Hi, so my friend has this '86 Z28 that was in an accident. When he was 16, he got this car. (He's 17 now) He had it for 3 weeks, then a trash truck pulled out in front of him, taking out the front end. He's pretty much gotten it fixed other than now it has some wiring issues.

The front left blinker is on 24/7. (Even when the car is off) (Blinks. Doesn't stay solid)
If you turn the left blinker on, the front and back work fine.
If you turn the right blinker on, nothing happens. It doesn't even show the green right blinker arrow on the dash.

The headlights also have issues now.
The low beams work just fine.
The high beams work, but when you turn them on, the passenger side low beam turns off, but the drivers side stays on.

The previous owner did some really sketchy wiring when they put a 350 into the car. We found out the other day that the reason the rad fan wouldn't turn on is because the previous owner wired it up to the AC switch. It'll turn on if the switch is set to MAX, NORM, or BI-LEV.




He's gonna Bondo and sand that bumper cover. Then repaint the entire car back to metallic blue.

 

Not sure what the question is, or what anybody out here can tell you that you don't already know. ??

Sounds like somebody messed up the wiring. Oh, here's a wire, oh, here's another one, I'll just twist em together. Stupidity and ignorance. (not necessarily in that order) Pretty straightforward really.

Don't bother trying to "figure out". Get a copy of the FSM and put it back like it belongs. Probably take care of all of it. The whole lighting harness lifts right out of the car, you can work on it laying on a table or whatever.

 

I've been told it might be due to a bad ground. I've looked everywhere in the engine bay, but I can't find where it could be.

 

Not a bad ground.

You have something connected to something it's not supposed to be connected to.

I'd suggest removing that entire harness, laying it on a table, and making it back like it belongs. With the help of a FSM if needed.

Just looking at that, it is so bad SODOMIZED that no amount of "troubleshooting" is going to do any good. You could spend MONTHS at that and not be very far ahead of where you are now.

Look below the brake booster. Big connector there in 2 halves, with 2 large wiring harnesses. One bolt in the middle, maybe a 8mm. Undo that bolt. Unplug the connectors. One is the lights & horn, one is the engine & wipers. Remove the lights & horn one, lay it out on a table, and repair it. For that matter, might not be a bad idea to pull the engine one too, instinct tells me it's probably in about the same condition, if not worse..

 

 

Grounds for the lights, incidentally, are on the radiator core support; not on the engine. The lights harness went into the car body at the factory before the engine was there.

Note that I am NOT saying "the grounds are good"; NOT saying "don't check the grounds"; NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT . Only, a bad ground CANNOT cause a light to come on when everything is turned off. Some mental midget hooked a light wire to hard battery. With as many other defects as it all has, there's NO SENSE WHATSOEVER in trying to identify them all, one at a time; makes FAR MORE SENSE to just … bite the bullet and do it.

 

​ I'm not sure what you are trying to say here?

 

I'm saying that the lights are not connected to the engine in any manner way shape form or fashion. Their grounds aren't "under the hood", as in, on or around the engine. They're on the core support. I'm pretty sure you could work on them with the hood closed, from underneath.

If you look at how a car is built at an assembly plant, you'll see that one of the very last steps on the production line, is installing the drive train. Almost the entire car is finished before that goes in. (or under or whatever) Including the lights and their wiring. Meaning, there's no connection between the lights and the engine. Also, the engine wiring is already on it, before it goes in; it's all assembled to the engine at the engine plant and shipped to the final assembly plant, with just its few pigtails hanging off, like the one that goes to the big connector under the brake booster. Believe me, they don't have an army of gnomes swarming all over cars in those plants, climbing into engine bays and laying up under them and reaching up into things and whatever. Once you understand how a car is BUILT, taking one back apart and working on it becomes much less of a mystery. Go visit an assembly plant someday, it's a truly enlightening and worthwhile experience... my favorite is the Vette one in Bowling Green KY. If yer gonna watch em building cars, mightaswell be Vettes, eh?

 

So we found the problem. It ended up being the broken hazard switch was stuck on, but only "halfway" if that makes sense. It was only flashing the left blinker. If you push the hazards in more, both of them start flashing. We had to take the steering wheel off and get inside everything to get the hazards unstuck. Everything works just fine now. She's almost road legal. Just needs to be insured now.

EDIT: The headlights work just fine now for some reason. I think it had something to do with a loose ground.

 

Did he hit the column during the wreck? Any other damage to it?I know I had a wreck once and my face wiped out the steering wheel.

 

I'm not sure. All I know is that the hazards switch is broken off.

 

Ouch! I bent one with My hands back in '88 during an accident.
DR.K.