Doors have electrical gremlins

[underscore]

Lately I've been having an issue with intermittent parasitic draw, it would be fine for a while and then suddenly be dead over night. Recharge the battery and repeat. I replaced my drivers door after the original was damaged during a failed theft attempt and the mechanisms were quite stiff so I think it sat exposed to the elements for a while. I mention this because sometimes when the car was shut off I could hear a strange popping sound coming from the door. I figured the stereo must be screwing up so I unplugged the door sub but I still hear the sound.

So I unplugged the whole door harness in the footwell and now the battery has been okay for 3+ weeks. I'm thinking I'll have to swap the whole door harness with my old one and then hopefully the car will be okay. However with the drivers door unplugged the passenger window doesn't work and more strangely when I put the key in the ignition and then shut the drivers door the passenger door spams the unlock 3 or 4 times and then stops.

Does that behaviour seem normally with the drivers door effectively "missing" and what could be making the sound in the drivers door? As far as I can tell the only things in there are the speaker, the window motor and the lock actuator. I'm thinking I'm best off just swapping absolutely everything with the old door but maybe that's overkill?

Thoughts?

 

[U233]

I am not sure the routing on the celica but my MR2 had some damage to the wiring harness where it runs into the door across the jam.

When you say that you swapped out the door did you remove and reinstall all the wiring?

 

[underscore]

The door came with everything but the door card and mirror, so I just bolted it on and plugged it in. I'm glad I didn't throw out the old door now.

 

[U233]

I would imagine you have a short somewhere in the wiring harness. Common location is the flex point where the harness goes into the door.

If you want you can depress/tape the door sensor and open the door overnight and see if the battery drains. Would not eliminate the wiring in the door completely but would not take much effort only waiting overnight.

 

[underscore]

Unfortunately I can't put the car anywhere that it would be safe to leave it for weeks with the door open. I was able to strip down the old door, not a fun task, and get the harness out. To play it safe I plan to plug it into the car but just have it sitting on the floor in the cabin, and leave it like that for a few weeks, to make sure it's actually the harness and not something in the body that goes to the harness, before I go through the hassle of swapping it.

 

[underscore]

Alright so I tried plugging in the old door harness and when I went to check on the voltage the battery was so dead my charger didn't even register it. I'm not sure if that was a fluke and the battery failed or the problem still exists.

I also took a look in the wiring diagrams to try and see what might be shorting through the door, and I realized that we have a door lock ECU that handles the timer for the double turn unlock feature, the power off delay for the windows, and the key reminder. I'm thinking it might be failing as that would explain the locks freaking out if I put the key in the ignition with the door open.

That ECU is powered by common fuses so I can't just pull them out. According to the parts diagrams it lives somewhere in the stereo/ECU area along with about a dozen other things. Does anyone happen to have a picture of one or know what it looks like? I'm hoping it at least has a sticker that says door on it or something.

 

[awdmofo]

When I got my 1990 185 I got the actual toyota repair manual complete with the wiring diagram. You think it's in there?

 

[underscore]

That should be the same thing that I have a copy of. The part location diagram shows the rough area but nothing specific.

 

[Gert]

No pic either, sorry. But the manual states it is having an gray connector with 16 pins but only 9 pins are used.
Colors are:
1 = W-L (white-blue)
2 = Yellow
3 = White - black
4 = L-W (blue-white)
5 = L-R (blue-red)
6 = Green
7 = L-B (blue-black)
8 = Blue
9 = Red-yellow

That should do the trick