What the hell could be wrong???

reply to post by Gazrok


Alright, I will tell you what is wrong, but! It will be a lot of work for you. I'm a retired automotive engineer, GM trained, for my credentials. The problem is built in obsolescence. Here is what happens, and how to fix it for all of you GM people. In the wiring schematic you will notice all power wires are orange. Follow them and they all come together at a point. Here is why that is, you buy the car new, drive it for a few thousand miles. Then one day the cigarette lighter shorts out, or the little courtesy light switch in the door frame shorts, something shorts out. This will always happen. Then, with a power wire shorted, the rest of the power wires experience a voltage drop. The car begins to give you, the owner trouble, and you trade in off or junk it out.

Here is how to fix this built in problem, every GM car since about 1990 has it.

Remove the dashboard. Sounds hard, but it's not on these late models. As soon as the dash is out, tie the steering column up to he door post, remove the front seat, and peal back the carpeting from the front bulkhead back. You will see a bundle of wires wrapped in tape. Start about where the dash edge would have been, and peal off the tape, keep pealing until you find where the orange wires all come together. The connection will have perhaps 6 wires coming from one side and 5 or so from the other side.

Go out and buy a 50 Amp, two pole automotive circuit breaker, and a bunch of ring terminals, the blue color code works fine here. Cut each wire, one at a time, and install a ring terminal on each one. Do not mix up the two sides here! Put the wires from one side on one pole, and the wires from the other side on the other pole, and tighten down the nuts, and wrap good with automotive tape. Reinstall the dash, make sure all interfaces are hooked up, and everything works. Make sure you put all of the screws back in, or the dash will rattle.

You will notice quicker starts, brighter lights, quicker take off, better gas mileage.
Friend, it took me 3 weeks of solid work to find this out, and I have successfully performed this fix on 6 cars, one for me, the rest for others. All worked fine after that, and all the cars ran like new. It is a bit of work, but if you love the car, or the wife does, she will see this as an act of true love, and it will be worth some mileage, if you know what I mean.

Originally posted by Gazrok
Good news, bad news...

Good news: They believe they know what is wrong...(fuel intake, and some other nonsense...my slight knowledge of cars is pre-computerized crap)

Bad news: It will be another $240 (for a total of $750) (which isn't including the nearly $400 already spent at the FIRST place)...

It damn well better run like a Camaro when it's done!!!!

hey there,so how did this ended? I was curious with your car's problem. And i get pissed off every time I read cases like this. Some automotive shops are all about money. Sometimes the problem of your car grows bigger and gets worse when you take them to automotive shops. I just can't forget my horrible experience. I placed a huge amount of cash for my car repair only to find out that I was fooled. So now I try to learn how to do DIY's and read stuffs about car repair how to. The one on the link is a good one. It really is an edge if you know things about how to fix and diagnose your car problems.

Came along a bit late probably but may be able to help if the problem is'nt resolved. If it is a tuned port 5.7 liter engine I would lean toward injectors. They are known for getting hot and shorting out. Ignition module is also a possibility but it will result in a die out condition(no spark,sometimes no injector pulse). Back in the day the best way to diagnose this was get the engine warm then ohm check the injectors. Specs were 12-16 ohms. If under that(say 10 or lower) replace affected injector.

reply to post by Gazrok


Typical for G.M. was the use of throttlebody injection systems. he idle speed is controlled by the ECM through a device called the IAC or idle air control. They get gunked up with carbon allot and need to be removed and cleaned.
Also the vaccuum passages need to be cleaned from carbon as well.