HELP!! Have electrical problem! - Maintenance and Repair Forum

Forum Post / Reply
You must log in before you can post or reply to messages.
HELP!! Have electrical problem!
Sunday, June 26, 2005 6:53 PM
So I think im having a very bad electrical problem in my 2001 Cavi. While driving down the road any pothole or slight bump causes my dash lights to go out and also my mileage jumps back and forth from the trip. Can a loose wire under the dash be causing this problem?

Also, there are times when I go to start the car and it acts like the battery is dead, but when I unhook the amp wire from the battery it starts. Can my amp be causing my battery to drain? Or could this be a problem with the dash?

Then the other day the car breaks down on me and when the key was off the needles on the dash jumped and there was a fast ticking noise coming from a box that read DELI(?? might be wrong on name) its a black box under the dash to the left of the car near the fuses. Again I fixed that problem by disconnecting the amp from the battery of course after I ripped out the radio, bc I thought it was a radio problem, btw, I have an after-market radio but I have that special $100 piece for it.

Please if anyone can help me with this problem, I could use some advice bc I don't have the money to take it to a garage.

Thanks,


Lauren
<br><a href="http://www.nuthinfancy.org">Nuthin Fancy Car & Truck Club</a>
<br><img src="http://www.j-body.org/registry/stylizedcavi01/sign3.jpg">

Re: HELP!! Have electrical problem!
Sunday, June 26, 2005 8:28 PM
You say disconnecting your amp wire fixes the problem... do you have a fuse on your amp wire? if so is it within 2 feet of the battery?


hello
NEO WAS HERE
I have become too lazy to create a new sig.
you're reading my line-break
<A HREF="http://www.neo-j.741.com/">Check my website</A>
Re: HELP!! Have electrical problem!
Sunday, June 26, 2005 8:31 PM
Discconecting the amp power wire does fix problem with car not starting but not the dash lights shutting off on me. The fuse on the wire is problem exactly 2ft from the battery. The stereo equip. was professionaly installed.





Lauren
<br><a href="http://www.nuthinfancy.org">Nuthin Fancy Car & Truck Club</a>
<br><img src="http://www.j-body.org/registry/stylizedcavi01/sign3.jpg">
Re: HELP!! Have electrical problem!
Sunday, June 26, 2005 8:33 PM
Well how old is the battery in youre car? Maybe it needs to be replaced or the terminals are loose.
Re: HELP!! Have electrical problem!
Monday, June 27, 2005 5:45 AM
Battery is only like 2 weeks old. Terminals are fine.


Lauren
<br><a href="http://www.nuthinfancy.org">Nuthin Fancy Car & Truck Club</a>
<br><img src="http://www.j-body.org/registry/stylizedcavi01/sign3.jpg">
Re: HELP!! Have electrical problem!
Tuesday, June 28, 2005 12:06 PM
Hmmm...

Well for the dash lights I know a few good whacks on the top of the dash is supposed to fix that... proven GM way to fix it, even the techs do it, cuz it works.

Dont know if that will solve your problem though.

As for the battery/amp/starting....

Do you have an aftermarket headunit? If so, do you know if the remote signal wire on the amp is properly wired to the headunit?

If your not sure... Turn your car/amp on, and see if and where your amp has a power light and/or cooling fan. Now turn your car off and see if your amp's light/fan is still on.

If its still on it is not wired properly and your amp is remaining on all the time.

An amp that is on, but not doing anything, will very slowly drain your battery. And since you say your car will start when you disconnect the amp, that would quite obviosly shut off your amp, and stop that power loss, enablign you to start the car.


hello
NEO WAS HERE
I have become too lazy to create a new sig.
you're reading my line-break
<A HREF="http://www.neo-j.741.com/">Check my website</A>
Re: HELP!! Have electrical problem!
Tuesday, June 28, 2005 3:40 PM
NEO32843 (The The One One):
Thanks for the info. as far as wacking the dash, tried it, even hurt myself doing it, but still didnt work. There must be a wire loose causing it to go out.

Ill check out the amp problem. So far no problems since the amp is disconnected, but I was told it might be the body modular bad causing something to be still running.




Lauren
<br><a href="http://www.nuthinfancy.org">Nuthin Fancy Car & Truck Club</a>
<br><img src="http://www.j-body.org/registry/stylizedcavi01/sign3.jpg">
Re: HELP!! Have electrical problem!
Tuesday, June 28, 2005 7:08 PM
Well here's the deal with the amp...

It always has power going through it. Hot and Ground are always connected and NOT switched. The amp is turned on "remotely" using a third wire. This will be labeled on your amp as "remote" "rem" "signal" "sig" or something to the sort. It will be a single connection WITH NO PAIR.

When power is sent to this point, it turns the amp on. On aftermarket headunit's there is a place for this to go. So basically, when your radio is on (I.E: when your car is on, it turns the amp on as well.

Some people such as myself, have this on a switch, so I can manually turn my subs on and off without worrying about teh radio. If your amp was installed with this wire simply being wired to a hot source, your amp will always be on.

To do a quick troubleshoot, find this remote wire on your amp and simply disconnect it. Reconnect the main power wire to the battery (as it normally is). Then, start your car and see if the amp comes on. It shouldnt. If it does you either got the wrong wire, or you got a bad amp. If it stays off, we are good to go.

Now, leaving the amp power wire connected, but the remote wire disconnected, leave the car off overnight. If your car starts just peachy in the morning I'm pretty sure the problem has been found, and that it is a mis-wired remote wire.

IM me if you gotta ask what half my babble means.


hello
NEO WAS HERE
I have become too lazy to create a new sig.
you're reading my line-break
<A HREF="http://www.neo-j.741.com/">Check my website</A>
Forum Post / Reply
You must log in before you can post or reply to messages.

 

Start New Topic Advanced Search