I was driving my 89 GTA and after 30min drive my after market radio went out, the power button light up and the screen light lights up and goes away. I have checked all the fuses in the fuse box and they're all good. I then disconnected the aftermarket radio and plugged in the original cassette player and ones I connect it and turn power ON, the dim lights flicker 2 seconds apart and there is clicking noise by the engine bay as the light flickers. When I connect the after market radio back in, with the key off and not in the ignition, as soon as I plug the wiring harness into the CD player, the clicking noise sounds off .Then when I turn the ignition key to ON, the radio just blinks (blank screen turns ON and off 5 seconds apart) but when I turn the ignition OFF the radio comes ON and it says "welcome" shows radio station #s but for few seconds then says "goodbye" and all that is AFTER the key is out of ignition. Its so weird because I never had this problem before (have the car for 2yrs). Please help

 

You probably have a loose connection somewhere in the car. That noise that you hear could be a relay with burned contactor points chattering, although I am not aware of any relay in the ignition/accessory circuit. It is possible that the ignition switch contact points are burned and intermittently loosing connection. I had an ignition switch fail that way and the AC fan would drop out. Are any of the other accessories in the car having issues? If you have a volt/Ohm meter you can follow the lack of voltage from the HU to the point where the voltage is steady and matches the battery voltage. Maybe some others who are more knowlegable will chime in.

 

So the loose connection just happened? out of no where, all of a sudden? Thats the weird part, because my CD player always worked without any issues.

Yes in fact, my oil reads low (even though mechanical gauge from the motor shows good pressure) The cluster gauge works but reads lower than usual, sometimes going near 0 red line, and ones I noticed it working properly until I drove for about 30minutes after it started to read low at the cluster.

I'll try and follow the voltage through the wires and see if I can find any low readings.
What are the 2 black relay looking things, on driver side near break booster far corner. on the firewall? far left one has 3 wires coming out of it, I believe. Oh its on a 3.8 V6, I cant seem to find it in the owners manual.
Thank you.
Alex
The volt gauge off the cluster also reading low, I checked the alternator and im getting near 14 (avg 13.8) and also that one time that I saw the cluster oil gauge reading properly, the volt gauge also read above 13 on the cluster.
Yesterday I also noticed the fuel gauge read low as well, as I filled up the car until the nosle shut off (as it normally does when the tank is full) but at the gauge it showed just a little below F (full)

 

Loose connections don't just happen. Usually terminals get corroded and when the corrosion gets severe enough the connection is broken.

With all of the symptoms that you describe, I would be looking for a ground problem. Probably your battery is grounded to your engine block, so the engine is getting full power. It sounds like your charging system is working normally also.

Look for a ground strap from the engine block to the subframe. You will probably find that you are loosing power at that point in your electrical system. An easy test will be to take a jumper cable, connect the negative side to the negative on the battery. Find something that is bear metal on the body/chassis, not the engine, and connect the other end of the negative jumper cable to that item. If a ground strap is bad, the electical gremlins should disappear while you provide a direct ground. One of the mounting bolts on the brake booster would be a gound choice to provide a temporary body ground. You need something solid. If it has no effect, than it is probably not a a defective ground strap. There is also a slight possibility that the ground to the dashboard is bad. To test that connect the jumper cable to the negative battery terminal and than the metal frame of the dash board. Make your connections while the car is off, so that you minimize the chance of a spark, and what ever you do, don't mix up the positive and ground, or you will have some pretty fireworks and a lot of damage.

A tip. If your car is a V-6, it is not a GTA. It might have GTA parts on it, but the V-6 was only offered in the Firebird, not the Formula, TA, or GTA.

 

Thanks for your time in trying to help me with this nightmare. I will conduct all the tests ones I get home from work.
Sorry for misinformation, its an 89 GTA Turbo Trans Am with a 3.8 V6, the Pace Car.

 

My mistake. I am just finishing up 6 -12 hour night shifts. Brain is fried. I never considered the possibility that your car could be a Turbo TA. Nice Ride!

Don't let an electrical problem defeat you. Electrical gremlins are usually caused by something minor, but since electricity will follow the path of least resistance they can present as something that looks complicated on the surface.

Charles

 

Charles,
I finally got the car back from the shop, got the smoking issue fixed but the ground problem with the gauges is still there :l I did the ground cable tests and it wasnt it. I just dont understand what can possibly have gone wrong after my motor went out and back in, because thats when the problem appeared. Is there a relay or something maybe? when I turn my light switch ON, the haz arrows light up and stay on as well as the high beam blue light and all the gauges drop to zero. my cig lighter also doesnt work.

 

Sounds like you have a short somewhere.

Unplug your radio all together and see if the issue continues to happen. If it does, then start pulling fuses one by one to identify where your short is. Then, trace the wire from the fuse box to where it goes. Replace the cheapest parts along that circuit first.