Wire grounding somewhere - Grrrr!

[KikiPhillips]

Hello Fellow Corvette People, I need some help in locating a short in my wiring harness (1982). The pink wire on the Center cluster which supplies power for my fuel gauge, has continuity with a Ground. Also, the fan motor fuse on the fuse block, has one side that also shows a ground and I'm pretty sure fuses just let power through them.
According to a wiring schematic for my 82, the right side of the fuse is hot (and it is) the left goes out and possibly connects with a couple of pink wires. But some where in there it is grounding. I would appreciate any help or tips anyone has.

 

[Antz81]

Unfortunately there's no easy way to do this.
You'll need to check everything on the circuit one by one until you find it. I would start by checking the guages, they all connect to a flexible circit board which can easily fault.
if you have been through everything and still haven't found it then you'll have to follow the wiring around looking for damage.

 

[LLC5]

Hello Fellow Corvette People, I need some help in locating a short in my wiring harness (1982). The pink wire on the Center cluster which supplies power for my fuel gauge, has continuity with a Ground. Also, the fan motor fuse on the fuse block, has one side that also shows a ground and I'm pretty sure fuses just let power through them.
According to a wiring schematic for my 82, the right side of the fuse is hot (and it is) the left goes out and possibly connects with a couple of pink wires. But some where in there it is grounding. I would appreciate any help or tips anyone has.

Are you actually blowing a fuse (snapping the middle of the fuse in to 2 pieces) after a new fuse is installed?

 

[bill81vette]

Welcome to CAC!!!

 

[KikiPhillips]

C3 Wiring

I solved the fuse issue, it was the radiator fan. I think it's drawing too much. I unplugged it and no more fuse popping.

However, I'm still having a nightmare with wires, here are a couple of questions:
1. The pink w/black wire that is supposed to have 12 v that feeds the Gas gauge in the Center Cluster plug, is not hot at all.
2. Also, no power to the Defogger switch.
3. No power to the Fan blower switch.
- Are these all fed by one hot wire?
- Also, noticed some of the available Ignition posts on the fuse block are not hot? Why? How?
- One last question or statement. Could the Key switch cause any of this? or cause some hot wires to stay hot, even though the key is pulled out?

Thanks Fellow Vette Lovers!
Kiki

 

[Antz81]

The fuse for your gauges is the fuse as the defogger switch.
your blower switch is a separate circuit to these however.

different circuits become live depending on the position of the ignition switch, and some are always live. So without knowing what ones are live when it would be hard to say if there is a problem. It some are live when they shouldn't be then it could be the ignition switch.
i have attached some circuit diagrams from my FSM that should help you track down the problem. The may be some small differences since mines an 81 but mostly that will be color coding of the wires.

 

[bill81vette]

I would STRONGLY recommend you invest in a Factory service manual....
this will help to steer you in repairing and diagnosing the problems that are encountered by our older vettes.here's a link for one....

http://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb...4V11P8IA66679918550B~Z5Z5Z5~Z5Z5Z50000050G~~~

 

[KikiPhillips]

Making Progress...

I appreciate the help Antz81. I printed out a poster size schematic which is helping a lot but there is something on it that I do not know what it is?

What is the "A Conn" and "B Conn"???

I have a bunch of wires that go to them and they have some sort of code number on them. It would really help to know what the codes mean and where they are?

Thanks again for the help....

 

[bill81vette]

the code numbers refer to the circuit so the reader will be able to follow the wire that goes to it
perhaps a conn and b conn are the connectors that connect thru the firewall.

 

[Antz81]

I appreciate the help Antz81. I printed out a poster size schematic which is helping a lot but there is something on it that I do not know what it is?

What is the "A Conn" and "B Conn"???

I have a bunch of wires that go to them and they have some sort of code number on them. It would really help to know what the codes mean and where they are?

Thanks again for the help....

Is this a different schematic to the one I posted? If so then I would need to see it to say what they are. I can't find those connections on mine. They may be as bill suggests, but can't say for certain without seeing it for myself.

 

[KikiPhillips]

Wiring Schematic

Here is the link to the wiring schematic I'm using, the 1982 .pdf is at the bottom. All the pages line up (left to right to form the big picture).

Index of /Documents/Corvette wiring diagrams

Thanks!

 

[Antz81]

Bill was spot on.
Code numbers are to make it easier to follow a particular circuit.
conn a and conn b are the large connectors that go through the firewall. They are on the drivers side behind the fuse block. Very easy to spot in the engine bay.