Help! Electricals possessed by evil gremlins 1995 C-4

[starbuck]

Since I also own a 1974 MGB that I am restoring for the second time in 20 years, I am fairly familiar with automotive electrical nightmares. I'm just totally ignorant of Corvette electrical issues.

I have several issues with my 1995 coupe (and I won't even touch on the intermittant "won't start for no good reason...but wait five minutes and it will" problem.)

First problem.
Sometimes the interior lights come on for no reason at all while I'm driving. Or when I park the car and turn it off they turn on and won't shut off for around 10 minutes. The power to the radio doesn't shut off (also for around 10 minutes after the car is shut off) when I turn off the key unless you open the passenger side door (opening the driver side door has no effect) so I'm hoping that at least part of the problem is the driver side door pin switch.

Second problem:
I was driving in a really hard rain a few weeks ago and had the wipers set on high speed. Suddenly drivers side wiper began slapping the trim at the edge of the A-pillar really hard and the winshield washer pump kicked on by itself and no matter what position I turned the control stalk to, the pump kept going until several minutes after the fluid was exhausted. The wipers would also not turn off. after a few minutes of playing they finally shut off...luckily, the rain tapered down around the same time too.
I assumed that some wiring got wet since it was a really heavy downpour. The next few weeks, the wipers functioned normally the few time I was out in the rain.

Today, I turned on the wipers to clear some frost from the windshield and they moved up a few inches, stopped and just started bobbing up and down a few inches in each direction. I turned them off but they kept bobbing up and down. I then rotated the control knob from off to full several times and they started working again but only at low speed. I turned them off and tried it again and I went through the wole thing all over again.

I'm hoping it's just the control stalk is going bad since I have no desire to wade into the jungle of the dash and cowling.

Any ideas from the more learned and experienced members here?
Many thanks,
Monte

 

[Paul Higg]

Hi Starbuck, welcome to the CAC.

I have a 94 and a full factory service manual. I have all the wiring diagrams so if you need any help PM me and I will give you all the help you need as wiring is my speciality.

The first problem sounds like it could be an electrical problem with the wiring but the second sounds like a switch problem. Removing the door panels on this car is a piece of cake and getting access to the wiring is easy.

How long have you had this car? Was it a "Katrina" car? A lot of cars were submerged and resold. Also, as you probably already know a lot of problems could be caused by grounds.

Replacing the wiper/directional stalk is not too difficult. There was a thread here about it, I think he was from Moscow, I am not sure.

Again, welcome and best of luck.

Paul

 

[starbuck]

Hi Paul, and thanks for the welcome!

I've had the car since 1999 (not a flood car to my knowledge)
I'm new to the forum but not to Vettes. I grew up in more C-1's and C-2's than I can count but these are a whole different beast.

I assume the random no-start which comes and goes and has been with me since I bought the car is due to the VATS system and the crappy aftermarket alarm system which has never worked.
I'm going to have the aftermarket alarm pulled and a new one installed and try to disable the factory system and bypass the key chip (if do-able)

My main concern for now are the wipers. I'm eyeball deep in a resto of my 74 MGB so I'm not afraid to tear into a car but I must admit that I'm a bit lacking in modern automotive wiring and electronics knowledge and it is complicated by the fact that she is my daily driver.

I've already had the door panels off so that's no problem. My first step will be to replace the door pin switches and to check to see if the drain holes on the cowl are clear.

Any help or advice that you or any of the more knowledgeable members here can give me is greatly appreciated.

We learn by doing

 

[Paul Higg]

C1's & C2's? Cool. It sounds like you have a good working knowledge already. I would buy the factory service manual if you're going to keep her.

Paul

 

[starbuck]

C1's & C2's? Cool. It sounds like you have a good working knowledge already. I would buy the factory service manual if you're going to keep her.

Paul

Yeah, my first car was a 62 that I built from age 14-16 with my dad. Finished it and it was stolen from the paint shop and chopped. all I got back was the rear clip and the engine block...Not a good start

I was just looking online for the factory service manuals...ouch! $100+ for the set. Guess I'll have to bite that bullet though.

I've had the car for 9 years and my MGB for 21 years so I tend to keep cars I like.

 

[So Bay Vetter]

That's amazing; you got thru 9 years of owning a C4 without the FSM!
Yep 100-130 is the going rate for FSM (2 books). With regard to the interior lights; try spraying WD40 in the door switches, worked for me. Sorry can't help with the wiper issue (possibly ice in the wiper assy?) but, we'd all like to know the fix in case we run into it too.