Wow, it been forever since I logged in here. It used to be a daily occurrence. At one point I owned 4 cavaliers. A blue 1987 2.8 5-speed RS Conv; a 1992 Z24 Conv; a 1998 Z24; and a 2002 Sport Coupe. I sold all of them with the exception of the Z24 Conv.
Last summer it killed the battery and I was able to track it down to the 30 amp circuit that feeds the power door locks (and rear defrost - if the car was a hardtop). However, I cannot seem to find the short. I pulled the relay for the power door locks behind the glove box and pulled apart the console and radio/ climate control thinking it might be there. No such luck. The manual says it is an orange/ black wire.
I figured it may be worth asking here.
Pic of the car
Thanks in advance for any suggestions
Tom
Just a thought, as I know there were minor production changes over the 1991-1994 body styles. My 93 Z24 convertible has the glass rear window with rear defroster. I believe 1992 had a plastic rear window. Is it possible the power wire is still laying back there somewhere from when they cut the roof of to make convertible?
Just a thought, as I know there were minor production changes over the 1991-1994 body styles. My 93 Z24 convertible has the glass rear window with rear defroster. I believe 1992 had a plastic rear window. Is it possible the power wire is still laying back there somewhere from when they cut the roof of to make convertible?
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Mike,
That was the reason I pulled the heater control out. I saw in the manual that there was a connection there for the orange/ black wire. I did not see any of the wires pinched or anything that looked bad with the wires (like burn marks).
My HVAC control panel does not have the rear defrost button - just the AC button.
Can you take a picture on where the wiring attaches to the rear defrost at the window for me?
I will probably hunt around the trunk to see if I see any wires. I know the coupes had the connection in the drivers side rear pillar.
Thanks,
Tom
Sorry, mine is still in winter storage, and also, my rear defroster is not hooked up. Previous owner informed me that when he had the top replaced, they did not reconnect the wires. I looked around for a few minutes one day years ago and didn’t see them. Good luck.
Short found - it was located in the pursuit after-market alarm that was put in the car as a dealer perk when I bought it new (way back in Oct 91). I had originally thought alarm, but ruled it out since the alarm worked (and worked after I pulled the 30 amp door lock breaker). However, when I pulled the left side of the dash to check out the fuse block, I saw they had wired the alarm to the red wire which provides power to the orange/black wire which supplies power to the door lock actuators (red wire is one side of the breaker blade & orange/black is the other blade. I disconnected the alarm, measured current draw, and concluded that this had corrected the problem.
Now I'm working on the slight idle surge when warm. A new top is also on my to-do-list.
Very glad to hear you found the problem.
