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Turbo Timer stopped working

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Turbo Timer stopped working

Postby billyvan » Fri Aug 21, 2009 6:26 pm

The Turbo timer on our 94 3.1 inter-cooled Bighorn decided to stop after a flat battery required a jump start.

I am picking it is a factory set up, as I have inspected the under dash, and foot well areas, and cant find any aftermarket control box, and also it had a great feature where if you turned the key back one position, it turned off after about 15 seconds, but if you turned the key all the way off in one go, it would continue to run for about a min.

I know the obvious question is fuse but I have checked every fuse I can find, including using the multimeter to confirm they are still intact, rather than just a visual, and drawn a blank.

Has anyone had any similar issues? or knows of any hidden fuses other than the engine bay, or main fuse panel drivers side?

Any help would be appreciated, as it's not essential, as it's manageable manually, but it's always nice to have the auto reminder, incase I forget :)
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Re: Turbo Timer stopped working

Postby Yarno » Fri Aug 21, 2009 6:57 pm

It should be aftermarket as I'm not sure they are allowed to have them standard as there is a chance the hand brake doesn't work and it wont be in gear because of timer, and off it rolls...
Anyway they are connected to the ignition cables in the steering column with a standard looking plug, it just connects with one female and one male plug and off that there should be a box somewhere to control it.
Most if not all of the digital ones will switch off without power and need you to press the on button to make em work again.
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Re: Turbo Timer stopped working

Postby geeves » Fri Aug 21, 2009 7:44 pm

Sounds factory although this would be the first ever factory turbo timer Ive ever heard of.
Yarno comes up with a very good reason for this. Ive seen a similar thing happen to a Prado. It was stopped off road waiting for others to clear a hazard. Driver had got out to watch but had left the engine running and the auto in gear Then when he realised they would be there a while he reached in the window and switched off the engine. A large rock stopped it going over a big cliff. He got a ccvc special award for that one.
Sanding your knuckles before starting work can help. That way you cant skin them
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Re: Turbo Timer stopped working

Postby billyvan » Fri Aug 21, 2009 8:00 pm

Cheers for the suggestions so far, I will do some more digging tomorrow (take some plastic off the steering column) and see if I can find any sort of control box.
I'm used to aftermarket turbo timers where the control box is on display so you can see time countdown, interval settings etc.

Seemed a bit strange to hide it? but I guess anythings possible.
I know I didnt have it fitted when we brought it, so am picking it came into NZ with it pre installed, so could be interesting to see what I find.
I will share :)
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Re: Turbo Timer stopped working

Postby geeves » Fri Aug 21, 2009 8:09 pm

On my wagon it appeared a turbo timer had been installed but removed Made fitting the new one easy
Sanding your knuckles before starting work can help. That way you cant skin them
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Re: Turbo Timer stopped working

Postby billyvan » Sun Sep 06, 2009 7:50 am

Well after removing the steering column covers to find just a factory loom, then digging right up under the dash, I have found the aftermarket control box for a BeTime A-51 Turbo timer.
It was well hidden, and wired in with factory looking looms, so wasn't until I managed to wrangle the control box far enough to see the makers name on the top that I worked it out :)

So a search of Mr Google revealed a users manual, but only in Japanese, and only in PDF, so all angles for internet translation were blocked :(

Lucky for me I have a department at work that is based on Japanese customers, and as such has Japanese speaking staff, so they kindly found the relevant section to the manual, and translated the instructions to reset the system.

Next bonus was that I had now discovered what the unidentified remote control that came with the Isuzu belonged to, it was this unit, but following the instructions to reset, which included input from the remote didn’t produce results.
Decided to replace the batteries in the remote, to check that even though the lights were coming on, that it was outputting signal OK.
That did the trick, and its now all up and running again.
But I did discover some extra functionality linked to this remote :shock: this thing is really smart.

First you can start the Truck with the remote, just hit play, and it turns ignition on, waits till glow finishes and starts it :lol: but it gets better, if it's cold and it doesn’t catch first time, it will reglow and try again, until it starts and runs :shock:
And you can also turn it off from the remote, if you want to stop the turbo timer running.

You can’t drive without the key in it, as soon as you touch the brake pedal to put it into gear it stops.

So if you have a remote like this floating round in your vehicle Image Have a go at pressing the ENG button, then the play button, and if it doesn’t do anything try replacing the batteries and have another go.
If there still isn’t anything, I can provide the instructions to reset a BeTime A-51, and that may do it.

It's a very cool feature, works a treat in car parks, watch the people in the car next door try and work out how your car started it's self without you :lol:
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Re: Turbo Timer stopped working

Postby geeves » Sun Sep 06, 2009 9:47 am

Sounds a clever device. Be careful though There are rules in NZ re remote starting after a nasty accident a few years ago. (someone died) If its possible to start the car when its already in gear its illegal and dangerous. If your car is auto this shouldnt happen but there is no way to prevent this on a manual
Sanding your knuckles before starting work can help. That way you cant skin them
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Re: Turbo Timer stopped working

Postby billyvan » Sun Sep 06, 2009 12:06 pm

I have tested it, and due to the auto lockout, it wont start in gear, and you cant get the key out while it's in gear also.
I have heard of the TV's not being enabled unless the hand break is on, and a past auto sparky who lives next door told me today they used to fit the odd one of the units like mine into NZ cars, and also to manuals.
This was some time ago, and by the sounds of it the manual version made to act in the same manner, hand break had to be off before it would start, but there was a possibility to bypass this, as they found out when one employee left the car in gear and the hand break off, and when the boss came to show the system to a customer on his car, it jumped into the concrete wall in front of it :cry:

I guess I'm lucky ours is all set up correctly, and now works as it should, it's very handy 8-)
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