Mystery wired I.D. needed
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From: CenTex
Mystery wired I.D. needed
1989 6 speed convertible, passenger rear wire passthrough for rear lights. I have two wires that are not connected and there are no pins in the connector, orange and white. I thought they were just broken as this connector is badly corroded from decades of water intrusion into that well they are in with no way to drain. I was surprised to find no corresponding pins in the connector, they did not corrode away, it appears they were never there, like an option not on the car, but this is the rear of the car, I cannot imagine what option isn't back there.
I looked in the electrical section of the service manual and cannot find an orange or white wire. I am replacing the connector because the pins are badly corroded and thin but that makes me wonder what those two wires are for and if I should find out what they are supposed to be as now is the time to hook them up. I tried tracing them but short of taking the rear apart I do not believe I will find the other end. Does anyone happen to know what they are supposed to be for? I would be happy to know the appropriate page in the FSM that shows what color goes where in that connector.
It is now all clean and dry in there but I feel there should be a drain of some sorts.
I looked in the electrical section of the service manual and cannot find an orange or white wire. I am replacing the connector because the pins are badly corroded and thin but that makes me wonder what those two wires are for and if I should find out what they are supposed to be as now is the time to hook them up. I tried tracing them but short of taking the rear apart I do not believe I will find the other end. Does anyone happen to know what they are supposed to be for? I would be happy to know the appropriate page in the FSM that shows what color goes where in that connector.
It is now all clean and dry in there but I feel there should be a drain of some sorts.
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From: CenTex
In case anyone finds this in the future, it appears, to the best of my knowledge, that the orange and white are for the rear hatch release Spare tire light on a coupe. The orange has 12v+ with key on and white is not electrically charged. The strange thing to me is there is no termination on the orange, it is a live and uncapped wire that I have a hard time believing GM would have left that way. Obviously it is not used on a convertible.
I have replaced the connector with a weathertight version and capped off the orange.
Edit: I will replace the spare tire light as it appears to be missing and correct the harness.
I have replaced the connector with a weathertight version and capped off the orange.
Edit: I will replace the spare tire light as it appears to be missing and correct the harness.
Last edited by SirReal63; Feb 14, 2024 at 05:34 PM. Reason: I got an education, finally.
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when my connectors look like that i dc them, dunk them in vinegar, scrub with a toothbrush, and then transfer to a bakingsoda bath, scrub with a toothbrush, and then rinse scrub with clean water, and then blow dry with shop air.
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From: CenTex
Good suggestion! This one was too far gone though, the male part of the connector had paper thin contacts that bent with little to no pressure. The pins bent with the pressure of a soft toothbrush, it was easy enough to replace with a weather tight one though, there was plenty of slack.
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So you replaced the originals with Weather-Pack or something else that you consider 'weather tite'? Do you have the FSM with the wiring diagram fold out? It's very interesting and complete for an '89. You used something with just the required number of mating connectors or what? Brand and part number?
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From: CenTex
My FSM does have the fold outs in the rear but even with magnification my old eyes cannot make anything useful out. I "repaired" it with these,
which are more weather tight than the factory one was as there is a seal at the wire end and the connector end, the factory connector had no protection from water intrusion at all, I suppose you could use any method you find appropriate as water will most likely get into that cubby again, this is what I chose to do. Where the wire colors were the same they matched up to replacement connector BLK to BLK etc., where they did not I made sure to connect the factory wires correctly. Each connection was with heat shrink/adhesive butt connectors and taped into a nice bundle that fit back into the cubby it came out of.
