My girlfriends 2002 cavy ls went whack today. has anyone had these problems before.
1. headlights not work at all, even driving lights
2. windshield wipers not work
3. driverside door lock only power unlock not lock, except when you turn on the lights, then it tries to unlock.
4. no blown fuses
5. tail lights work
6. turn signals and running lights work
7. everything else ok.
any ideas on what shorted out. they all happened overnight on there own at the same time. thanks
Well I have taken over two months of automotive eletrical classes so I can help you open here, if you can also do some work and testing yourself.
First off you said all fuses are good if that is for sure it isnt not a short but an open, as fuses only blow in short circuits.
Your tail lights work and headlights working are no surprise because they are run on different circutis via federal regulations.
3. driverside door lock only power unlock not lock, except when you turn on the lights, then it tries to unlock.
Thats worded a littel confusing but let me get this right you try to unlock the door and it will only unlock if you have the leadights on?
Alright then first for the headlights....
First turn your headlights to the ON position, even if they dont work it will still close the circuit, or at least part of it.
First take a voltmeter and see what you are missing. Do the headlights have power, do they have ground, do the wipers have power, do they have ground.
Take the voltmeter and set it to OHM position, touch each end of the light bulb, what is resistance reading?
To check for power simply take the positive lead from the voltmeter stick it in the bulb socket and put the black lead on the negative battery cable, how many volts are you reading?
For ground you take the postive lead into the negetive socket and also ground the black lead to the negative battery cable.
Now if you dont have ground, you obviously are looking for a loose, disconnected, broke, or a wire with a ton or corrosion on it acting as resistance.
If you dont have power it will be a pain to find but you can do it.
You need to use the last/lost procedure, the last place you had it and the first place you lost it.
So if you dont have power at the sockets, you need to see if you have power at the switch at least, simply, right before the switch put the voltmeter back probe into the connector and ground the black lead, voltage or not, if not you have an open between the power and the switch, if yes you do have volts, than after switch and before the splice for the headlights, as you dont have power to either so it is before or at the splice.
I would then check the splice as they do break commonly.
As for the you door problem if I'm reading it correctly, you may have a crossshort, which something is on or operates when you dont want it to. I dont know though I need to see that one to help find the problem.
As for the wipers, basically same thing with the headlights, littel different, power at the switch, if yes, power at the motor, and of course ground.
Hopefully you have a wiring diagram, otherwise it sucks.
hope that helps you out, any questions let me know
- 2004 Cavalier - 124k, owned since new
Be sure no to use the ohlm setting on live curcits. You will have a dead voltmeter or a tosted hand.
Russ B wrote:Be sure no to use the ohlm setting on live curcits. You will have a dead voltmeter or a tosted hand.
You only an ohmeter when check resistance, when checking for volts or power you use volts setting, DC volts by the way.
- 2004 Cavalier - 124k, owned since new
As for the head lights, I just finished re wiring the plug under the battery tray. It's a 12 wire plug that covers DRL's, low beams, and high beams. I also have the schematics for the head lights if you need.
My issue was the positive battery terminal pulled out and splashed battery acid down on to the plug. After the plug's seal was eaten, water got in and FUBARed the whole deal. Another thing to check is under the battery tray is a black ground wire. It's got a ring connector that can corrode and cause the problems.
The below link are some pictures of my plug, and schematics for an 01 Sunfire & 02 Cavi (same diagram).
http://www.mbcomps.com/gallery/album178
Good luck
