when I turn my key back, the radio won't power up as it should. however when I turn the key forward to acc, it works like it should. Also, when I bought the car, the PO broke the high beam switch, so it just kinda "flops" front and back. they put a button on the floor that I can press with my foot while driving, and ran 3 wires to it and it works fine so I have yet to pull the column apart to fix it. Maybe this could be the problem, maybe someone can shed some light on this for me.

 

bumpity boooooooooooo!!!

 

Is it the factory radio? If not, maybe they have it wired to the wrong side of the fuse? Does anything else work on ACC?

If you are turning key forward, do any dash lights come on? If so, that's not ACC you are turing to, that's RUN.

These cars had either a) a key cylinder where ACC was one turn backwards with the key, or b) where ACC was one turn forward on the key - but not both. So if your key turns back, then THAT is ACC, and the turn forward is the ON position.

 

Sorry - I'm wrong here - one side of a fuse is generally on with key, other side is generally on always. What I meant to say was that ...

maybe a previous owner rigged the power wire for the radio on an igition source (where it does not get power unless the key is ON).

 

ok, thank you for correcting me. when I turn the key to run it all comes on, but when I turn backwards nothing works. how would I trace the source?

this is an aftermarket deck by the way, before I put in the alpine ina-w900bt(that was for bragging, lol), there was a jensen deck in there I believe

 

OK - you'll have to take the radio out and trace the wiring. They should have used a wiring conversion thing to install, but maybe didn't. You should be looking for a red wire, that will be the power wire for the radio. There's also a yellow wire - this one supplies a small current draw to the radio when car is off to maintain station memory etc.

This is all assuming that a PO has just rigged the wiring.

A good spot for the red wire - on the fuse box under the driver dash, there will be a slot that is empty, it's just a single slot, like 1/2 of a fuse slot - it will be close to the radio fuse, and there will be am arrow pointing from the word RADIO to this slot. You can crimp a standard male spade conector on the red wire and stick it there - that will power the radio just as it was factory.

A good spot for the yellow wire - same kinda thing - in the fuse box, there will be a slot similar but this one has BATT and arrow pointing to it - this is direct battery current, always hot regardless of the key.

As a side note - I use these fuse box slots for several things. I have a larger guage wire plugged into each one, and I crimp-on wires to this larger wire. For ex, I have interior lights, I want them to work even when key is off (so you can see the floorboards when getting in) - I have them wired to the BATT.

I also have lighting that I want to only come on with the dash lights - I have these connected into the INST slot (instrument). I think there's a slot for IGN (ignition) as well. These slots are always on the earlier model cars, bit 90+ has them - very nice for the General to give us these extra slots!

Hope that helps - you'll have to get in there and see how the PO has it wired.

 

is there a possibility that when the PO broke the high beam switch and wired the button on the floor, that they may have cut the "ACC ON" wire in the column somewhere. also, how do you fix the switch itself? I know I need to buy a new one, but how hard is it to change?

 

I've learned through the years ... ANYTHING is possible.

I'm guessing that the steering wheel has to come off to replace the turn signal stalk. I had a wheel off once, and it was evident that the switch was replaceable that way - don't know if it can be replaced without removing the wheel. You'll need a steering wheel puller (free rental from advance/autozone), and you'll have to remove the air bag fuse and disconnect the air bag connector under the driver dash first.

 

Is your tilt column loose? The ignition switch and the high beam switch are actuated by rods within the column. The position of the switches on the column underneath have to be adjusted for proper engagement.

If your tilt column is loose, or someone's been in there before, they could now be out of adjustment and the rod may not be engaging them properly.

 

I wouldn't say the column is loose, but if I apply pressure on it, without pulling the lever, it will move down to the left like it is spring loaded, and "spring" back to its position when I let go. this is also the source of a "short" for my right turn signal. if I turn the right signal on, it won't illuminate on the gauge cluster or outside the car unless I pull down on the column. same with the hazards, the right blinker will not work unless I pull down on the column

 

It's loose. Fix the column then tackle the other issues if they still exist. There's a thread and a tech article somewhere here. The puller and lock plate remover can be borrowed from AZ or one of the others.