 5hrs but didn't suck up much moisture.

Will let it dry out a bit more and see how it goes.

See if the like vaccum motors are working by clicking the H4 buttom.

What should I be looking for, what/where do I need to test?

Take one of the hoses off and with the key on click the button in and out. See if there is a vaccum on the lines

[Slideways]

Take one of the hoses off and with the key on click the button in and out. See if there is a vaccum on the lines

Cool will try that. If no vacuum but no loose hoses, would that point to anything obvious?

[skid]

what you need to do is put on some piss and pizza and invite the welly boys around and one of them will fix it while the rest drink and eat

[Sadam_Husain]

Remember you've got an electrical fault so dont get too sidetracked checking your vaccum lines. You'll want to check that you've got power getting to your 4WD solanoids

[Slideways]

yeah thats what I was thinking, will have another look tonight and try dry things out a bit plus put voltmeter on the plugs of solenoids on firewall. Hopefully can get it sorted, was hoping to take the gf 4wding on Friday since we both got the day off.

[Slideways]

Crap. No luck, I've unpluged the solenoids (one plug with 4 connectors) and put a voltmeter on and get nothing with H4 button pressed with engine running and not.

Still have no gauges with ign on and yet the back lighting works, the highbeam and indicator lights on dash work. But obviously nothing from the 4wd light.

Pulled covers off the fuse box by kick panel and is all dry (previously had a drip come from inside the cover).

Pulled all the fuses out and checked for cracks and swapped each relay individually (except one that I don't have a spare for) and no change.

The Buzzer still goes when I plug it back in (constant buzz not a chime like I've hear on cars when over 100kph).

Im at a loss!!

Is anybody here good with electrics and can help me out in Wellington? Beer/perk or pro if needed - maybe recommend someone? I have Thursday and Friday off because I was going to take the missus 4wd'ing So I can take anywhere during work hours etc.

[pagar]

see if you can get your hand up to the dash cluster plug, if not un screw it and check that water has not gotten into the cluster and earthing everything out, these wagons have a habit of letting water in between windscreen and scuttle/dash panel, I had water get in my old club truck and kept doing funny things. makes sence if it is your over speed buzzer going as I think the control for it is in the dash cluster. cluster is fairly straight forward to remove, un screws from the front just a bit tricky sometimes getting the speedo cable unplugged. good luck

[Slideways]

see if you can get your hand up to the dash cluster plug, if not un screw it and check that water has not gotten into the cluster and earthing everything out, these wagons have a habit of letting water in between windscreen and scuttle/dash panel, I had water get in my old club truck and kept doing funny things. makes sence if it is your over speed buzzer going as I think the control for it is in the dash cluster. cluster is fairly straight forward to remove, un screws from the front just a bit tricky sometimes getting the speedo cable unplugged. good luck

Awesome will try that tonight. It does make sense due to the water splash then everything crapped itself. Im determined to get it fixed before Friday.

[Sadam_Husain]

Like Pagar says

I dont know what your wireing looms like after the holden conversion but I'd be going through every wireing harness connector I could find and opening it up and checking it for water ingress.

[pagar]

yes espesially where the holden and toyota harnesses are merged together. Water is fun to play in but can be a pain in the rear for a truck that is not water tight.

[Slideways]

The plot thickens...

Took the dash cluster out and found no sign of water at all, dust is covering everything and if it got wet there would be signs in the dust...if you get me.

Checked the plug connectors in the dash cluster (there are 2) for bad connections and reconnected but no change. As a test I plugged the buzzer back in with everything together and of course it still buzzes its little bastard arse off. But the weird thing is that if only the plug behind the fuel,volt,oil pressure gauge side is plugged in there is no buzz. And then if I only have the plug behind the speedo and revcounter connected, it buzzes?

Its almost as if something inside the gauge cluster is stuffed from the bump (which was just after the big water splash).

It would kind of explain things, ie that the 4wd light doesn't come on (and doesn't appear to be physically in 4wd) plus that none of the gauges work except the speedo (the only mechanical one).

I must confess, Im not totally sure how my 4wd system works. I have manual hubs with "free" and "lock" when I was going over devils gate I had it in "lock" and L4 on the gearlever plus the H4 button was on (but had no 4wd light).... when going over the gate it wasn't engaging the fronts?! How can dash cluster be effecting that?

Or have I got something very wrong and I've missed something?

What would be the best way to test the 4wd is engaging if I have no dash light indicator?

Does anyone have a spare 70 series gauge cluster I can borrow to test if it makes any difference?

[pagar]

the buzzer is most likley the over speed one so yes switch could posibly be busted from the bump. the other thing to bear in mind is you may have more than one issue showing up at once, If you have a air compressor I would remove cluster and open it and blow it out(may have dust inside) then look at below cluster above steering rack should be another plug there some where, is more likely that it is something disconected i.e no power to dash rather than water inside as now that I think of it all the gauges are earth controlled so if there was water in there the gauges would earth out and read high rather than not read. when you turn on the ignition do you get an oil warning and charge light? also do the indercator lights come on? trace harness back to engine and look closely at where the harnesses are joined. unfortunatly it may take a while to sort as you wagon is a highbrid problem really could be anywhere, but I would concentrate on power to the cluster. I have a manual on order with scematics that I should have in the next day or two, if you do not have sorted by the time I have it I will study the schematic for posible areas to test. In the mean time how does your power to the 12 volt system get feed? do you have a drop down transformer in there some where? and if so is it powered of the ignition side of the key with a relay? if so check the output conections where the ignition wire is disturbed/ interupted. I presume the truck was a desiel originally? Also does everything else work that has power controlled by the ignition switch? check the plug under the steering column (you may have to remove the shroud can't remember if it is under shroud or below it)

[Slideways]

Its an weird one. The dash cluster backlighting works fine, the highbeam dash light works, the indictor dash lights work. The stereo turns on with ignition. The heater/blower works fine. Its just the fuel/volt gauges (the only ones that have been connected up after the holden motor) plus the 4wd light not working. I even tried swapping the bulb to see if it was blown.

It used to be diesel yep.

I'll try take the dash cluster to bits tonight and see what I can find, I doubt water because it was so dry and dusty inside the dash and around the gauge cluster.

Had a look at the looms and it looks like the engine loom is mostly separate to the dash loom apart from the ign power etc. Couldn't see any major plug connectors.

WOuld love to find a spare dash cluster to do a quick test...but how the heck that is effecting 4wd I don't know.

[pagar]

that was my point I don't think the gauges not going etc is a water issue or caused from in the cluster, I think you have no power from ignition to engine controls. which would be somewhere between the controls and the engine loom, so plugs off at the back of the fuse box, relay above fusebox, output from ignition switch....... start at one end with either a test light or a multi meter and trace the power from switch to fuse box and so on. are you sure the buzz sound is not a faulty relay squarking and shorting? should be two relay's to the right of steering column under dash and one mounted above fusebox.

[gazza]

I had same problem with my surf after a water crossing, just had a constant buzzing. Tried everything then put it into auto electrician. Turned out it was the alternator shorting out, Removed it, jet washed it, sprayed loads of crc, jet washed again left to dry in linen cupboard overnight, refitted, been fine ever since. yours may be totaly different buts there my 2cents anyway. goodluck

[turoa]

where abouts in welly are you?