I have a 1989 camaro Rs
None of the gauges work. Speedometer, oil, rpms, battery.
I don't know where to start when it comes to wiring up my car.
Any arictles, books, or advice would be amazing
Also when i bought the car the fan is set up on a toggle switch, is their a way to fix this?

Thanks for any advices and info you can give.

 

For the guages - is everything still in tact, or has it all been yanked out? Might simply be a fuse - fuse panel under driver side under steering column.

For the fan - alot of times the fans are rigged with toggles when something goes wrong and a previous owner got lazy and didn't address the issue. Personally, I hate the stock style fan switches - I never got them to work well. Since your car is a TBI, the computer has no control over the fan, it's handled with the fan switch. This makes it very easy to get an aftermarket fan controller and install. I use a Flex-a-lite controller from Summitracing.com, was about $90. It's a seperate unit that is very easy to install and wire in, comes with easy instructions. It probes the radiator between the fins and gets it's temp info from the radiator instead of the head, is fully adjustable in setting on/off temps, works with any electric fan setup, has provisions for A/C, and manual switches to override in the event you'd like to turn the fan on earlier or keep it on longer.

But, if you want to stick with the stock setup ...

There are basically 3 components, the fan switch (located in pass side head between #6 and #8 spark plug), the fan relay (located on driver side firewall between brake booster and fender), and the fan motor itself. Obviously your fan motor works.

The switch when gets hot enough provides a ground for the relay - the wiring between relay and switch can be tested by grounding the wire from the switch, the switch has a single wired connector to it. Ground that wire, and if the fan runs, then the relay is working, which usually means a bad switch. You'll get a face full of coolant replacing it so be careful.

The relay is within a bracket on the firewall where I stated - the bracket is held to the firewall with 2 10mm screws. There are 2 relays there, one for fuel pump, one for fan - the fan relay has a large black wire with a red stripe. If grounding the switch wire doesn't make the fan run, then the relay might be bad - replace for about $8.

Of course this all assumes that the toggle switch installer didn't booger up the wiring to put in the toggle - you'll just have to trace those wires and see what/how they installed the toggle and if they disturbed any factory wiring to do so.

Hope that helps! Good luck and happy 4th!