a couple electrical issues.... any ideas?

[juVius]

my radiator fans don't kick on, even with the a/c running, no power to window washer pump, no power to rear defroster, and no power to heater blower. Could these be all connected somehow, or does anyone have any suggestion on trouble shooting these problems individually? i have the electrical diagrams here, but i have to admit, i have a better chance of understanding vcr instructions.

thanks

[Razorback1980]

In looking at your electrical diagram, it appears that the heater motor and cooling fans have the same power source. If you put an electrical meter on post 85 of the cooling fan relay and you have no power there, then you need to look at the fuses in the auxiliary fuse panel in particular fuses 3 and 9. I don't see where the other problems are related but I could be wrong as I have the later car and haven't worked on any early models. Rear window defogger is fuse 4 in the auxiliary fuse panel. You may have some connection problems in the auxiliary fuse panel. Check for power on both sides of the fuse holder of the mentioned fuses ...you may not have power at the fuse panel.

[juVius]

thanks Tom,
i'll have a look at it in the morning. could you by chance see where i should check for power for the washer pump?

[mattdavis11]

Washer pump for the 1983 isn't listed in my owners manual, I'll look at the diagrams. Others that are.

The fresh air fan is fuse #10 16 amp, also in the aux. panel #6, if your a/c compressor works then rule #6 out. Does you antennae work? If so you can rule out #3 in the aux. panel being bad, that only operates the part of the rad. fans. The rear defroster is #4 25 amp in the aux panel, it is by itself. #5 16 amp in the aux panel is for the a/c and condensor fans. The owners manual says the #9 in the aux. panel is not connected.

Relays, #1 cooling fans, #3 a/c system, #6 rear window defroster.

The relay for the condensor fans (A/C on, fans on) and the fresh air blower are located underneath the passengers side kick panel to the right of the glove box.

Let me keep digging. When looking at the 83 car, not everything is where it says it is supposed to be.

[mattdavis11]

From what the diagram shows, the washer pump gets power through the switch, so you are going to have to have someone pull the stalk to know if you are getting power there. You probably did, but just checking. I checked my car for #9 in the aux panel, and it is most certainly connected. Conflicting information, in both cases the source is the factory.

[myskyon]

also it may be a ground..... if they are all using the same one...... +1 on the relays and fuses

[juVius]

thanks guys. i have power to all the named fuses. i'm going to swap out the relay, check all my grounding points, and pull the steering wheel off and check for power.

thanks again

[Razorback1980]

Hey Steve,

Did you have power to the cooling fan relay post 85? If you do, then the relay may be the problem but if you don't, then start tracing the power backward to the fuse panel which you stated had power. If you had power at the aux fuse panel and at the cooling fan relay, I would check my grounds next.

[juVius]

tom,
i haven't been out to check that yet, but i will shortly. have you happened to see a picture of both aux and main fuse panels from behind with the wires still connected. the red wire on the blue connector in back was scortched and not making a connection when i first got the car. that caused my headlights not to go down. i fixed the connection and solved that problem. but i'd like to pull the fuse panels, clean every thing up real well and reinstall it, but i'm kind of concerned about not plugging everything in correctly when i'm done.

thanks again

[Razorback1980]

I haven't. Matt may have a better idea there since he has that year of car. Take a picture before you take everything apart and that will show you how to put it back together. Also write down all the wires and colors before starting to make sure it all goes back together. If you are getting power from one side of the fuse panel wire to the wire on the other side of the panel, that is all that is required. Put a voltmeter on the power in side and measure the voltage, then put the volt meter on the wire on the other side and if they are relatively close to the same, then the fuse panel is working correctly. Best thing to do is to check voltage at the end points and start working backward.

[mattdavis11]

Check the ground that is near the fuse/ relay board. If I am reading the diagrams right, everything that is not working on your car can be traced back to the #1 ground. My guess is that there is a bunch of stuff that is grounded there, and might not be your problem, but it can't hurt to check.

[juVius]

ok... thanks matt

[juVius]

ok.... i fixed the window washer pump. i took the steering wheel off and cleaned out the switch. the rear defroster is working now also. i must have had a bad connection at the fuse and fixed it when i checked it.

but as far as the coolant fans go, there is power at all the fuses on both sides and on post 85 of the cooling fan relay. actually there wasn't even a relay in place, so i put in a spare i had from another car i used to have, but it didn't make any difference. i'm not even sure if my spare was any good or not. it looks a little weathered. i opened it up and all looked clean inside though. i let the temp get to just under the yellow mark on the guage and they never kicked on. i checked for power to the heater fan and nothing. also, the fans don't kick on when i turn on the a/c.

matt,
i had a little trouble finding that grounding point you told me to check. is it hiddin?

thanks

[Razorback1980]

Before you start, it's important to remember that the fans have power all the time and could start at any moment, so stay clear of the blades.

The first test is to take the connector off the temperature control switch and put a jumper wire between the connectors. The switch IIRC is located on the radiator just below the radiator hose. The fan should run in slow speed. If the fan does not run, then check for voltage at that connector and see if power exists there. If not, check for power on fuse 3 of the aux fuse panel.

The test for high speed of both fans is to leave the previously mentioned jumper wire in there and turn the key on. Both fans should run in high speed. If not, then we'll need to test the cooling fan relay and the fuses again.

Here is the best way to test the cooling fan relay. Get two wires with alligator clips on each end and a ohm meter. Put one wire on the positive battery terminal and the second on the negative battery terminal. Hook the positive wire to the 85 terminal of the relay and the negative to the 86 terminal. This should energize the relay and you will probably hear a click. Then put your ohm meter between terminal A and B...your ohm meter should read 0. Next put your ohm meter between terminals 30 and 87 and your ohm meter should read 0. Disconnect the power off 85 and 86 and now retest your ohms...meter should read infinite.

Grounds just came to mind but I'm not sure where the fans ground at..I'll have to do some reading on that first.

[juVius]

thanks again... i'll check all that out in the morning and let you know what i find.

[BrianT]

I had a problem that looked like the reley, I checked it out and it checked out OK. I put it back in and it still did not work. I checked everything again and all checked out. I got looking and found that when I would plug the reley in it would push one of the connectors out the back of the socket and not make connection. So you may want to check the back of the reley socket. I have also seen these burn up or get dirty and not work.

[juVius]

i'll check that out brian. thanks

[juVius]

thanks guys for all your help. i started a new post titled "Coolant Fan wiring - PO got me good - help", since it's a specific problem and not a few problems like titled in this post. if i could get your help/feedback there, i'd appreciate it.