Help! Dead Radio??

[uufta]

A new season and new problemsotfl

I just woke up my 79 from hibernation here in Minnesota, and its always something new with my 77 or the 79.
The radio is dead and of course so is the power antenna, fuse is good to the radio, but I dont know where the antenna is fused yet. Before I start diving into the dashboard of this 79, I have read every book that I have, the most info I can find is the schematic from the NCRS wiring book..it shows a relay for the antenna but I have no clue where that might be, and it shows it gets its power from "BAT CAV FUSE PANEL" (does that mean its not fused??) cant find anything in the AIM book either..I know the next step is to start tracking the power to things..unless someone out there has some good info and pics

w/an easy fix?
Everything worked when I put her to bed last fall (FYI) I have owned these C3's for over 20 yrs and these random electrical things drive me crazy, and I dread "dash-diving" again.

Thankyou
Greg

 

[73shark]

Aren't you coming out of hibernation a little early? When I lived in Mpls in the 70s, you couldn't plant tomatoes 'til the end of May.

Might spring for a factory shop manual for a little more info.

 

[Mr. Chuck]

One idea is to look for damaged wiring from rodents and the like; I had similar wiring damage from a field mouse got into engine compartment during a few week down time and eat through some vacuum lines and ignition wires, caused rough start / idle, until I did a close inspection and found little bits of vacuum line on to the engine / intake manifold just in front of the distributor. Replaced damage parts, the old girl was good as new and ready to roll.
Regards:

 

[uufta]

Thanks Guys
Sorry for the slow response, I tried but the server was down...I found the problem I think, there was a 3amp inline fuse to from the radio to the antenna relay that was blown, so I said yippee!!! but that didnt do it, it started trying to fire the relay again but still nothing, so I chased the schematic and found the antenna gets it main power from a 20amp acc fuse, so I pulled it and checked it, it was fine but the terminals were corroded, so I looked in the fuse box, and more than one fuse terminal was corroded, so I being the old fart that I am twisted my self into unheard of positions and cleaned all the terminals I could get at and replaced all the fuses.

So far everything works


p.s. once it hits 60 degrees here all the Vetters and Cycles come out of the woodwork, must be global warming since you were here.:L

 

[73shark]

Forgot about algore's global warming.

Glad you got it fixed.

Isn't it amazing the contortions the body can endure crawling under a Corvette dash?

 

[Evolution1980]

Isn't it amazing the contortions the body can endure crawling under a Corvette dash?

I take the seat out when I need to get under the dash or into the back for any long periods of time. It makes working in the car sooooo much easier. It's the point where I can have the seat out in about 5 minutes or less if I'm using the air-ratchet.

 

[uufta]

I take the seat out when I need to get under the dash or into the back for any long periods of time. It makes working in the car sooooo much easier. It's the point where I can have the seat out in about 5 minutes or less if I'm using the air-ratchet.

I think that will be the next move (removing the seat) when I mess around with that fusebox. On my "ToDo" list now is to give that entire thing a good once-over sometime this summer, I was unable to get anywhere near the upper fuse contacts to clean, my nephew was able to replace the upper 2 rows of fuses, I might even start looking for a new one, most of the printing that ID's the fuses is worn off so I have to carry a copy of the manual page for it, and that doesnt tell a person everything either...no place on the box ID's the antenna or power locks etc.
I did the seat thing on my 77 once, it doesnt have near the legroom behind the seat as the 79..

@73Shark.....Tomatoes are still planted in May here, but the Vette season is April to October

All the best
Greg

 

[Mr. Chuck]

Thanks Guys
Sorry for the slow response, I tried but the server was down...I found the problem I think, there was a 3amp inline fuse to from the radio to the antenna relay that was blown, so I said yippee!!! but that didnt do it, it started trying to fire the relay again but still nothing, so I chased the schematic and found the antenna gets it main power from a 20amp acc fuse, so I pulled it and checked it, it was fine but the terminals were corroded, so I looked in the fuse box, and more than one fuse terminal was corroded, so I being the old fart that I am twisted my self into unheard of positions and cleaned all the terminals I could get at and replaced all the fuses.

So far everything works


p.s. once it hits 60 degrees here all the Vetters and Cycles come out of the woodwork, must be global warming since you were here.:L

Sound like you get mositure condensation during storage, a good mositure displacement aid is WD40 spray. In the old TV mechamical tuner days we used WD40 to lube and remove contamination from this type of switch, it worked great then and should still help ward off similar problems.