Check this out, see if it doesn't answer your questions. click

Mind you, I still have ABS and 4ws. I am not recommending, just answering.

I am unsure at to how to diagnose these symptoms. The only issue I've had with with system is low PS fluid due to some leaky seals. That made the 4ws light pop on, refilled it, and it went away. Hardly comprehensive.

Thanks for the info!!

Also, another thing that I just noticed. The valve cover is NOT red, like I see in other Galant VR4s. It is silver with red lettering that says, "16 Valve" at the top and "DOHC 2000" on the bottom. After a quick google, it appears as if this valve cover is what came on the Eagle Talons? IF, and I say IF, this motor was swapped out of a Talon, is there anything that I should be looking for, for better or worse?

Thanks again and sorry for the "ignorant" questions. Just switching to a new platform and I have not had time to figure out the ins and outs just yet.

The 4WS really has only one common problem, corrosion and leaks. I have many usable parts from a complete system I took off a good car years ago. Some of the lines and such I have sold though. If you can locate any leaks and really want to keep it, you can possibly find an industrial hose supplier to make pressure hoses for you. Return side low pressure is not so necessary to have OE equivalent parts. Most of the fittings are 14 x 1.5 mm inverted flare on the pressure side.

Simplest disabling is removing the pressure lines from the front rack that go to the rear, plugging the with oil pan drain plugs, disconnecting the tie rods from the rear trailing arms (wire them out of the way, rack can stay in the car). Also plug the two return line ports at the ps fluid reservoir. You can go much further than that, but that is about the minimum. There is also a pump on the diff that may cause problems if running with no fluid. Can't recall that for sure. Anybody else?

I have ABS parts too depending on what it is doing. I left it on one car where it was working fine, but removed from another car when the hydraulic unit went bad.

Quoting iceman69510:

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. There is also a pump on the diff that may cause problems if running with no fluid. Can't recall that for sure. Anybody else?

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It will be fine if it's left up top, that's how it was on my first vr4 when I got it and continued for the next 3yrs in my possession which included a cross country trip from VA to WA and numerous trips to WI from VA.

check interior fuses and make sure all the fuses in the engine bay is good. There could be a number of things that are causing things like grounds as you already noted. The Chassis harness and engine harness are separate things, so you don't really need to pull the engine for this problem.

So, was able to mess with the car for a little bit tonight.

I got the ignition switch unplugged and was testing with the multimeter to see continuity on the different wires when the key turned. I did not have any luck and so I can only assume there are relays in the switch itself?

I do have a powerprobe and so I was wondering if anybody could tell me where the 12v+ comes in from the engine bay to power the dash lights. I could disconnect that plug and use my probe to give 12v+.

The reason I am thinking this way is because today while I had the key turned on and I was poking out with my hands and multimeter, the wipers kicked on for a split second. I scratched my head for about half a second but then checked the wipers were, in fact, not off. So they picked up power for a brief second. After I did some more poking around to try and replicate this again, I took my power probe and touched it to the seat mounting bolt and instead of giving me a ground signal, I got a 12v+. Because of this, I am wondering if maybe the rats that chewed on some wires in the engine bay shorted out a hot wire to a ground and that is why my power probe yelled "+" when it shouldve been yelling ground. This could also by why my wiper motors engaged for a split second as I was poking around...no?

Well, in that case, the ignition switch is coming off!!!

Thanks!

Will report back

and, an update

So, checking continuity again and I am getting a signal when I touch the connector at the engine bay fuse block, the 60 amp fuseable link.

I then disconnected the white/red stripe:
-no signal to ground from positive terminal. this tells me if its between the big fuse block and the car (not the short amount of wire from the positive terminal/starter and chassis.
-I get signal to ground from the white/red stripe


Next thought was, "what all does the white/red stripe power?"

I then disconnected that and I have signal when touching the white/red stripe wire that connects to that link. I get signal when touching the white/redstripe with the 10amp (AC clim), 10amp (high beam), 15amp (fog lamp), 10amp (tail) spade fuses.

I pulled all of those fuses and still get signal to ground from white/redstripe.

I then pulled all 6 of the round metal relays on that fuse block and still have signal to ground from white/redstripe.

I now see why you pulled the powertrain, that's some serious carnage.

The inside/interior loom and connectors look good, so at least you got that going for you.

Once the engine compartment loom is repaired, you're probably going to be good to go.

After speaking with Toybreaker and listening to his words, I started to check deeper into the wiring.

I started off by getting under the dash to check the connections on the fuse box down there. Wiring and connectors all seem unmolested and did not see any corrosion on the pins.

After looking at the ignition switch, I then looked at all of the wiring that I could see from the drivers floorboard and everything looked just as OEM as it should.

From there I went over to the passenger side and pulled the glovebox out to take a gander at everything behind that portion of the dash and nothing looked molested in any way. I peeked behind the center console and all wiring (that I could see) looked great.

I then pulled the ECU to look for popped caps:

looks as if it hasnt ever been touched. The screws didnt seem to have any bit marks on them either.


Connector pins looked great


Caps dont seem to be burst from the tops and even looking underneath, between the board and them, they dont seem to have burst



Nothing seems out of place/corroded on the backside either