I need electrical help

I am new to this forum. I hope I can get some help here. I recently bought a 1995 cavalier with some electrical problems. All I know is the previous owner had a short in the amp wire and in the ground effect lights. Here are my issues.
 
1. The turn signals, horn , and heater blower doesn't work.
2. The wipers and radio works all the time (even with the key out of the switch)
3. The radio even works with radio fuse out of the panel.
4. All the exterior lights, the hazard lights, dome light, power sunroof, and instrument cluster all works fine.
 
I found a green/light green connector behind the driver's side kick panel that has been burnt through. I believe it is a relay but not sure.I hope some one can help. Thanks
 
                                                                            
 
 

Well i would deff. replace that burnt out relay, and as far as your signals, and horn...thats most likely the lighting wiring harness. Its an old car so there might be a short somewhere along the harness. The heater blower might just be a fuse. And the radio and stuff staying on all the time, my guess is that it would be a relay too because its not getting the signal to shut down when you turn off the car.

I will change the relay and go from there. I have checked every fuse in the box and there are none that is blown. I even changed a few that looked like they may have poor contacts.

Also on the wireing you might check for a bad ground somewhere. that is throwing everything off. Ya and like ruffrider said change the relay wire.

quote:

ORIGINAL: jernizzle

I am new to this forum. I hope I can get some help here. I recently bought a 1995 cavalier with some electrical problems. All I know is the previous owner had a short in the amp wire and in the ground effect lights. Here are my issues.
I found a green/light green connector behind the driver's side kick panel that has been burnt through. I believe it is a relay but not sure.I hope some one can help. Thanks

It sounds like the previous owner really butchered the wiring and did half-assed repairs.
 

quote:

1. The turn signals, horn , and heater blower doesn't work.

start with the obvious ... check fuses . If they're fine then you have to trace the wires for cuts or shorts.
 

quote:

2. The wipers and radio works all the time (even with the key out of the switch)
3. The radio even works with radio fuse out of the panel.

I doubt this is a relay problem since the radio works when the fuse is removed. It sounds more like these have been rewired to constant power for some reason.

So i found out the burnt green thing wasn't a relay just a connector. I changed it and now the heater blower works. So now all the fuses look to be good, I don't see any broken or burnt wires and still no horn or turn signals. I changed the turn siganl switch still nothing. I can deal with the radio and wipers always having power but no turn signals is a problem. Any one have any more ideas?
 
worst case, would it be possible to run them by a toggle or something.

Do the wires from the steering colum look to been altered ??

Try changing the flasher unit for the turn signals.

Disconnect the horn's power wire and jump it to the battery to see if it works. It may be just a poor ground. 

Its most likely your front lighting wiring harness, there made pretty ****ty for these cars. I had to replace mine.

I found two relays up under the dash to the left. One cylinder shape one and one square white one. Both are connected to a purple colored unit with other connectors going to it. Does either one go to the turn signals? How do you check to see if a relay is good or not?
 
None of the wires looked messed with and nothing looks to have been cut or burnt.

the relays for the turn signals would be no where under your dash...they would be along the front lighting wiring harness behind ur front bumper.

There are no relays for the signals. The switch on the column runs directly to the lights, front and rear. There's a combination switch inside it that handles the brake/signal functions.
 
Those relays on the back of the front bumper bar are the DRL and fog light relays.
 
Chances are, the signal arm is shot. At 12 years old, it's probably in need of replacement. Hit up a wrecker and try and find a newer one... out of 2005 if you can find it. They all plug in the same.

I tried another signal arm unit from a '98, still the same. I am getting power to the switch and the flashers do work.
 
Here is what I have now. I have no turn signals, no horn, and no dash lights. (The check engine light and all the other warning lights work but not the back light for the gauges or the heater switches.) I don't know if this one problem or seperate issues.
 
I changed all the exterior light bulbs just to rule out the option of a bad bulb. I traced all the wire I can with nothing looking cut or burnt. I checked every fuse in the box and they are all good. There are two of the big silver fuses in there one is for the headlights and I can't remember what the other one is. Would either of these effect my problem?
 
Everything else works fine, All the exterior lights, dome light, sunroof, heater blower, ect.

Still can't find the turn signal relay. The two relays I talked about earlier ynder the dash is the flashers and the horn. I dont have any relays behind my bumper.

There shouldn't be a relay for the turn signal.
 
If you located the turn signal flasher and the horn relay then check for power there or replace them.

quote:

ORIGINAL: jlenko

The switch on the column runs directly to the lights, front and rear. There's a combination switch inside it that handles the brake/signal functions.

The reason it's called a " combination " switch is it has a combination of functions combined into one control lever. These are to activate the park lights , head lights ( high and low ) and the turn signals in some cases the wipers and cruise control.

It's not designed to handle high current so it won't be wired directly to the lights. For example when you turn on the head lights the combination switch completes the circuit to energize a relay which provides the higher current needed for the head lights.

When you activate the turn signal the clicking sound doesn't originate from the switch it's from the flasher. The switch completes the circuit to energize the flasher , which is basically a relay with a timer circuit for cycling the output to the lights on and off.

OK so I have checked every fuse in the box, check all relays, changed every exterior bulb, and changed the combination switch with still nothing. Where should I go from here?

Have you checked the dimmer switch and it wires for the dash lights ?
 
Have you jumpered the horn to the battery to see if it works ?
 
Did you change out the flasher ?
 
If you are 100% positive the fuses are ok then you must have an open wiring situation some where ... either the ground or power wire.

I FIXED THE TURN SIGNALS !!
 
For future reference the 95' model has a seperate relay for the turn signals. It is under the dash to the right of the steering column, clipped up to a bracket. (silver with two blue stripes) I changed the relay and they work fine. Just think I only had to remove the entire dash to find it. Talk about an easy fix gone bad. Thanks for all the info and I am sure I will need more help in the future.

Is the radio stock?  It sounds like somebody may have rewired it and instead of connecting the +12V Ignition wire to the ignition switch system, they tied it into a +12V constant to the battery.