Electrical Help

[Bob Chadwick]

I pulled the car out of the garage today to wash it. Everyhting seemed to be working alright. Washed and dried the car and attempted to put a new 20 amp fuse in the courtesy light fuse holder. Didn't get it in.

Came back out to the car about an hour later and started it up. Immediately noticed the generator light came on and the electric windows won't go down. Turned it off and went about my business. Came back about two hours later and started the car. Same problem plus some.

The light doesn't come on immediately. It will idle with no charge showing on the volt meter. Give it a little gas and the light comes on.

I also noticed that the red dash warning lights aren't coming on, the clock isn't working, the oil pressure gauge pegs out to the right when you turn the car off (it usually stays at the oil pressure reading that the car was turned off at) and if you give it a little gas it goes to the center but doesn't really seem to be working and the tach is now all the way to the right.

The hazard flashers come on and flash, the blower for the a/c works, the a/c is working, the headlights come on, the highbeam indicator in the speedo comes on, the rear window defroster light comes on, the turn signals work, etc.

Anybody have any ideas.

Bob

 

[Bob Chadwick]

I've had another chance to look at this with my frustration factor a little bit lower.

The generator circuit, which is the attached picture, has all of the items I am having a problem with going through it. I need to check the fuses tomorrow, alcohol helps with the frustration but gets in the way of the fix, but I have suspicion that the problem is the alternator.

Anybody have any input?

Bob

 

[SwaveDave]

Bob,

Sounds like water, from your washing/rinsing, got where it shouldnt have ; if you have a compressed air setup...try carefully blowing out all the electrical in the engine bay especially the distributor and wiring harnesses of any lingering water. Then , id check all the fuses to see which has blown from a possible grounded circuit(s) caused by the water.

Dave

 

[Bob Chadwick]

Dave,

Everything was dry under the hood and anywhere else that I would have suspected could have lead to this problem. It will sit in the hot garage today and I will check it out tonight.

Bob

 

[69MyWay]

Weird?

Almost as if the ground for that part if the circuit is hit and miss.

Let us know what you find, because am stumped.

 

[Bob Chadwick]

One of my thoughts as well. There is a ground coming off the alternator and was leading credence to my alternator theory.

Bob

 

[SwaveDave]

Bob,

This is a shot in the dark, but, many problems occur due to a poor ground connection at the ground strap from engine to frame....and from battery neg. cable to frame ; after i cleaned up those connections real good and used star washers...a problem i had disappeared.

Post what the problem was when you find it, under this thread. Im curious.

Good luck,

Dave

 

[Bob Chadwick]

I had a minor miracle happen today. The 8 year old wanted to spend some time with his old man. Will look at it on Wednesday and post. Thanks again for the help.

 

[SwaveDave]

Take him out for an icecream , then underneath the Corvette ; 8 year old boys like that kind of stuff !

 

[Bob Chadwick]

Unfortunately he is of the age that nothing holds his attention for long and he gets frustrated with just sitting there. Maybe a little older when he realizes that in order to drive it he is going to have to work on it.

 

[Bob Chadwick]

I had a chance to study my book some more further confirming that the problem appears limited to one circuit.

I replaced the 20 amp fuse that I originally took out and as expected found the 10amp gauge fuse blown (that's the one the book shows as being in line with these components). Not as expected, the assortment of fuses that I bought several weeks ago has every size you can imagine except 10 amp so it's off to the hardware store.

 

[Bob Chadwick]

Replaced the 10amp fuse and everything works again.