Joyful talk no sound

Howdy ladies and gents

Need some help on the issue I'm having with my joy talk in the 94 1KZ. Was working fine since I got the van in February then all of a sudden no more sound front or rear. Light comes on, doors are closed (JT won't work if a door is open). I can hear a *tick* from my speaker when I flick it on but rear passengers don't hear me and I don't hear them.
Here's what I tried so far:
-checked all fuses on driver side next to brake pedal
-cleaned contacts at doors
-cleaned contact of the actual JT switch

I haven't checked the second fuse box on the passenger side (https://hiace-super-custom.forumotion.com/t440-fuse-panel-b-cover) but not sure if joyful talk has its own fuse anyways. The only different thing I did the day prior having this issue is turning on TEMS and JT same time, although I don't know if there's any correlation there at all.

Any help is appreciated, would love to not shout at my passengers anymore.
Cheers

Huh, first ive heard of such a thing. Had to look it up. I love these little obscure features.

Little update:
My open door dash light isn't working for any of the doors (front dome light comes on, though). My guess is that with a faulty open door indicator the van thinks the doors are open, which would then make the Joyful Talk not work.

Would anybody know how to fix that dash light switch?

Ok so I looked through my wiring diagrams and joyful talk isn’t on them. It’s probably wired over the top like her rear premium sound.

I’ll go outside and check if her joyful talk works with the drivers door open that way we can confirm your line of thinking.

It’s cold give me a second to get dressed.

Her joyful talk works with the doors open.

Also her dash indicator lights up when any door is open including the rear hatch.

blgravely wrote:

Her joyful talk works with the doors open.

Also her dash indicator lights up when any door is open including the rear hatch.

Thanks for checking! I agree that the joyful talk would turn on when doors are open, but it shouldn't transmit any audio to the back or vice versa. If I remember correctly, with sliding door open, when you turn on joyful talk you'll hear a slight click in the speaker but no sound of you "talk" haha.
Those are the current symptoms I have now which is what lead me to think it was maybe door sensor related.

I also tried finding it on my diagram but couldn't find anything. Surely it would have a module somewhere no?

It’s on the diagrams in three tiny places. The dash light and key-in buzzer share the same circuit and are triggered by the diode in the dome illumination circuit.

I have a suggestion:

Open your drivers door and stick your key in. If it beeps that side of the circuit is working correctly and you most likely have a bulb out in your dash.

blgravely wrote:

Open your drivers door and stick your key in. If it beeps that side of the circuit is working correctly and you most likely have a bulb out in your dash.

Apologies for the delay, and thank you for the screenshots - much appreciated. I do indeed get a beeping sound when key is inserted with door open, so I'm guessing that means my open door dash light is simply burned? If the dash light had a faulty ground for instance, you're saying the key-beep would also not be working? Someone had suggested I test each door switch individually and checking if the light comes on, but now maybe that's not necesary.

Other info: front dome light comes on with doors open, rear one has never worked even when joyful talk was functioning properly.

If my door theory isn't true, that leaves us with... the joyful talk module itself? I heard it's hiding behind the trim in the rear right section of the van, behind that little compartment. But I haven't found any documentation on that module to test it out.

Hello

In terms of ease of use, the best electrical manual I’ve found is on the Hiacesoutheast web site, see:

https://www.hiacesoutheast.com/hiace-manuals

I like it as it’s a single document (rather than a lot of separate pdf docs) and has good pictures in various languages of many different vans (LH and RH drive examples) showing where all the modules are. Take a look and see if the joyful talk system is there; that manual might predate the feature but it’s also comprehensive for fuses and switches.

I think this YT video:


features the joyful talk (~4min).

If you’ve got a door that some part of the system thinks is open due to the electrical state of a switch then this could be an issue, but I’ve not got this feature in my van.

Good luck!

The module is there yes. I can see it…if but wouldn’t pull it out if someone paid me. It’s way in there.

I believe your dash light is out because it’s fed by the buzzer signal wire which you verified hot.

Lynne and I will go out and test our joyful talk fully to see what direction to go next. Your theory about the rear door muting the joyful talk has tons of merit.  Give me like an hour. We just got back from SEATAC

Ok so I have great news.

We just tested the joyful talk.

1. It works in the ACC and run position
2. Just like you said…it mutes with a click when ANY door is ajar, but the switch still lights up green.

Your bulb is out in the dash so you have no idea if it thinks the rear tailgate isn’t closed completely or something. I think your problem is your van now thinks the tailgate or the sliding door is open. It will be trivial to find out which if we can get that dash indicator working.

The good thing is this circuit is on the wiring diagrams. If you make the van think all the doors are closed I think your joyful talk will spring back to life.

LH119V wrote:

In terms of ease of use, the best electrical manual I’ve found is on the Hiacesoutheast web site, see:

Thank you for the reminder, I had downloaded that file but literally never thought of checking it out for my issue lol. Even though it predates the feature, there's lots of good info in there! Very handy to identify those relays in that second fusebox on the passenger side.

blgravely wrote:

Ok so I have great news.

We just tested the joyful talk.

Would like to thank you and Lynne for taking the time to go out and test it, it's very much appreciated. Seriously hoping that it's not the module, as you said it's way way in there and no amount of beers would make that a task worth doing.

So we'll start by troubleshooting the easy stuff first. Recap: as you said, dash light is out so there's no way to know which door has a faulty switch that makes the van think the door is open. We do know that the front doors are safe and not the culprits (dome light, beeping, etc.) so it has to be the tailgate or sliding door. My knowledge of circuits and diagrams is very poor... how would I proceed to bypass this circuit and "close" the rear doors?

Side note, I read on another thread that replacing this part (https://www.ebay.com/itm/294371564171) fixed a similar issue for the person. Maybe it's worth replacing as well.

So you are thinking clearly, and I think are about to solve what is probably three things wrong with your van in one swoop.

That eBay part is correct. Your rear latch is a combination part that also includes the courtesy lamp switch inside. Not that bad to replace but not awesome either. The power lock solenoid connects to it with fiddly connectors.

I really hope that’s the bad switch because on the other hand I am pretty good at reading diagrams, and the 30 year old translated documentation on the power sliding door is frightening in its operation. It has proximity stitches, limit switches and God knows what else among other things.

You say your rear cabin lights are inop. Bad news is they are one circuit.

The rear hatch activates both overhead lights and the floor puddle light at the sliding door. All of them so it’s impossible to isolate it from the sliding door.

The switch/latch can be bypassed by connecting the wires together…but if you went to the trouble to get to the wires…if it was my van I’d just replace the whole part while I was in there.

If your van sliding door is still pulling shut…that implies the mechanism is working, and your faults are a bad rear latch, bad instrument bulb, and however many rear cabin lights burned out from the switch being faulty and stuck on.

What do you think? Does that make sense in the slightest???

I think you’re at the end of this and will be enjoying your completely working van for years to come.

blgravely wrote:

What do you think?  Does that make sense in the slightest???

I'm still following! The mechanism for the sliding door is still working fine, so if I understand that eliminates that as a possible culprit? And you're spot on, it's worth changing the whole part while I'm there and buy a few spare bulbs for the rear cabin see if that triggers anything.
You've been an absolute gem of a help. I'll order the part and will update this thread on what happens next.

Been loving every single second of driving this van, and it's been even better with people like you helping along the way. Hopefully that'll fix joyful talk so I can stop yelling at my passengers

That’s awesome to hear. Really is. I hope these little problems are behind you soon.

If you ever need anything else please don’t hesitate to ask.

Just received the new tailgate switch, will keep this thread updated once I get to install it.

blgravely wrote:

That’s awesome to hear. Really is. I hope these little problems are behind you soon.

I'm afraid the mission was half a success. Changed the tailgate latch (wasn't too bad) and it definitely opens and shuts way better than before. I remember the latch feeling super stiff when trying to open it before I changed it. Unfortunately I was not joyfully talking shortly after that because it still doesn't work. Same thing as before; light click upon turning on, but no sound.

Perhaps I should fix my instrument bulb to isolate which door is giving me troubles? The only other option would be a fault JT module (which I would not attempt).

Chieboulette wrote:

Perhaps I should fix my instrument bulb to isolate which door is giving me troubles?

That can't hurt.

‘Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth.’ Sherlock Holmes

You could bypass the door switches but if there's an open circuit elsewhere the van might still think something is ajar. The instrument cluster warning lights are useful diagnostics (and all warning and illuminating lights are useful) but even these are just indicative and the fault might be elsewhere. For example there must be a serial-feed between the door-open warning system and the JT so it is muted or whatever if an open door is detected.

The serial bit is that any open door can presumably mute the JT and if you can identify this (and the JT system works) then in theory you can change this feed, either tie it to ground or provide a constant feed (or on another demand switch) depending on how the feed works so that the JT could work at any time.

Two other things spring to mind:

1 - I presume there's an additional activation switch, a sort of press-to-talk button on the dash or handset or something so the driver isn't constantly booming through to the passengers. Does this work?

2 - There might be other circuits in the serial-feed mentioned above than just doors. While a bit doubtful it's possible that something like the seatbelt check might mute the JT so that it cannot be activated if the driver's seatbelt isn't engaged.

Essentially the JT might be fully functional but muted or inactive by other circuits and while doors and their warning lights are useful to investigate and sort for all sorts of reasons there could be other interconnected circuits.

Is the JT on the Hiacesoutheast electrical manual?

HTH

Another possibility: the unit may be working but the microphone could be faulty.

LH119V wrote:

Chieboulette wrote:

Perhaps I should fix my instrument bulb to isolate which door is giving me troubles?

1 - I presume there's an additional activation switch, a sort of press-to-talk button on the dash or handset or something so the driver isn't constantly booming through to the passengers. Does this work?

2 - There might be other circuits in the serial-feed mentioned above than just doors. While a bit doubtful it's possible that something like the seatbelt check might mute the JT so that it cannot be activated if the driver's seatbelt isn't engaged.

Essentially the JT might be fully functional but muted or inactive by other circuits and while doors and their warning lights are useful to investigate and sort for all sorts of reasons there could be other interconnected circuits.

Is the JT on the Hiacesoutheast electrical manual?

HTH

Apologies for the delay, had a whole ton of work to do on the alternator, radiator and such things that took precedence over our lovely JT To answer your questions:
1- There doesn't seem to be an additional switch. Once you turn on JT, it's full beans and you can only adjust the volume/gain. You could theoretically talk to your passengers as long as your JT is on (and functional)
2- I gave it a shot after reading your message, as it's a good point. I tried with seatbelt on, van in Park or Drive, no luck

I think you're correct that the JT is fully functional given that I can really hear it click "on" when the volume is maxxed, but something is blocking the circuit (something that I could bypass?). What isn't great is that there isn't any documentation on JT and it isn't on Hiace Southeast's manual as far as I could see.

Essentially I will start by replacing my middle dome light first as it doesn't work anymore. If it comes on with the setting at "DOOR" and the door is closed, it means that I have a faulty switch somewhere. That would be confirmed with a functional door ajar light on my dash, but I don't know how to dismantle that nor fix it. Cheers for the help so far, will change the bulb and update the thread.

AgathaAlice wrote:

Another possibility: the unit may be working but the microphone could be faulty.

That's a very good point. If I understand correctly, JT consists of 2 microphones and 2 speakers? If one of those things was faulty, then I assume that you would still have audio playing somewhere in that loop. That's just my very very limited understanding of all things audio lol