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Old Jul 26, 2009 | 12:41 PM
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Default Ground question

74 coupe--wipers and a/c fan only run with hood/door open. I have searched the archives and guessing its a ground. Does anyone know of or have a pic of the ground that goes to the bellhousing area. It seems to be a fairly common thing among the c3's. I am going to chack and see if it is accidentally connected to the starter. Any help is appreciated
Thanks
Frank
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Old Jul 26, 2009 | 12:44 PM
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I don't have a picture handy, but if you follow the harness down to the starter there is a black wire that comes out with the rest of them. It had a 3/8 lug on it -- that's the one that goes to the bell housing.
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Old Jul 26, 2009 | 01:01 PM
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Thanks I'll look. I am considering a new engine harness anyway due to the age and bubba-isms prior to my purchase.

Last edited by my.yellow.74; Jul 26, 2009 at 01:03 PM.
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Old Jul 26, 2009 | 01:59 PM
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Default Wiper problems.

If the wipers work with the door open then the wiper switch is back feeding a ground thru the courtesy light switch. The original dash ground is hard to get to, try attaching a wire from one of the screws that are on the back of the wiper switch to a good ground.
http://s243.photobucket.com/albums/f...=dashwires.jpg shows the original ground for the dash wires, it's the wire that connects to screw #2. PG.
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Old Jul 26, 2009 | 02:04 PM
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also check for your body Gnd. it's a small gnd. braid located app.
where your left foot would rest when seated,
under the car connecting the frame to the bird cage.
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Old Jul 26, 2009 | 06:11 PM
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Originally Posted by my.yellow.74
74 coupe--wipers and a/c fan only run with hood/door open. I have searched the archives and guessing its a ground. Does anyone know of or have a pic of the ground that goes to the bellhousing area. It seems to be a fairly common thing among the c3's. I am going to chack and see if it is accidentally connected to the starter. Any help is appreciated
Thanks
Frank
You seem to have two distinct problems, the wiper ground and the heater/AC controller ground. The heater/AC controller should have a ground wire of it's own connected near the front of the controller on the right hand side (left hand side for 68-69 I believe). There should be a spade lug held in place by one of the screws that holds the heater/AC bracket together.

cc
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Old Jul 26, 2009 | 06:50 PM
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Sounds to me like the blower and wiper are grounding through the alarm wiring . To get them to work are you saying you have to have the hood "AND" the door open or just the hood or one of doors ? Does your alarm work ? Is the key on the fender in the ON position ? When the blower is running does it cycle on and off if so its grounding through the alarm flasher. So many questions !!!!!
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Old Jul 26, 2009 | 07:12 PM
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The blower motor and the wiper motor (the one that plugs in to the spade on the washer pump) and the alarm switch all share the same ground on the 1974. I think Dwnnchs and the OP have nailed this problem, you probably have a wire cut or off the car and the two motors are searching a good ground. When you shut the hood the switch is opening and you lose the ground.

Willcox


Last edited by Willcox Corvette; Jul 26, 2009 at 07:21 PM.
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Old Jul 26, 2009 | 07:29 PM
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One more little thing,when Willcox mentioned the 74 ground sharing and the possibility of wire cutting or altering I ran to get my one and only 1974 DocRebuild diagram (yes I took it to Florida with me) to look at the seat belt interlock wiring and sure enough the interlock relay shares this common ground. Some of these interlocks have been jumpered. Try attaching a tempoary ground wire from the black ground wire at the wiper motor to the engine and see if that fixes things if so go looking for the black ground wire down around the starter.
Here is a pic of Duke94s starter showing the black wire attached to the starter bolt.

Last edited by ...Roger...; Jul 26, 2009 at 07:35 PM.
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Old Jul 27, 2009 | 12:57 PM
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Thaanks guys--so much great info.
Ireally appreciate it. Wish me luck.
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