User 41221

Show up for our wrenching party, we are starting at 10am. FSM is a "Factory Service Manual", which has the wiring diagrams you will need to be able to troubleshoot the problems.

Depends on which ground... there are a bunch of them that tie in there.

Regards,

StupEd05

I think I have the FSM's on CD... I'll check.

Alright, pulled the center console back and it appears to only be one crispified wire. Its a Green/White wire that goes to the stereo I believe. I followed it up through the bundles and everthing and routes through by the upper part of the console, by the clock, AC button, and oil pressure. Well, i noticed that the wire was sitting on or next to the light for the Clock. A light which gets pretty darn hot. And it appears that this Green/White wire was sitting on the terminal for this light which got hot and melted the sheathing on the wire and thus making direct contact with the light circuit. The wire looks fine to one side of the terminal, so Im thinking it was somehow grounded somewhere around the radio, so the electricity flowed directly from the light terminal down to a ground thus only melting and frying that part of the wire. A picture will better show what I mean. Will post later this evening. To me this does not seem like THE problem, just another one of those OTHER problems... I think this wire is the aux. power, but am not sure...

StupEd05

yeah, this wire is the aux. power (switched 12v, i believe). I traced it back to under the steering wheel where it connects to the caution light switch, from there it goes down to a little Plastic connecter thing, where 2 more green/white wires come out of??? Dont know where they go from there though... BTW: I have found slight burn marks on the whole length of the wire (atleast what I can see of it) so the whole thing is definitely toast.

apen749

I had a similar problem to you recently. I just got my car out of the shop and they really tore me a new one. Please check and make sure the wiring harness of the alarm is fully pushed into the alarm. This was my problem. The screws holding the footboard were too long and they were touching/pulling on the alarm’s wiring harness.

These items were replaced on my car.

Fuel Pressure Regulator
Fuel Filter
Impulse Sender
Ignition Rotor
Idle Valve
Distributor Cap
Throttle Position Sensor
Ignition Control Unit
Ignition Coil
Changed Oil & Filter because Gas in it
Sparkplugs

All this was $1800. I almost lost it because I had not been given an estimate. I picked up my car and it was still running rough but it didn't earlier for the tech. I drove the car home and that's when I was realized the DME and alarm was lying on the floorboard verses being installed. I gave it a look and it was loose again.
The shop basically said that's great but your car needed these parts because it's 14 years old. I'm still steaming over this.

Check the wires to the alarm!!!!!!!!!!!!

StupEd05

Thanx a lot for the reply, but my car has no fancy "alarm". lol, i have a lowly '83 NA. Pure sports car, none of those modern amenities like "alarm" or "power steering" or "power sunroof". I have power windows, and life is GOOD!

Thanx!

User 41221

"Almost lost it"??? Dude, they would NOT have wanted me in the shop if they did that to me. $1800 for that list is a major ripoff, by the way, let alone the fact that they didn't have your authorization to do the work.

Regards,

StupEd05

I got the bare part of the wire out this morning so it isnt connected to any hot wires or grounded at all. I turned on the car and put in a new fuse in the gauge lights circuit. Now the headlights will turn on, but not pop up?!? If the headlight motor relay was bad would the bulbs in the headlights turn on, even though they arent popping up?

Chris_924s

Key is ON when youre checking for headlights, right??

Try to operate the switch and test while out of the dash - pull the loom a little taut and retry the headlight operation.. if it works there is another bad wire.

Scott- just curiuos, where are the rest of the pics from your GTG?

StupEd05

Chris - Could you explain a little more? Sorry but this is my first experience with these cars electrical systems. What do you mean by "Try to operate the switch and test while out of the dash"?

Thanx

StupEd05

LOL, Doh!!!! NEVERMIND!!! I just noticed I had a little piece of extra vacuum hose caught in the headlight rail! Gez, I guess that a good thing. Well anyways, I spent a good 45 minutes under the dash following this wire, and seems to start at the back of Relay VI which is the far right top relay for the Rear Window Defogger. Its White/Green and travels parallel with a White/Grey wire, which is now sorta melted to. From there it appears to go to the Defogger Switch, from there it leaves and splits into two wires somehow?!? And I cant really tell where it goes from there. This Green/White wire is melted pretty darn good and Im sorta wondering if the many bare spots havent melted through other more important wires that it travels along next too.

Has anyone had any electrical problems that stopped the car from starting, yet still clicked the injectors and gave you spark???

StupEd05

Anyone have a the schematics for a EARLY car, that has the Radio included??? My damn Haynes manual only has the radio schematic for late cars, and it doesnt show anything about a Green/White wire. So I guess they changed it as time went on. Only have FSM's on CD and am not near my Comp. Any online sources for the schematics???

User 41221

I have them, Aaron. Come on over tomorrow.

Regards,

StupEd05

Yeah I guess I might take that offer up. Booted up my computer this morning and the "944 Documents" I have are for Late models

StupEd05

Im back!!! And she STILL isnt running!!! All vacuum lines look good, and the electrical problem seems to be solved, as no more melting fuses and everthing works fine. So now its back to "Why the hell wont it start!!!"

I previously mentioned that I drained the tank again and flushed the whole system with Toluene and then put in fresh Premium and it started up on the second try, I revved it and it returned to idle and died instantly never to start again. Any other ideas? Im about to tow it to a shop, fix it, and sell it. But would hate to have to pay someone to work on it

faithless

Jesus man! I read through this entire goliath of a bitch mystery.
I wish I had a car that I could examine to try and help you out, but I'm no owner yet...

On the topic of the electrical failure. Have you determined what the cause of this short was? Do not call it case closed until you have determined EXACTLY what the cause of the overload was, and checked every single wire in the problem area, and make sure none are shorted. I'm not getting at fixing the problem, since you said you have. The thing is, sometimes the wires are used as switching between vast amounts of parts, and having one shorted is gonna muck everything up. I just went through this exact crap with my garage door opener. Somehow two of the wires are shorted... causing the lock feature to stay turned on...POS
Electrical problems are very hard to see and fix. It's like working out a math problem, make sure you double check every operation, and test to make sure its correct. Otherwise you may completely skip a step, and be yourself because you didnt bother to check it.

If this was my problem, I would not be swapping around parts, etc. I would get out some paper and start drawing out a good diagram of the car and what needs to work at bare minimum for the car to start up, etc. You have tested SO many things, if you really sit down and analyze it for a day, I bet you will make progress.
If you know a person that is a PCA club member, you might want to ask them if they will submit a technical help question under their name to the PCA website. There is a good looking technical forum that is moderated by an expert mechanic.
If all else fails, take it to a mechanic, and get them to diagnose the problem. Then fix it yourself.
After what I've read on this forum, I dont trust any mechanic.

Best of luck!