Electrical Gremlins

[Mhartford]

Shew where to start. Had Bertha for about a year now and shes always had a problem, just wasnt expecting her to go full crazy.

PRECURSOR:

Bought with a dome/map light issue. It would stay on even when doors were closed- id have to unhook negative battery to get them out(obviously)

Current issues:
No turn signals
No ignition start, have to jump solenoid
No interior lights(at all)
Compass stuck on SE under dome lights
No window power
Radio actually went out today(Nov 11th)
When it rains i get a TSS error and CEL. Goes off by itself after it rains

What ive done:
Checked fuses(even the always hot, turn signal)
Checked relays(best of my knowledge all good- limited on electrical)
Replaced with a new battery

Im starting to think it may be my GEM is going out? Any thoughts, ideas, suggestions, experiences?

 

[jr1under]

How old is Bertha?

 

[Junkyard Jack]

A good circuit tester will be worth it's weight in gold if you have these issues

 

[Mhartford]

How old is Bertha?

1997 Sorry!

 

[Mhartford]

A good circuit tester will be worth it's weight in gold if you have these issues

I know i just ordered a really nice one tonight when my tailights stop working. I have 1 but its old as dirt lol

 

[EngineerMike]

Diagnosing a bad electronics box is a process of elimination. Start w/basic battery connections & assure there clean & tight so you have full voltage into the system. Invoke something (say turn signal) that isn't working & make as complete a list as you can: switch, wire terminals, wire, terminals, fuse, fuse socket, wire, terminals, electronic box, terminals, wire, terminals, bulb. Then process of elimination. The switch may just be connecting ground to an input on the GEM as "signal" to invoke turn signal function. You've got plenty to work with.

 

[Mhartford]

Diagnosing a bad electronics box is a process of elimination. Start w/basic battery connections & assure there clean & tight so you have full voltage into the system. Invoke something (say turn signal) that isn't working & make as complete a list as you can: switch, wire terminals, wire, terminals, fuse, fuse socket, wire, terminals, electronic box, terminals, wire, terminals, bulb. Then process of elimination. The switch may just be connecting ground to an input on the GEM as "signal" to invoke turn signal function. You've got plenty to work with.

Thanks man,

I actually ordered a nice test light and found 3 blown fuses! So far....still NO power windows, sunroof, interior lights, radio.

 

[jr1under]

Thanks man,

I actually ordered a nice test light and found 3 blown fuses! So far....still NO power windows, sunroof, interior lights, radio.

I'm interested in this thread even though my 99 has never had a problem like this...yet. It seems unlikely that all of those components failed individually so eventually you're going to find a commonality, a single point of failure that led to the other issues. Keep posting about your process and findings!

 

[Mhartford]

I'm interested in this thread even though my 99 has never had a problem like this...yet. It seems unlikely that all of those components failed individually so eventually you're going to find a commonality, a single point of failure that led to the other issues. Keep posting about your process and findings!

Will do!

Im starting to think i may have a bad ground causing all my issues of multiple blown fuses. OR, something got wet and started the problems.

 

[macbox]

Im starting to think i may have a bad ground causing all my issues of multiple blown fuses. OR, something got wet and started the problems.

In the old Saturn cars, bad grounding is caused by corrosion at the ground points under the hood and rear of the frame. Since it's a 1997, one thing I would do is go through the ground points with some 80 grit sandpaper and remove the corrosion off the ends of the wires, the frame, and the bolts. Could also be a bad wire where the corrosion is hidden because it is underneath the insulation. Just had my starter in my Expy replaced not too long ago, and while the wires to the starter looked OK, the shop said that one of them was bad.