Hi everyone,
I’m working on a 1989 Camaro irocz, 5.7L I recently acquired and I see two orange wires at the battery terminals that have been cut.

- One looks coming out of the main wiring harness and is orange, and a thick lining.

-The second one comes out of the plastic holder on the actual positive battery cable, it seems to be orange, and it has a much more malleable plastic lining.

I looked around the engine compartment and I don’t see any other wire ends where these wires would be connected to. Supposedly one of them is the ECM memory wire, but not sure which is which.

Also, the car would turn on although it would misfire. Right now I have the TPI apart to replace the fuel injectors anyway, but I’m trying to do my research for when the time comes to start it back up.

Please see attached pictures and thanks in advance for any insight.

 

Ok, I’m peeling this onion back and it keeps getting more interesting.

The cut orange wire looks like it’s spliced between the cooling fan connector wire and the fan relay (I think that’s the one).

Any ideas of what’s going on here?

Then there is still the issue of the orange cable coming out of the positive terminal wire.

HELP!!


See the orange wire that splices into two.

The splice itself

One portion of the splice goes to the cooling fan connector

The other side of the splice goes to what I think is the cooling fan relay

And this is still the orange wire coming out of the positive battery terminal

 

Orange wires are usually fill time power to something, looks like a power feed to a relay controlled device. Might have had a fusable link that was hooked to the battery?

 

If I tried that and it wasn't it, what's the worse that could happen? Blow a fuse?

 

There are fuse links for various systems in various locations, and dependent upon the equipment installed. For example, there are separate fuse links for fog lamps, another for the headlamps, one for the radiator fan, the HVAC blower, the ECM/fuel pump, the alternator, a feed to the ignition switch, the fuse panel, and on Firebirds another for the headlight doors. There may be others for options like power seats, etc.

 

The +12v in that area is often the feeder to the 20A fuse holder for ECM/Fuel Pump power.

 

The worst? A fire that could burn your car to the ground. I'd advise you to tread carefully here if you're unsure about tracking down electrical issues.

You'd do well to obtain a copy of your specific car's wiring diagram and trace out the wires, one at a time, restoring any fusible links along with other deleted wiring.

 

I think my 87 is different than 89, but this picture still might help your sort it out. The heavy gauge black wire comes off of the positive battery cable and goes to the fusible link, and it comes out as an orange wire and a black wire. The orange wire goes to the weather pack connector, where it then goes to the cooling fans. The black wire goes to the 20A fuse, then comes out of the fuse as an orange/black wire and goes to the weather pack connector, where it then goes to power the ECM, MAF relay, FP relay, FP switch and MAF burn off relay.

 

Thank you; very helpful. Your setup is definitely similar to mine, aside that my weather pack connector is a 6 wire one, instead than the smaller one like yours. Is yours a single fan? This will at least point me in the right direction. A picture is worth a thousand words.

 

Mine has dual fans. But the difference between the lengths and configurations of the battery cables and wires is probably because my car is a Firebird with the battery on the driver's side, so my fan wire passes through that intermittent connector near the battery on its way to the relays on the passenger side, and your car is a Camaro with the battery on the passenger side, so your fan wire is already right next to the fan relays. But the wires, colors and purposes are probably similar.