ElectronicsNeed help wiring something up? Thinking of adding an electrical component to your car? Need help troubleshooting that wiring glitch?
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On my '88 S/C are my two front side markers supposed to come on with my headlights? The drivers side does, but passenger side won't. Both work with turn signal activated, but not with headlights alone. What's going on??
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__________________ The Camaro is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
It maketh me burnout on black pavements;
It leadeth me beside busy freeways;
It restoreth my soul;
It leads me in the path of quickness for its names sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of rice, I shall fear no turbo,
For torque art with me;
Thy rod and thy piston they comfort me.
Thou preparest a track for me
In the presence of my enemies;
Thou hast anointed my bearings with oil;
My car overpowers.
Surely traction and victory shall follow me,
All the days of my life,
And I shall dwell in the house of the V8,
Forever...
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I switched bulbs, and they both work properly on the drivers side. No filament burnt out
__________________ The Camaro is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
It maketh me burnout on black pavements;
It leadeth me beside busy freeways;
It restoreth my soul;
It leads me in the path of quickness for its names sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of rice, I shall fear no turbo,
For torque art with me;
Thy rod and thy piston they comfort me.
Thou preparest a track for me
In the presence of my enemies;
Thou hast anointed my bearings with oil;
My car overpowers.
Surely traction and victory shall follow me,
All the days of my life,
And I shall dwell in the house of the V8,
Forever...
I switched bulbs, and they both work properly on the drivers side. No filament burnt out
Well, the system is pretty simple. If it has a known good bulb installed then it is most likely a power or ground issue.
The body harness in the engine bay has only a few grounds. Check the grounds on the radiator core support. These will be located near the battery and the charcoal cannister. If these grounds are not connected properly strange things will happen with perfectly good equipment.
The body harness is part of the large connector coming out of the firewall below the brake booster. The body harness will come from the smaller portion of that connector, run along the driver side frame rail and to the headlight area. Then it will split into the lights/markers, with another loomed section going towards the passenger side of the car.
Ok I have found two ground wires on the upper radiator core support. They are on the passenger side, behind the headlights, near the battery. I connected one to the headlights to get them working properly. But there is still one more ground wire leading to nothing. Any ideas where it should go?
__________________ The Camaro is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
It maketh me burnout on black pavements;
It leadeth me beside busy freeways;
It restoreth my soul;
It leads me in the path of quickness for its names sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of rice, I shall fear no turbo,
For torque art with me;
Thy rod and thy piston they comfort me.
Thou preparest a track for me
In the presence of my enemies;
Thou hast anointed my bearings with oil;
My car overpowers.
Surely traction and victory shall follow me,
All the days of my life,
And I shall dwell in the house of the V8,
Forever...
Well, the system is pretty simple. If it has a known good bulb installed then it is most likely a power or ground issue.
The body harness in the engine bay has only a few grounds. Check the grounds on the radiator core support. These will be located near the battery and the charcoal cannister. If these grounds are not connected properly strange things will happen with perfectly good equipment.
The body harness is part of the large connector coming out of the firewall below the brake booster. The body harness will come from the smaller portion of that connector, run along the driver side frame rail and to the headlight area. Then it will split into the lights/markers, with another loomed section going towards the passenger side of the car.
Hate to ask this, but can you post pictures? I've been looking and I'm not sure exactly what you're talking about.
__________________ The Camaro is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
It maketh me burnout on black pavements;
It leadeth me beside busy freeways;
It restoreth my soul;
It leads me in the path of quickness for its names sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of rice, I shall fear no turbo,
For torque art with me;
Thy rod and thy piston they comfort me.
Thou preparest a track for me
In the presence of my enemies;
Thou hast anointed my bearings with oil;
My car overpowers.
Surely traction and victory shall follow me,
All the days of my life,
And I shall dwell in the house of the V8,
Forever...
Ok I have found two ground wires on the upper radiator core support. They are on the passenger side, behind the headlights, near the battery. I connected one to the headlights to get them working properly. But there is still one more ground wire leading to nothing. Any ideas where it should go?
It should also go to the body harness.
I'm speaking on a firebird here, which is a little different because of the addition of pop-up headlights, and a battery on the driver side, instead of the passenger side like on camaro.
With a firebird there are 3 grounds on the driver side near the core support. One ground should lead directly to the negative terminal on the battery. This is a very important ground.
The other 2 should connect to the body harness to ground the body harness. I would look carefully at the loom in that area, if you find any black wires not connected to something ground them out and see if the lights work correctly.
Here are a couple pics, not real good though. It's been raining alot here so lighting sucks! I'll get more up soon.
__________________ The Camaro is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
It maketh me burnout on black pavements;
It leadeth me beside busy freeways;
It restoreth my soul;
It leads me in the path of quickness for its names sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of rice, I shall fear no turbo,
For torque art with me;
Thy rod and thy piston they comfort me.
Thou preparest a track for me
In the presence of my enemies;
Thou hast anointed my bearings with oil;
My car overpowers.
Surely traction and victory shall follow me,
All the days of my life,
And I shall dwell in the house of the V8,
Forever...
Time to break out the test light (or voltmeter) and test the brown wire on the side that doesn't light up. It's either a bad wire or a socket, ground is good, since your turn signal works.
Hope this helps.
Lou
__________________ '91 Z28 convertible w/305TPI WC T5 (no more auto)
"Nothing screams more of poor craftsmanship than wrinkles in your duct tape!"
Thanks for the tip Lou. I'll let you know how it goes.
__________________ The Camaro is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
It maketh me burnout on black pavements;
It leadeth me beside busy freeways;
It restoreth my soul;
It leads me in the path of quickness for its names sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of rice, I shall fear no turbo,
For torque art with me;
Thy rod and thy piston they comfort me.
Thou preparest a track for me
In the presence of my enemies;
Thou hast anointed my bearings with oil;
My car overpowers.
Surely traction and victory shall follow me,
All the days of my life,
And I shall dwell in the house of the V8,
Forever...
I'm speaking on a firebird here, which is a little different because of the addition of pop-up headlights, and a battery on the driver side, instead of the passenger side like on camaro.
With a firebird there are 3 grounds on the driver side near the core support. One ground should lead directly to the negative terminal on the battery. This is a very important ground.
The other 2 should connect to the body harness to ground the body harness. I would look carefully at the loom in that area, if you find any black wires not connected to something ground them out and see if the lights work correctly.
I found this fuse, not sure what its for but replaced it anyway. Lost the cap so I had to tape it up : (
I don't have a schematic in front of me so don't shoot me if I have this wrong.
In the '80s, a lot of GM vehicles were wired so the side marker light would 'flash' alternately with the turn signals when the headlights were on. They accomplished this by grounding the side marker light through the turn signal bulb.
I'm not saying that Camaros and/or Firebirds are wired this way, just presenting another possibility to look at. What you can do to check it is to swap the turn signal bulbs from side to side and see if the problem changes. Check the sockets for corrosion or damage while your at it. It wont cost anything but 5 minutes of your time and you could rule out another possibility.
On my '88 S/C are my two front side markers supposed to come on with my headlights? The drivers side does, but passenger side won't. Both work with turn signal activated, but not with headlights alone. What's going on?? 
