Ayo what da dog doin’
 

Hello all! I am new to this site so please bare with me but I decided to create an account to reach out to my 86 family for some help. A couple of days ago, I was driving on the road and my car abruptly turned off and made some beeping noises and threw some lights on and the power steering went out. I managed to drive to the am empty parking lot and then I couldn’t shift out of gear to put it into park so I came to an complete stop and held on the brake and took the me out. I used the shift bypass button and got into park and tried to start my car. It didn’t start and didn’t make any noises like it was even trying to start. Here is what is also wrong: the windows won’t roll up or down, the radio doesn’t work, and the windshield wipers don’t work yet the lights and everything else still do. I went to get my battery tested and it was all good and didn’t need to charge or anything. My main guesses after doing some research are that the alternator, starter, or spark plugs have gone bad. Please help me find out what is wrong with my car! There are no mods to this car other than muffler delete. Has 68k miles and has stock everything! If you need any additional info I’d be more than happy to provide you with it! Thanks!

None of those items will cause window issues. Need to get a real OBD2 scanner or techstream to look at all the modules. Windows up/down seems BCM related for sure. I'd suspect a ground/wiring fault. Any history on this car? Flood etc?

+1 for wiring fault. Easiest thing to do without getting it towed is to get a cheap OBD2 reader, see if you can pull codes, and do a search on what comes back, but that might not have enough information. That might not work if the ECU isn't starting up though...

Also, any chance any critters might have chewed through something?

It’s a used car I bought in April and it had one owner and was well maintained but mostly kept in the garage.

If love to do that! Where are good places to get one?

Just search "OBD2 reader", Amazon or Walmart should have them. Should be $10-20 for a basic one which is all you need. As for stores, chain auto parts stores or something like a Walmart or Target might have some in stock. Not something most people pick up at a store, but might be a quicker way to get it.

Just checking, when you turn the key to the On position, do all the warning lights in the instrument cluster turn on or is it completely dead? If they turn on, you should be able to pull the codes. If it's dead, that might not work.

Yes, some of the lights come on but definitely not all of them. Also I’ll check for some at Walmart next time I visit one.

Welcome to our forum - :clap:

I'd suggest you drive your car (or have it towed) to a dealership or an automotive shop. Even if you read and lookup the codes, it sounds like the car is eventually going to wind up in a shop to be fixed.


humfrz

Thank you for your input!!

Sounds like a bad ground or bad circuit board somewhere. Did you check fuses yet?

I am not an expert but just wanted to share my experience regarding the fuses at a dealer for my regular service check on my MY19 brz.

While they opened the hood somehow they pulled the fuse taps that I used for my dashcam. Those idiots, did not know the slot for the fuses and were not able to start the car. I watched them through the window. They tried jump stating without letting me know and changing the battery of the key!!! After witnessing all this I asked them what’s going wrong and why it took 3 hours for a oil change.
Finally they told me the situation and I told them the fuse slots (I think it was the radio stop lights) and the car started immediately.

Maybe it’s not even close to your situation but checking the fuses would be the first thing I would do.

Thanks


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I haven’t checked the fuses yet. I just got home from buying an obd code reader so now I’m going to see what shows up if anything.

So I just plugged in my new obd2 into my FR-S and it isn’t working! I went to go try it in my other car and it worked perfectly fine! What could be causing my car not to start and for the scanner to not work?! This is infuriating!

Check the fuses. I think there's even one on the positive battery cable.

So because my obd2 wasn’t working I wanted to first check the fuse for it and turns out, it’s all good! Which fuses should I check next? If the fuse for my obd2 is fine, then why isn’t it working? Tomorrow morning a repair shop is going to give me a diagnostic over the phone supposedly but I’ll see what happens. This is my first car and this is my first time dealing with an issue like this. My parking lights don’t work and when I press on the brake pedal the tail lights don’t work either. Yet, when I lock or unlock my car the tail lights and parking lights flash like normal! I am trying to get this resolved ASAP because I need my car and my windows are rolled halfway down and won’t go up after this incident posing a big risk to my car because it is parked in the driveway. I have been covering my cat though so I haven’t worried too much but still, I need my car back.

2013 Scion FR-S Died While Driving
 

Check OBDII power ( forgot which pins, search how to check OBDII power)

Then look for fuse to ECU

Check for all ground points in engine bay. Clean them with contact cleaners or deOxit

Thank you for your response! I’m looking into having my car looked at professionally since I don’t want to mess anything up on my own and have a bigger problem to face!

Go right back to basics. Check to ensure that the cables clamped to the battery are clean and tight. The battery could show as good but if full power isn't getting out of it then you would have all those symptoms.


Oh, and is the car stock or modified?

Smells like a ground wire or battery connector is loose or needs to be clean

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I think the car has to be at least in the ON position for OBD-II to work. Not running but at least ON not Accessory. Not sure if you have key or keyless.

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When you had your car's battery tested, was it in the car or did you take it out and take it to a shop? Did they do a "load test" on the battery?


humfrz

Omg it’s you! When I’m on the forums I see you everywhere so for you to be on this thread makes me happy! Haha, anyways, the cables are clean and tight and the car is completely stock other than a muffler delete.

Ground wire????

I tried that! And it still didn’t work!

What’s up man? I took the battery out had them test it. My car is parked at my house and I don’t want to have it towed back and forth places. I’m not sure what you mean by a “load” test, but they did check the voltage and said that the battery was normal. Here’s the thing, I seen a video online where a guy with an FR-S couldn’t start his car and it wouldn’t make any noises at startup and all he did was replace the battery and it worked! I still think the battery might be the culprit in some way.

No work done recently? Next step check the big ground cable that is bolted on the bell housing on the passenger side of the car. Can't seem to find a picture right now.


The battery should be load tested. It may have enough voltage to look fine but not enough amperage to run everything or turn it over.

I did have a custom reverse light installed but that was a couple of weeks ago and I also had a friend of mine try to tune my car but he said it didn’t work but I don’t know what he did to my ecu or if he messed anything up on accident.

Ohhhhhh. Well not to scare you but that opens up a whole new range of possibilities. When messing with ECUs anything can happen. Best get it in to somebody that can actually see what is going on.

I’m going to go to my local auto zone and have them load test my battery because it looks like the oem battery so the previous owner probably never changed it. In regards to the tuning, he was going to give me an oft tune for pops and crackles but it couldn’t flash to my car because it was “married” to his car and I guess the oft only allows for one car to be married with a tune so, I believe it reset my ecu but I don’t think anything really bad happened from it because that was a couple of weeks ago and my car has been fine since.

Good plan. It sounds like a battery or contact issue to me. If all he did was attempt to flash with a married OFT then all should be fine there.
Wouldn’t totally rule out the custom light yet though since they have been known to cause some weird issues.

The car didn't go to ON? Or the OBD-II just didn't connect?

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Both

I’m at Autozone and the guy wants me to get my Vin and call Scion

At this point I believe my immobilized has stopped my car from working properly

We are back to the ECU possibly being messed up then.
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=122100
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100168
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=120838

That's actually good news. If the car won't go ON than that's why the OBD-II isn't talking. So it isn't a complicated software issue most likely just a power issue. Maybe a bad battery or a loose wire?

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So this is all what you should put in the original post. Go through all the reverse light wiring. Talk to your friend who may have damaged your ECU or OBD connector.

My initial guess would be the alternator. I had mine go out on a '98 200SX that I owned,and when it went bad(while driving) a bunch of weird electrical stuff started happening,like weird flashing lights.I'm not mechanic so take that for what it's worth,but that would be my very first guess from past experience.

If it's the alternator, I have a slightly used one I'll sell you for $25 bucks picked up. :)

Battery tests fine, so you would see it start then drain the battery. This one won't let him turn the car on, or operate the windows, or...