Short Finder
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Joined: Oct 2009
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Short Finder
My 1990 L98 Corvette Convertible has a short in the courtesy light circuit. This happens to be the same circuit that powers the bose radio cdm, so I also have no radio (after spending many $$$ to get it rebuilt.) My FSM says that a "Short Finder" (J 8681) is available to help locate the short. I've gotten incredible help on this forum solving various problems with this vehicle, so I'm hoping that this will be no exception. I went on Ebay and there are about 30 "Short Finders" listed, but if someone out there has used one of these devices and had good results with it, I'd sure like to hear about it. Thanks...
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,110
Likes: 6
From: Red Sox Nation! RI
I don't know exactly what that tool is, but you can buy a cheap 12V test light almost anywhere for less than $10. A wire off the test light attaches to ground and you poke the probe at wires that should be hot. It lights up when the circuit is complete. Or you can test for a ground/short by attaching the wire to +12V and then probing a grounded wire. You'll need the wiring diagram for the courtesy lights to know which are hot and which are ground.
Drifting
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 1,492
Likes: 94
From: Westfield MA
I had a short in my Blazer and looked at some electronic short finders, I think they interject a radio frequency into the wire and then give you a receiver and you can hone in on the short.
Thats not how I found my short, I went to radio shack and bought a bugger for about $2 and some change, I jammed the wires into the fuse holder for the fuse that kept blowing using a burned out fuse to hold the wires in there. As long as there is a short, the buzzer will buzz. Then go around the car moving wires until the buzzer stops buzzing. Chances are the short will be related to some work that you did. I had removed the headliner and one of the plastic trim pieces was pinching a wire.
Thats not how I found my short, I went to radio shack and bought a bugger for about $2 and some change, I jammed the wires into the fuse holder for the fuse that kept blowing using a burned out fuse to hold the wires in there. As long as there is a short, the buzzer will buzz. Then go around the car moving wires until the buzzer stops buzzing. Chances are the short will be related to some work that you did. I had removed the headliner and one of the plastic trim pieces was pinching a wire.
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 54,124
Likes: 30
From: Cincinnati, Oh USA
The buzzer is a good idea because you can be near the car and hear it. Also, you can replace the fuse with a 12v light bulb and the light will be on while that circuit has a short and the light will go off while you wiggle wires and open the short circuit.
