electrical problems

[Chrome_Rush]

I have some electrical gremlins driving me absolutely NUTS. When I bought the car the wipers did not work at all, and the lights didnt work, all I had were taillights. The pop up doors on the headlights worked great though. Everything else seemed to work. Found fuseable link #2 was bad and repaired it. Flipped on the headlight switch and presto, all the lights work. Figure sweet found the problem, got in the car and hit the wiper switch, nothing. Crap, so I put the windows up (it was chilly and they were down in the garage). Took it for a drive around the block. I pulled it back into the garage and the windows wouldnt go back down. Shut off the headlights and the pop ups wont go down now. So basically I fixed one problem and added 2 more, wt..... So I have no wiper system, the headlight doors wont move, and the power windows wont work. I thought relay at first for the light doors, but there are one for each light, I doubt both went out, plus I can hear them clicking when I hit the switch. All the fuses LOOK good, I say look good because when I slide down that slider thing that says if the fuse is good, it doesnt light up on several on the right side. But I tested the fuses and they are good. Electrical isnt my thing at all and I have run out of ideas. I tried to fix it, I ended up making more stuff not work somehow? Edited March 25, 2010 by Chrome_Rush

[Shelby]

how many fuse links are there,, why clean only one, aren't they all the same age ,one's dirty odds are they all are ,, any way start there, also that fuse tester only tests the fuse not the terminal connection to the device the fuse

protects ,remove the fuse and bend terminals closer togather to insure a good connection

[Chrome_Rush]

I didnt change the link because it was corroded, it was remade by the previous owner using the wrong connectors, he tried to use the narrow female spade connectors and make them wider, it came off. As for the fuse panel, Im not sure how its run, but the only fuses that dont light up are on the right side all in a row, from about halfway down on the right side all the way to the bottom none of them light up. So could it be a problem with the actual fuse box, I find it odd that on one side, from the middle all the way to the bottom none of them light up.

[mikec]

When you test the fuses with the fuse box test light you need to have the ignition key in the ON position. Any device controlled by the ignition key (e.g. the stereo, turn signals, etc) gets power from:

battery "+" --> IGN fusible link --> ignition key ACC and/or ON positions --> fusebox --> device --> ground/battery "-"

 

Given what you described with a home-brew/ghetto fusible link I strongly suggest you buy new ones for ALL of them. Then follow the wires from the fusible link boxes (there are two - the one by the ignition coil that's easy to see and another between the battery and fender, it's hidden by a metal plate) to the wiring harness connectors which probably need to be cleaned as well.

 

For the fuse box: the small tabs/ears that grab the fuses often loose their grip with age. You can gently bend them tight again with fine tipped needle-nose pliers.

 

Do all of this with the battery unplugged of course.

 

mike c.

[Chrome_Rush]

I will give all that a try, the previous owner tried to do the pinch them together method in the fuse box for the horn fuse and broke one side, im going to have to solder a fuse holder to the broken terminal taht will no longer make contact with the fuse to fix that one. I will try running some tests with the car in the run position, but the headlight doors, wipers and windows dont work even with the key on. I was going to change all the fuse links, but all the other ones are tight and are definitely original. As for the fuse links and or relays being hehind a metal cover, I dont have any of that, they arent connected to anything, kind of just sitting in there loosely. Are they supposed to be mounted to something?

[Chrome_Rush]

Alright i found the problem the power going to the fuse link box that mounts on the relay box had no power, so the windows headlight doors and defroster weren't working. When i put the new battery in a connection broke, and it wedged itself under another wire so it appeared connected but wasnt. The wipers are still not working though.