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I was putting a cheap after market radio in my sister-in-law's '93 Grand Am and never could get it to work. It powered on briefly, but only when I had the switched power input wire connected to the still-exposed constant power wire (obviously, I had gotten to the "dicking around in the hopes I accidentally stumble upon the answer" phase of things). I undid everything and put it back together three different times as well as swapping a few ambiguously colored wires (there were two yellows that were only distinguishable by where they were in the harness). To make things even more fun, it only did this brief power on once. When I tried it again a few minutes later, it didn't work a second time. I've checked all the fuses and asked her if the old radio had any problems. Apparently the backlight would go on and off, but the new radio doesn't have a dimmer so it's either on or off. I still have wiring info laying around and plan on taking another stab at it tomorrow and would love some thoughts on the subject. I can answer any questions that may help people figure out what the problem may be. I just installed essentially the same radio in my wife's '94 Contour a few weeks ago with no problems whatsoever. I have no clue what is going so differently this time around.
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Sep 25, 2010 02:11
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 12:06 |
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Splizwarf posted:Time to test the whole harness with a multimeter. Make sure your ground is good, that's what this sounds like. See if the constant power wire has power, and how much, see if the switched wire has power and how much, check continuity on the speakers while you're in there. That's what I was afraid of. I couldn't find my meter last night, but I know I have one laying around. I'm hoping it's just a bad ground because it's easy enough to find somewhere to wire to the frame if I have to.
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Sep 25, 2010 21:21
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I recently got a great deal on a 1996 Buick Skylark with only 50K miles on it for my wife, but the electric controls in the drivers side seat are not working. It's as if they're not getting any power since the motor isn't reacting at all. Obviously someone had been trying to fix it because when we bought the car, some of the wiring for the seat was unplugged. After plugging it in, there's still nothing. I've done some googling to see what I can find out about the seat but haven't had any luck finding information on how the seat should work (what wires do what, etc). Any ideas where I might be able to look? I want to see if I need to replace the seat, if I can get by with just splicing in a new wiring harness, or whatever else might need to be done to get it working. It isn't a huge deal since right now it's sort of in an optimal spot where either one of us can drive it, but my wife sits back a little too far and I'm a bit too far forward. Obviously, that's a pain in the rear end but not a deal breaker as far as buying the car since replacement seats (if it comes to that) aren't that big a deal.
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Oct 12, 2010 14:28
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I'll preface by saying I'm no mechanic, but I've owned a lot of lovely cars over the years and have gotten pretty good at doing triage and minor repairs just because I've seen so many problems. I just recently bought a 1995 Toyota Camry LE Sedan (4 cyl, 2.2 liter, automatic) with about 156K miles on it for dirt cheap and I got exactly what I paid for. But I knew that going in. I've only driven it for about 3 days, but it was missing terribly until I changed the plug wires tonight. The guy I bought it from claimed he'd changed the plugs, so I'm going to see if that bears out or not before I replace them, too. The missing seems to have stopped, but I still have a few issues. I don't seem to be getting as much power as I should, which felt like it was the missing but it seems like there could be some problems with getting enough fuel. I'm planning on making my way through oxygen sensors, fuel filters, and the like but I'd love some guidance on what order to try them in. If there's a guide someone trusts, I don't mind doing as many of the checks as I can myself before finding a mechanic. I'm also having some issues with overheating, but I'm not sure they're indicative of a huge problem (yet). One of the two fans on the back of the radiator doesn't seem to be kicking on, but I know it only runs when the engine's warm and/or the AC is blowing. I haven't really tested it under those conditions. Some ideas on how to test it would be great, though. The overheating was only happening when I was doing something taxing on the engine, like climbing a big hill (which happens often when you're road tripping in Oregon and Washington) and then it would cool down when going down a big decline. It didn't overheat at all today in regular traffic conditions. I'm hopeful that taking care of the missing will also make those climbs and such less stressful on the engine in the first place, but I'm not assuming that $50 and 20 minutes to change plug wires fixed all my problems (because it didn't) So I don't think there's a huge clog or leak there, but there's obviously something up and I need to start troubleshooting it before it becomes a big problem. Any help is appreciated. And if you need to know anything else, I'll be glad to provide it.
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Jun 17, 2014 04:42
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Fucknag posted:Let's start with the obvious on the cooling: What does the coolant look like? Before I flushed most of it out, it was really brown and lovely looking.
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Jun 17, 2014 05:22
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 12:06 |
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Slavvy posted:Your radiator is most probably partially blocked if my lovely old toyota experience tells me anything. I would replace the plugs and fuel filter, then make sure your ignition timing is correct. It is extremely important that you bridge terminals E1 and TE1 on the diag plug before doing the timing. When idiots don't do this it causes hosed up timing and lack of power. The 02 sensors won't affect your economy significantly on that car so I'd leave that unless you know for a fact that they're faulty. Thanks. I'll grab a fuel filter and see if I can't do that tonight. I've never hosed with the timing on something, so I may take it to a shop for that. I will probably try it for a few days after the fuel filter's been changed and then decide what to do from there. It was like night and day with the new plug wires. It just doesn't have as much power as it should now. I know that engine isn't a beast, but I should be able to take an empty car up a minor incline on the freeway without dropping to 45.
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Jun 18, 2014 15:46
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