PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

Today was a good day.

I've been trying to trace down a very strange electrical issue I've been having for a while..

Upon start up the voltage would pulse every second or two on the dash, the lights would dim at each pulse, and the voltage would never reach the full 14ish. But, when I plug my scantool in and begin to datalog, the problem goes away.

I ended up repairing a few other things in the process of diagnosing.

I repurposed the following pins at the PCM firewall connector for convince:
White C6 (EGR and IAT ground) I didn't see the IAT ground initially. -fixed that
White C10 (EGR +5v)
Blue E10 (boost control) since this was originally a S1 L67 car
Blue F12 (EGR position)
Blue F14 (trans temp)

All those checked out ok with the exception of the IAT ground.

I checked the main fuse block - all fuses ok
Passenger side relay center fuses - ok
Driver's side I/P fuese block:
1C blown - Airbag - Replaced airbag module under the passenger seat what had water damage - fixed
5D A/C - missing - Replaced - fixed

I tried grounding out the data line on the DLC (tan 800 circuit) to reproduce the datalog fix - no go.

And while doing all this I noticed my fans weren't working properly.
Everything forward of the firewall worked properly. If I grounded the wire on the relay running to the PCM the fans would turn on.
I was getting +12v at the low speed pcm pin but not at the high. So, I rewired the high and all is good.

With all the misc stuff out of the way I just started pulling fuses on the driver's I/P fuse block to see if I could isolate the problem. Sure enough when I pulled 6A, the interior light/sunroof/trunk light fuse, the problem went away. I disconnected the connector going to the headliner, trunk light, all interior lights, and still nothing. Then I finally disconnected the puddle lights I hooked up to go on with the interior lights..

That was it. Problem solved. It feels great to move on from this. It's been over a year I think with this issue.

I drove the car around a bit, did an oil change and washed it up before I lost sun light.

Rough day today.. it started off by not being able to find my stainless MIG wire. All of the welding supply places in my area were closed. I found a spot open on the other side of the city, took my bike, and battled traffic there and back.

When I went to head to my buddy's shop, I realized my electrical problem came back.. Pulling that 6a fuse on the way over didn't help, nor did datalogging. When I got there, I tried pulling every fuse in the I/P fuse block and relay center that I could with the engine running with no change. I tried a new alternator, and it does a slightly better job of charging but the problem is still there.

Other stuff I disconnected without change:
The +12v reference sense wire to the alternator that I added
The auto trans rewiring. (shift solenoid dummy bulbs, reverse light, wiring to make it think it's in drive)
NB O2
All the aforementioned fuses with the new alt

Disconnecting the PCM alternator signal wire stops the pulsing but also the charging (makes sense) and connecting only the voltage sense wire doesn't make it charge.
Adding an extra engine ground didn't help.
I got a intermittent cam sensor signal code that went away and manipulating the wires running to it didn't change it.

I think there's a couple other things we tried.. but my head is kinda fried.

While there, I was able to weld in a resonator I bought last year. I needed to center the exhaust better in the rear tunnel to gain clearance for the the resonator. The tips also needed some clearancing and work to get them lined up perfect in the bumper cut outs. The tone is a bit tamer but there's still rasp at high load/rpm. At this point, I think I can live with it. lol..





At least there was some progress today. There were quite a few tuning heads while driving it too.

95naSTA wrote:At least there was some progress today. There were quite a few tuning heads while driving it too.

I bet it will all be worth the frustration when you are done, you are making a masterpiece.

looks like COTM material to me. - BC

I haven't done as much as I would like the past few months but I was able to get a set of euro folding mirrors (RPO DD9) painted, wired, and installed.

A while back I saw an overseas member here had bought a donor 92' SSE/i with the euro export package and was going to junk the car once the drivetrain was pulled. I immediately pm'd asking to buy the mirrors. I made an offer without any detailed pics of the condition figuring anything cosmetic could be fixed. The deal took a while to materialize but the mirrors arrived a few months ago.

The connectors were cut, 3/4 studs were missing, there were dremel grinding marks, and the paint was faded past the clear. So, they weren't in the best shape but I was more concerned with seizing the opportunity vs. condition at time for purchase.




I had my painter buddy repair the dremel marks with plastic filler and paint them with the same Black Onyx 202 paint code as the body. Since they were off a SSE/i, I knew they were going to have a heater circuit but didn't know about the memory function. My non-heated, non-memory, power SLE mirrors have a 3 wire connector and the new DD9's come with a 6 wire connector. For whatever reason the wiring diagram for the power function was missing from my FSM.. Three of the 6 wires matched the colors on the SLE mirror (grey, dark blue, light blue), and there was continuity between 2 of the remaining wires (heater circuit). I did find the memory function in the FSM and color matched the last wire (green). Next I used a 12v power supply to verify the heater circuit worked. Both did. Then I compared the power vs function of the 3 similarly colored wires between the DD9 and SLE mirrors. Some of the fuctions were the same between the two but not all worked on the DD9. I figured since the memory function only had one wire, it needed to be grounded/powered by at least 2 of the other 3. Turns out if I coupled the grey and the green wire, the DD9 functioned the same as the SLE's. I also decided to extended the heater wires down to the connector so I can add this function later without removing the mirrors. All wires were soldered and epoxy lined shrink tubed.








And here's the folding action:
http://youtu.be/L2Auzc7rojU

Very nice! - BC

Yay! That must have been fun to get those on the car at last.

They came out looking great! Your guy did a great job repairing them.

COTM for January! - BC

EDIT: with all the changes made to this car since the last time it was COTM, it should be considered again, jmho. - BC

COTM for January! - BC

I have to admit, I guess I don't see what you do in these mirrors, but you did do a good job with them.

That heater circuit should be pretty easy to get going. I believe stock it is powered by the rear defroster, and the rest of the wiring is cake.

Thanks guys.

RJolly87 wrote:I have to admit, I guess I don't see what you do in these mirrors,

Its mainly for the rare/unique but still OEM factor.

I often have the same thought but never really see the need to state it.

Those mirrors are really neat. I think I have only seen them in factory pictures of the 92 SSE/i. This is the first time I have seen them in action. I swear I once seen these on a white 92 SSE at a salvage yard a couple years ago but I may have just imagined it

Memory mirrors?

That function is in the 95 FSM in section 8A-142 but when I looked at it again, I was looking at the wrong input for that green wire.

Nice Mike, I appreciate the OEMness

That's awesome, nice work!

Nice job Mike! I love it!

I got some more work in this weekend.

My dash back lights stopped working a month or so ago. No fuses are blown. I tried a new multi-function switch and swapped in a spare cluster but neither fixed the problem. I'll have to revisit this.

The other day a 342 Ign system camshaft sensor signal failure code popped up. I had this code last year at some point and I swapped in a low mile L26 sensor. I've only put a handful of miles on the car since so I suspected the ignition harness and replaced that today. The code is gone but it was intermittent. So we'll see.

When I picked up the ignition harness at the junkyard, I grabbed a couple things to tidy up my front driver's door:
The light that goes in the interior handle trim at the top. Mine was broke.
The exterior trim that runs along the base of the window. The point on the front of mine fell off at some point.

I had also ordered a new interior trim piece for the top of the door. It started to let go years ago and I had taped it together from the back side. It's past the point of saving at this point. Luckily Tonkin Parts still had it. p/n 17994165






I've also been putting work into resolving my voltage dipping issue. I think it's time to start a dedicated thread for that.

Oh my gawd! I would never have thought to look for that as a part. Just assumed the top door trim would have to be a lucky find in a JY and even then you'd have to remove it without it also breaking. All of them are broke in some fashion on the '93. The passenger side front door especially so. The part that actually tucks behind the door panel and gets stapled in is separated. I've tried a dab of glue and double sided tape but it always ends up curling up. Another tip I had mentioned to others before was for the front doors you can use the trim from the rear door after you cut a few inches off.