A few more tips from the trenches!

[twiersum]

There was a bulletin about Sirius receivers drawing too much wich doesn't let the switchpack turn off. It was mostly referencing earlier VINs up to about 685. The solution was a 2 part receiver. My project #1446 wasn't shutting down and my Sirius was gone. Alpine support says if the unit doesn't show XM then the tuner died. I unplugged the power to XM under drivers sill and car turns off like normal. I wonder how many bricked cars were caused by not sleeping while owners were away because of the XM's? It would be interesting to see how many dead cars had XM.

 

[twiersum]

I have also been getting intermittent "powertrain problem" messages. They come and go, I watch the temps and keep driving. I did notice my 400v controller's led is not lit when key is on. I also noticed that when you pull the 8 wire plug you immediately get that same problem. So, I thought it was my PEM fan but it seems like it may be a bad controller. Opened her up and the fuse is ok. Will dive deeper soon.

 

[hcsharp]

I have also been getting intermittent "powertrain problem" messages. They come and go, I watch the temps and keep driving. I did notice my 400v controller's led is not lit when key is on. I also noticed that when you pull the 8 wire plug you immediately get that same problem. So, I thought it was my PEM fan but it seems like it may be a bad controller. Opened her up and the fuse is ok. Will dive deeper soon.

I assume you're talking about the 8-wire plug on the back of the PEM? I can't remember anyone taking apart the 400v controller before, although lots of people have replaced it, including me. It will be interesting to see what you find.

 

[twiersum]

I assume you're talking about the 8-wire plug on the back of the PEM? I can't remember anyone taking apart the 400v controller before, although lots of people have replaced it, including me. It will be interesting to see what you find.

 

[twiersum]

No, the plug on the 400v controler (hvac) under the hood......I think Wiztecy took his apart. There is a fuse in there to check.

Strange thing is that the powertrain problem message is usually associated with the pem fan.

 

[bart513]

My XM is working fine but for some reason my GPS/Nav can't find a signal???

 

[supersnoop]

My XM is working fine but for some reason my GPS/Nav can't find a signal???

GPS is a separate module on the car. It can go out.

 

[gregd]

GPS is a separate module on the car. It can go out.

I've always wondered just how many GPS units the car has. Is there one that feeds both the VDS and AV/NAV unit, or (as I suspect) each has its own?

 

[bart513]

Hmm so there is a different GPS for the Nav? How would i fix that?

 

[bolosky]

I've always wondered just how many GPS units the car has. Is there one that feeds both the VDS and AV/NAV unit, or (as I suspect) each has its own?

The nav unit is third party (my car doesn't even have nav, for instance), so it's hard to imagine that it uses the GPS from the car. So probably two.

 

[bart513]

OK thx.

 

[supersnoop]

With the JVC unit, the nav is built in and the antenna is under the dash. The car has it’s own GPS module for the VDS. Is the VDS displaying the elevation? That’s typically how you know it’s gone bad; it’s stuck at 0.

If the nav isn’t working, I suppose the antenna could have come loose. I can’t remember if it screws on or if it presses on.

Oddly enough, the car’s GPS information is carried over the diagnostic bus. OVMS uses it for location data.

 

[bart513]

Interesting I’ll check that out. My gut is that the cars GPS is fine. So maybe the JVC antenna is the problem? Is it a different antenna from the XM that the unit uses? The car was just majorly derailed with film and a ceramic coating...

 

[gregd]

Interesting I’ll check that out. My gut is that the cars GPS is fine. So maybe the JVC antenna is the problem? Is it a different antenna from the XM that the unit uses? The car was just majorly derailed with film and a ceramic coating...

XM and GPS are separate antennas, but I don't know where each are located (they could be near each other, or not). I wonder if the GPS antenna is now being shielded by the new coating? You'd figure it would affect other things as well (FM radio, XM, car's GPS, etc.). Any other side effects?

It may be that someone bumped a wire... Occam points there.