many many elictrical problems
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many many elictrical problems
ok my car isnt doin so good. my fog lights work maybe once a month if im lucky, my scan tool will not read, my rear brake light in the window doesnt work, one of my windows doesnt work sometimes and my car is idling messed up. i cleaned the grounds under the carpet and nothing the fuses are all good. any one have any ideas??? ive been fixing this car since i got it about 6 months ago. i have a new pcm, maf, icm, o2, and crank sensor. and i have a used supercharger i got from the local scrapper doubt that will halp any but atleast you will see what i had to go through any help will be greatly appreciated
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fog
Sounds like a few minor circuit problems. Have you pulled the fuses and make sure the contacts are clean and go in tight on both sides?
A rough idle could mean its time for a standard tune up. How are the plugs, coils and wires?
A rough idle could mean its time for a standard tune up. How are the plugs, coils and wires?
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ive got the actron and i know its the right scantool because ive had a couple posts on here about. jus did a tune up not too long ago. and all of the fuses look pretty good. i had slug send me a patch cable because i thought i had the wrong cable but still no luck. i know the scanner works because i put it on my grandmothers corsica and it worked fine on it. ive been havein trouble with this car for a while. ive had some people say it might be a vac line as far as the rough idle goes. everything else i have no clue.
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Re: many many elictrical problems
Originally Posted by TampaSSEi95
any one have any ideas???
You've got a lot of electrical problems that may be symptomatic of a general problem.
Start with your foglamps. Make sure the bulbs are still both good. Check the sockets and socket wiring for breaks and corrosion. Apply some dielectric grease to the contacts.
If the fogs still don't work, check to see if it'* missing the ground or +12 volts. (You'll need a voltmeter, alligator test leads, or a 12v bulb with test leads to do this. PM me if you're in doubt).
Do the same for your window rear brake light, and any other defective electricals that you can get at. Check pins 4 and 5 on your OBD socket for good ground (one is chasis ground and the other is pcm ground. I forget which is which right now -- may not matter).
If all your tests show missing grounds, then you have to keep searching for poor ground connections. Some more possibilities (beyond what you've maybe looked at. And I'm sorry if I'm redundant):
-- There are ground busses on both sides of the cab under the carpet
-- Also, there are ground wires from those busses to the chassis
-- There are one or two grounds under the hood that are not obvious (I have even connected extra ground wires, just to make sure. Examples -- battery to chassis, chassis to engine, battery to engine, etc).
If the problem is missing +12 volts, then that'* more difficult:
-- Recheck that extra smaller positive cable off the battery for contact and corrosion. Peel the rubber back a bit to make sure. Check the connection it goes to.
-- visually inspect all the wiring you can for fraying, corrosion, rodent chewings (happens a lot!)
-- is there any evidence of salt water corrosion; has your vehicle possibly been in a flood? A carfacts report might be a good idea (sometimes available through club members). Or you may know already that the car has been in water or saltwater.
-- Tedious, but....... You may want to start going through connectors. Open them up and close them a few times after applying dielectric grease and checking for looseness or corrosion.
-- Libraries sometimes have these massive tomes in the reference section that give wiring schematics for '90s cars.
You may not care that much if any individual thing gets fixed, but you may stumble on the cause for several things gone out, particularly that may affect engine electronics.
Something to do in all your spare time this winter !
Luck!
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