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Surprise electrical issue.. help me out please

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Old Sep 13, 2012 | 03:28 PM
  #1  
thunder85's Avatar
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Car: 1988 firebird trans am GTA
Engine: 5.7L w/hsr
Transmission: 700r4
Axle/Gears: posi 3.23
Surprise electrical issue.. help me out please

Here are the symptoms, please tell me if you believe they are related or if you know what the problem is. Today is the first day in quite a while that I've been able to take the car out.

Passenger side marker lights & fog light:

Both of my front passenger side marker lamps will not turn on, but my signals work fine. when the light switch is turned on, my right hand turn indicator is on (solid) and the two marker lamps are off (all other signal lights and marker lights work as expected). when i signal a right hand turn the indicator light begins flashing and the signal lights work as they should. once the turn signal is off, the lights are out and the signal indicator is solid on again. Ground to radiator support is intact and wire appears unbroken. passenger side fog light is also dead, bulb intact and tests ok.

Fans:

My fans will not turn on. fuse is good, ground to radiator support appears intact yet nothing will turn them on. I've even shorted my old AC pressure switch to try and trigger the passenger side fan with no response. I can't imagine that both relay's failed simultaneously and the two grounds i see seem fine and even fairly devoid of any corrosion.

I'm at work now, and have none of my tools here. I have an hour drive home so if anyone can at least give me some good places to try. I will probably have to get over to the autozone and try to fix this in the parking lot so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Jason
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Old Sep 13, 2012 | 07:44 PM
  #2  
BigBadLou's Avatar
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Car: '91 Z28 convertible
Engine: TPI
Transmission: T5
Axle/Gears: 3.27 posi disc
Re: Surprise electrical issue.. help me out please

Your light and fan problems are definitely unrelated. (completely separate circuits)
But we can fix them both.

The problem with the front lamps and the turn signal indicator being on with park lamps on is caused by a bad socket or ground wire on the front park lamps (whichever side it manifests itself on). The bulbs might be good but the sockets might be rusty or the ground might be faulty. A multimeter and/or test light would confirm which one.

For the cooling fans, make sure the relays have power (brown wire). Check also the orange wires that supply the switched power.
Then test the ground wires. On the primary fan, it's the dark green/white wire, on the secondary fan it's the grey wire. If you ground the wire (you can use a paperclip), the relay should click and the corresponding fan should come on. (With the key on, btw)

Diagrams here: primary cooling fan circuit, secondary cooling fan circuit.

Let us know what you find.
Lou
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Old Sep 15, 2012 | 07:25 PM
  #3  
thunder85's Avatar
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Posts: 455
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Car: 1988 firebird trans am GTA
Engine: 5.7L w/hsr
Transmission: 700r4
Axle/Gears: posi 3.23
Re: Surprise electrical issue.. help me out please

Thanks Lou! Your advice was excellent and I've repaired all issues.

Well, the two lights while both on the same side had two different ground issues. Front light ground clip was broken, side marker was just corroded contacts.

Fans lost primary power (orange) and I discovered it was due to the weather pack connector off the battery being melted. Seemed odd to me that the factory connection was a 16awg to a 12awg feed to the two fans so I ran a fused connection from a secondary fuse panel I installed for my nitrous circuits. Shorted out my old ac pressure switch and my secondary fan fired right up.

For anyone reading this, make sure you check out your weather pack connection off the battery for corrosion. I never have and I assume it being dirty caused excess resistance and heat which led to failure.
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Old Sep 15, 2012 | 11:10 PM
  #4  
BigBadLou's Avatar
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Car: '91 Z28 convertible
Engine: TPI
Transmission: T5
Axle/Gears: 3.27 posi disc
Re: Surprise electrical issue.. help me out please

Thank you for posting back, it is good to know that we helped and that you can enjoy your car again. And it helps others in the future who search for a solution to their problem - that way they know it worked for you.

Lou
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