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| Clock stays on with key removed, Fuse questions, and other minor things. (Page 1/1) |
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Not a Car Guy
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AUG 22, 06:19 PM
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So, I'm not really a "car guy" but I am detail-oriented, so I'm just going to provide a lot of details!
I recently took my 86 Fiero to a mechanic shop down the road to check out a few things.
A weird "clunk" sound was apparently caused by a heat shield bumping into something, so he bent that so it wouldn't bump anymore.
My window rollers were stiff (especially passenger side), so he lubricated those (I think just by spraying something down into the doors...).
And the right headlight was loose, so he replaced the ring or whatever that holds it in place (my headlights have not gone up and down for years, but I'm planning on having him install the replacement relays from rodneydickman, since that's a likely cause).
When I went to pick it up, the battery was dead and it wouldn't start, so they gave me a jump and I drove it home and put it on the float charger (I normally keep it on the charger almost all the time, because I don't drive it that often).
When I turned the car off and removed the key, I noticed the clock was still illuminated. That seemed odd to me, but I never really paid attention to it before.... I'm not certain it didn't do that before, but it seems like it did not.
Also, the passenger side window was still super-stiff, and the hood now will not close and latch.
So I called him back and told him these issues, and suggested the clock could be causing battery drain, so I took it back there and he addressed the things with no further charge.
He just said "that clock stays on," and said there were no draws happening on the battery, and suggested the battery could be bad. (The battery is about 2 1/2 years old.)
He lubricated the passenger window roller more, and it seemed better after I worked it up and down, but as I did that, I saw streaks of light oil on the window.... Yeah, just spraying something down into the door isn't the right way to go about lubricating the rollers, but it's working well enough now and I'm not that concerned about it.
The hood was closed and latched, so I opened it and tried slamming it... and it still won't latch! Like, at all, no matter how much I press on it. Actually, it did latch one time, but that seems a fluke, because when I opened it again, it again refuses to close and latch.
I will have him look at that again soon, when I have him install the relay kit.
For the moment I'm looking into troubleshooting the clock. I drove a little yesterday and left the Fiero off the charger, and it's not dead today.
I've searched around a bit and read some topics on this forum, like this one: http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/139919.html
The last post mentioned that the brake pedal caused the clock to turn off, so I tried that, and sure enough, the clock flickers off when I barely press the brake, but it's only a slight flicker and it comes right back on.
I find that if I turn on the parking lights, the clock noticeably dims, and then I can use the dimmer dial to adjust the dash lights and turn the clock (and dash lights) completely off... but as soon as I disable the parking lights, the clock returns to full brightness (again, with the key removed during this process).
Some of the things I've seen mentioned related to this problem:
- A Short in a brake light bulb. -- From what I can see, all my parking / brake lights are working. Actually, while inspecting them I found I had one front and one rear maker bulb not illuminating, but after removing them and cleaning the contacts, they are working again.
- Bad ignition switch. -- Jiggling it doesn't seem to make any difference. Once when I turned the car off, I noticed the clock going dark, then coming right back on. But the next time I watched it, it just stayed on when turning it off and removing the key. When turning the key all the way forward and cranking the engine, the clock is dark.
- A Transistor in the radio itself. That starts to get beyond my ability to test.... But the radio has always given me problems tuning stations, and I usually have to whack on the side of it to make it work when it goes staticy! Could be a bad wire or solder join or something. Though oddly, the radio seems to be tuning fine at the moment. I wonder if that had anything to do with me tinkering with the fuses (see below).
- Fuses. I started pulling fuses and checking them out. Pulling the # 8 fuse (clock) kills the clock... and resets the stations, so I guess the clock isn't drawing power from some other path. Pulling any other fuse (I checked them all in turn) did not affect the clock.
And that's about as far as I can troubleshoot the clock issue.... I'm still not completely certain it didn't always stay on, but when I look at it, it feels weird to me that it is on. And other topics on this forum indicated that it should not stay on. And I'm not sure what could have triggered it, possibly as a result of the headlight being tinkered with (I don't think he disconnected the battery, because the clock was still right when I got it back). I guess stuff just goes bad in old cars....
But getting back to the fuses. When I pulled the # 3 fuse (radio) it kind of came apart (images below to show what I'm talking about), so I went to buy some more fuses. I got pack of assorted ones and replaced the "10" for the radio in # 3. I also noticed that the # 8 (clock) fuse was a "15" but my Haynes manual and the fuse box itself says that should be a "20." I've never touched these fuses before, so it's been like this for the last 20 years.... Anyway, I used the extra "20" from my fuse assortment to replace that one (which, of course, didn't stop the clock from staying illuminated).
I also notice another one, # 12 at the very bottom (wiper) has a "25" in it, but the manual calls for a "20."
Images:
Sooo... is that bad?
I only had the one spare "20" from the fuse assortment, but I have extra "15" and "25" etc.,.. which brings me to my next question:
What's up with the # 9 and # 10 spots? The manual says those are circuit breakers for power windows and locks, which, as my window roller story indicates, I do not have. So why are there fuses in those slots? Do they need to be there? Could (should) I steal that "20" out of # 9 and put it in # 12? And if so, should I replace it with... something else?
By the way, the red wire goes to my fog lights. They only illuminate on when the key is on.
Well, let me know if anyone has ideas about the clock.....
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Not a Car Guy
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AUG 25, 03:29 PM
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Clock has gremlins.
I drove the car a bit yesterday then put it on the battery charger overnight.
When I looked at it this morning, the clock was not illuminated.... So I got in the car and presses the volume knob (recall button) and the clock briefly lit up and then went back off. Then I pressed it again and the clock came on... and then stayed on. Now it won't go back off again.
Seems like there must be a problem with the radio itself.
The radio's recall button isn't stuck -- it does function correctly when the radio is on.
The topic I linked above has this link: https://www.turbobuick.com/...k-no-further.339895/
which talks about a transistor going bad in the radio (which causes this problem), but unfortunately the images to illustrate the issue are all dead now....
Seems like this is a likely cause though.
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Raydar
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AUG 25, 07:27 PM
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| quote | Originally posted by Not a Car Guy:
Clock has gremlins.
Seems like there must be a problem with the radio itself.
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That would be my thought, as well.
If you're handy with a soldering iron, you might try re-flowing any suspicious looking solder connections on the circuit boards. GM radios are infamous for having poor solder connections.
(With that said... The "bad transistor" scenario is more likely, in this case. A bad solder joint would more likely make something *not work* as opposed to working when it's not supposed to.)
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wgpierce
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AUG 26, 12:56 AM
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Definitely something internally wrong with the clock. My radio does the same, I haven't fixed it as I put in a 2 din android. It was the source of my battery drain.
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Boozeman
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AUG 26, 03:15 PM
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