Warning: Do not short the RED plus battery to ground ever, or jumper a battery backwards or the battery will explode, shooting acid in to your eyes or worse. (ask the tow man, see him cry)
Always remove the NEG battery term first and put back last or risk the above fate. NEVER DO's
Do:
The first test on the electrical system, is to make sure the head lights and the blower (heater) work prefectly and the Head lights are not dim.
Clean the battery terminals ! Clean them , then make sure the other ends are tight. (both go to starter and both must be clean and tight) See fuse locations.
Make sure your battery is charged. 12.6vdc is normal. lower indicates it is real cold or discharged.
See my DMM meter page. See my tools page.
Learn to use your VOLT meter , a.k.a : Digital Multimeter or DMM , abbreviated. (volt ohm meter or VOM )(offsite)
The best DMM in the shop, is one with a duty cycle function (for tuning idle controls) and even better is the Amp clamp meters.
Check all fuses ! FIRST ! Test them.
Including Fuse block #1 next to the battery on the Right fender, and the other is above the drivers left knee, Box 2. (LHD) {left hand drive car}
In the salt belt? look under the box 1, now, or you will pull your hair out later. What is the SALT BELT ?
I never just look at a fuse, (if it looks bad?, it is , but if it looks good? , it can be bad) use an Ohmmeter to check continuity.
(or do a voltage drop test on the fuse, key on, live! 12v left side and 12v right side, good, I have no voltage drop you say, and grin. This is a rubber meets the road test, live and real.
If the Head lamps fail or are dim, FIX THAT FIRST ! Head lights are HOT at all times, if they fail, the problem is the main power feed is bad. (or battery issues)
If your battery will not hold a charge , there are 3 reasons , one; is a bad battery , the second; is phantom drain, and the last is a bad Alternator. (or bad wiring) Only FATE rules here.
To find out which it is? , is very simple and in the correct order:
- Check the "State of charge" SOC on the battery, if it reads 12.6v, then it is charged, if not ?, charge it with a battery charger. Check the temperature charts for for correct voltage, if frigid out.
- If the engine starts?, check the battery voltage
running above 800 RPM, if not 13.3 to 15vdc the Alterator has issues,
or is bad or bad wiring to it.
- If IDLE controls bad or below 800 RPM the engine is misfiring or ? worse?, idle controls, wonky.
- If car will not crank over the engine, see this. If the starter motor cranks the engine robustly, but won't start? see no starts.
- Does the battery go dead overnight parked, or parked at work, then the, the vehicle has a parasitic (a.k.a. phantom) drains.
Battery suspicions?
Replace the battery with a known good battery (barrow wifes?) or take it down fully charged up, first, to any auto store for a free load test. Or buy the load tester for $20 ( @ Harbor freight )
Hint: after charging a battery , let it rest for 4 hours, (so the surface charge, mixes inside and stabilizes) then read the State of charge tables, use the volt meter to see if battery even does charge fully.
Keep in mind, the starter needs a strong battery to crank the engine, about 100 amps, and after is starts the battery needs to be at 13.3v or more, below 10vdc the ECU and friends, can go nuts or off line.
The best idea of all, is a dash mounted voltmeter wired to the key on , ignition switch, on pin.
Global to all EFI pages, or electrics is "Wires are bad ?"
I'm blowing the IG-COIL or FI fuse, how do I find my short?'' ( + see the how to find, parking lamps shorted example at the end)
My dash lamps are burned out, or gauges , or speedo needs to be pulled. ( includse lamp sources and P/N)
Learn to to Check for power feed voltage drops or bad grounds. Suzuki spec of the drops are 0.5vdc MAX.
- Main power buss
failure. Are your head lights dead and all else?
- Bad grounds on this vehicle are
vary common in the SALT BELT . See my ground inspection page.
- Schematics
are here , just basics to run engine 89-98 but are accurate and
commented !
- My battery will not charge , due to unknown
charging failures or Alternator failures, battery dies while driving..
- How to test your battery ( off site) (best way, it so barrow a known good one! or use my SOC table below)
- My battery keeps draining by its self, overnight , Do I have a phantom drain or dark current?
- Is my ECU dead or bad?
flaky, All common fails revealed and repairs , even
DIY repairs.
- My engine starter motor is silent or clicks only, aka: NO CRANK.
- My engine cranks but does
not START, NO START.
- My fuel
pump is dead, due to electrical failure. (please do NOT PULL the TANK,
not yet.)
- No Spark
, how
to discover this and how to diagnose it.
- Automatic tranny Shift lock Electric failure. (won't lock or fails to unlock.) Early years
- TCC
failure Electric. (Torque Converter Clutch, lock up issues)
- Electrical dash
parts finder 91 -95 (in 96' they move many parts)
- Find electrical parts on engine ? Like VSV or Solenoids ,etc?
- Many Schematics ! + ECU wiring and to make engine run! ++++
- All Sensor information and actuators and all EFI functions, with dash gauges too.( test by hand ! no scan tool? )
- My Dash Instrument panel I/P cluster, problems. (all part/numbers for the I/P clusters. are shown) (major revisions)
- How to kill Day Light Running Lights, or DRL . (some folks hate them, for good reasons)
- What is Backprobing? How do I back probe live circuits? (in circuit and live)
- The Connectors on the car are locked. Don't force or break them, See how to pull them .(Suzuki don't sell them , so......)
- I found missing connectors or extra empty ones, on my car, what are they ? (short answer, non opted , options!)
- How to modify the head lamps if the combo switch fails. (2 more ways with less parts)
- The Blinker Combo switch is bad (discovered no power to the blinker Relay)
If you have a volt meter you can check the state of charge on the battery at any time.
Here is the Chart for discovering your batteries STATE OF CHARGE , SOC.
See line #9 the 80 degree ambient temperature reading must be 12.65vdc (rested 1 hr) or the battery is discharged. Use your ambient temperature, to find your voltages.
Cab fuse boxes: Called fuse block 2. Above left (LHD) drivers knee.
LHD = Left Hand Drive! CAB fuses are above left knee (left hand drive) Fuses that look blown out are, some that look good, are bad (tiny cracks).
Use a DMM , set the dial to Resistance (ohms low if it has that or Rx1 or Rx20)
The fuse should read the same (zero ohms) as crossed meter leads.
The pre April 1989 Geo Trackers had real 89 Suzuki Fuse boxes and were made in Japan , before the CAMI plant opened in Canada.
GM GEO TRACKER 89/90 fuse box. (post April 89) see next photo for pre April 89 Geo made in Japan
Suzuki 89/90 fuse box photo
The 91 to 95 , Tracker Sidekick fuse boxes. ( and 89/90 Suzuki too)
The 96-98 GEO Fuse cab box. (98 may vary slightly it has more fuses) check the cover for ID and spare fuses inside.
96 Suzuki actual cab fuses (odd numbers )
96 Suzuki fender fuse box #1 (main)
99- 2004 Vitara or Tracker fuse box 2 (front), with Fuel pump relay location
Hints: ON BAD WIRING
There are no simple answers, you must do tests and measurements in order to isolate problems, if you do not have any basic tools and a Digital Multimeter , you will just be guessing and buying expensive parts in vain.
If your car is OBD2 then things get a lot easier for engine running issues.
In the USA, all 1996 and newer cars can use: (over the counter cheap scan tools (full scan tools) As cheap as $15.
Got BAD WIRES ? LOOK HERE FOR BASICS
Please, get a meter (any) and learn 2 things, how to measure voltage and how to measure resistance . Get a nice cheap DMM. Walmart , Home Depot and all auto stores sell meters.
If you have problems with injection or any other electrical part, be sure to inspect all ends of wires , cables and connectors , at the slave devices or at the ECU end.
Make sure the insulation of said wires are not damaged, from previous engine pulls. or hackers wiring in junk, like remote starts or alarms with no wiring skills. (common)
Rodent damage, ? There are 5 checks.
- It looks bad?, it is , I see damage, frayed cut, or broken wires, or loose damaged insulation (look at a new car, then yours, now you are and expert in 5 minutes , LOL.
- Connector damage
(busted) or corrosion , use a hand magnifier glass , attempt to
clean off the contaminates. (use no solvent stronger than alcohol )
- The wire
must
conduct end to end, called the continuity test. 0
ohms is perfect. If not?, that is a failed path called an open circuit.
- The
insulation tests. (good insulation measure infinity, with the resistance ohm meter.)
- Missing connectors or found empty, are not a reason to panic, but if missing in the EFI system that is bad. See here for normal missing connectors.
USE A DMM meter to check for Continuity , Shorts and bad wiring insulation.
The above is SOP , standard operating procedures.
Never buy a car that has obvious wire hacking, near the ECU, or engine harness.
Take the cource on electrical here, there are no limits, only a desire to learn.
PS: Good luck finding new Suzuki connectors..... Near impossible..... (find a wrecked car and remove the whole harness while you can, no yards in my town have any Suzuki's at all and soon to be less due to Chapter 11 filings)
rev 9; 8-1-2013, add(moved) badwires section to here. Revised 5-14-2014